Gearing up for spring break, students begin studying for midterms, resting as much as they can. For “Kat,” studying’s no problem with her boyfriend, “Patrick,” in the same major as her. After meeting in a class they took second semester of freshman year, their relationship bloomed from their academics.
“We met in one of our classes, and we were in this group discussion, and we both said how we were from Dallas,” Kat said. “ … Fast forward six months later, we started becoming friends through some mutuals … and then we started talking from there.”
After seeing each other in class and hanging out within the same friend group for six months, Kat and Patrick started the first stages of their relationship. Kat said these mutual friends helped Patrick confess his feelings for her around September of last year.
“He had told someone that I know that he was interested in me,” Kat said. “From there, I didn’t really do anything about it at first. We had a conversation one day one-on-one, and he re-emphasized that, ‘Hey, I like you, and I could see this going somewhere.’ At that point, I started liking him too. I just didn’t know how to go about it because we were friends. We just had that conversation, and from there, started actually talking.”
Once again sharing a class this semester, Kat said they help each other understand the coursework, balancing their personal and academic time.
Despite being in similar classes, her main conflict involves understanding each other’s academic priorities, Kat said.
“The good side is that you’re at the same college, so you can see them more often than long-distance relationships,” Kat said. “The turnover to that, being the same major, sometimes it can be a little conflicting, like, ‘Oh, we should take this class together,’ ‘oh, it’s registration coming up,’ … I need to take these other classes. More stuff like that is where the line borders.”
Classes can be a tough place to meet people, especially partners. Same-major classes are particularly difficult. If a relationship were to turn sour and the two break up, it would be awkward and a constant reminder. However, when everything is smooth sailing, this isn’t a problem.
Being able to discuss life goals with a similar understanding of each other’s passions is beneficial, as both people recognize the difficulties and hardships of that career. For Kat, her best-case scenario was meeting Patrick, the two now dating for nearly four months.
“Put yourself out there, especially if you are in classes that have discussions where it’s smaller,” Kat said. “Any major (classes) or any class you have to take, just (put) yourself out there, or even joining orgs and stuff (where) you meet other people with similar interests and things like that, that could help … Sometimes, you meet the best people in your life that way by putting yourself out there.”
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