With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it is officially love season and, more importantly, Perfect Match season at Cornell. Whether in a relationship or looking for one, Cornellians are looking forward to the special time of year.
Jason Katz ’23, a member of the Perfect Match executive board, hopes that the website will bring connection and happiness to the campus community.
“When you use dating apps online, there are so many people to choose from that you kind of lose the value of one person,” Katz said.
According to the team, Perfect Match has made many changes from last year’s iteration to appeal to users’ requests and suggestions. They are instituting a new AI approach meant to generate more precise matches.
“I’m hoping people find love,” said Grace Wilkey ’24, an executive board member responsible for marketing. “I think that the way that we’ve changed the algorithm, there’s a lot more promise of success.”
For this year’s survey, the Perfect Match team has asked more in-depth questions to its respondents, ranging from the worst thing a match could wear to a date to whether or not one would want their match to have a similar personality as them.
The team also made modifications to the survey’s format, with consideration for both convenience and accessibility. “We made the site a lot more mobile-friendly because we got feedback from a lot of users that they like taking it on their phone,” said Nick Varela ’25, a member of Perfect Match.
Additionally, to eliminate users’ privacy concerns, the site pledged full anonymity of user’s survey answers.
“[Perfect Match] wanted to make extra sure this year that the data we got was all anonymized immediately, that there was no way for anyone online to acquire the data,” Katz said.
Overall, the Perfect Match team is thrilled to launch its survey and is hoping to contribute to the development of meaningful connections throughout the Cornell community.
Cornellians, too, are eager to see their Perfect Match this year.
“There are definitely pros and cons to attending a big school,” said Daniel Russo ’24. “You can meet a lot of people, but it’s also difficult to stay connected because the social scene here is busy. Perfect Match does a good job making the connections.”
Russo appreciates Perfect Match’s multifaceted matching algorithm, which considers personalities, lifestyles and preferences for a romantic partner. According to Russo, Perfect Match demonstrates reliability in its decisions.
Some students reflected on their past experiences with Perfect Match, which was first introduced in 2019. While the main intent of Perfect Match is to form romantic relationships, it is also commonly used to build friendships
“I thought it would be fun to fill out, not only because I wanted to find a particular match but also because I was interested in seeing how the algorithm worked out and I wanted to make friends,” Muna Mohammed ’24 said.
Though she has not yet filled out the survey this year, Mohammed expressed contentment with her past experiences.
“I stayed friends with all of my matches last year,” Mohammed said. “I’m excited to see how this year turns out.”
According to Stephanie Lopez ’23, students may struggle to find compatible companions in a large community like Cornell — however, Perfect Match sorts students based on their interests and preferences, which makes way for an entertaining networking opportunity as well.
“Even if you don’t have luck finding a partner through Perfect Match, it’s still a great way to meet new people,” Lopez said. “I was able to meet people that had a lot in common with me, and that worked out in a different way.”
Sherry Liao ’25, who does not plan to participate in Perfect Match, referred to the rigorous coursework as a barrier to her romantic life.
“Work from my classes takes a lot of time out of my day,” Liao said. “I think a lot of students prioritize academic success over relationships, but also because they simply don’t have the time to spend with a significant other.”
While Cornell’s dating scene is not so robust due to its busy students, Liao continued, efforts such as Perfect Match and other dating services are a helpful and fun addition to campus life.
Perfect Match closes its survey on Feb. 13 at noon, and Varela urges students to fill it out before the deadline.
Rachel Kodysh is a Sun Contributor. She can be reached at [email protected].