PSA: Datamatch Has Arrived!

Ahh, Valentine’s day. A great time to cuddle up to your boo or a socially acceptable time to eat your body weight in chocolate, depending on your relationship with the holiday. But regardless of the current status of your love life, Valentine’s day also marks the day that Datamatch results come out. For the uninitiated, Datamatch is basically Harvard’s Tinder. Designed by the Harvard Computer Society, it’s a matchmaking service, guaranteeing that even the most romantically challenged Harvard students can get a hot date (or at least eat some free food).

There’s no reason not to partake in this Harvard-founded tradition, so you want to take the chance at a winter fling, hop right on over to the Datamatch survey which opens today! In the past, the survey has included questions on everything from your sexiest pick up line to how you’re most likely to mess up a sacred Harvard tradition. The Harvard Computer Society then works the data through an algorithm and comes up with matches, delivered to your email on the morning of February 14. At that point, it’s up to you to Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn stalk your matches and decide if you want to go on a date. If you both click yes (which you should, if for nothing else then at least for the free food), you’ll get to pick between restaurants in the square for your date. The best part? It’s all funded by Daddy Harvard, so you’re guaranteed to at least score some yummy food. For all of you who have an actual boo, there’s a platonic option, so Datamatch can be a way to meet someone who’s statistically likely to be your new BFF.

Datamatch is a great way to practice non-interview-based social skills, and last year it had roughly 4,300 Harvard participants. Assuming that the the cutie you’ve been eyeing from afar actually signs up for Datamatch, that’s about a 1/4300 chance of getting matched with your actual crush, and a 4299/4300 chance of ending up with some rando you’ve never seen before. But even if your steamy Zinneken's date doesn’t go great, your ex-Datamatch boo can just be one more person you can’t make eye contact with in the dhall. This season of love, go forth and live out your Datamatch dreams — maybe you’ll find your own college rom-com love story after all.