VERNON HOLMAN | Staff Writer

What is the college experience? An experience of juggling professionalism, academic pursuits, and self growth while dealing with different personalities on social and intimate levels.
One aspect of this experience students have different views on are the stages of a relationship.
With students living in very close proximity to one another, having a lot of activities going on, and maturing themselves, relationships are often ambiguous and confusing.
Questions often come up such as, are we dating? When will we be in a relationship? Are we already in a relationship? Do I even want to be in a relationship? If we haven’t said we’re together… then I’m still single, right? Maybe I’m too young and busy for a relationship, can we just watch Netflix and chill? In an attempt to understand the dating scene of NC State, I asked a handful of students about relationships.
“Few people are a hundred percent serious about the people they are ‘dating’ on campus,” said Brayndon
Stafford a senior majoring in enviormental sciences.
“I feel most people don’t want to take you on a date, rather they’re fine hanging out at home, and with this being the case dating sometimes never occurs,” said senior Gabby Murphy.
Talking defines one of the earliest stages in a relationship to some students, which might lead to dating.
According to, Nortee Louder a junior majoring in textile enginering, “talking is when you’re getting to know someone … it’s known that you want to be together so you’re working towards that.”
Stafford and Josh Williams a junior majoring in accounting, disagree. According to Williams, talking is “testing the waters before you make something serious.”
Some might side with Louder and others with Williams. Opinions can differ on whether going on a date is considered to be talking to someone.
“You can go on a date with someone you’re talking to, and then when it’s more exclusive and more committed I consider it dating… going together is the same
thing as dating to me,” said Jaia Greene a junior majoring in nuclear. In contrast, Williams believes that dating and talking are the same thing.
Even the idea of how exclusivity is established varies.
There’s a belief that exclusivity is understood, while others say it needs to be directly asked about. However, asking can be confusing because of the conflicting ideology of dating versus taking among students.
Some feel that a verbal contract has to be established on how one can communicate with members outside the relationship.
It’s easy to become confused in relationships during college, I became confused just trying to decipher people’s interpretations when questioned.
I’ve found out that the only way to truly know where you lie is to communicate and find out where exactly you lie, because in college life relationships can be ambiguous more often than not.