Like many things in life, dating is mostly a numbers game. Small differences in the sex ratio of your environment can have dramatic effects on your love life.
Are you a man who is applying to college or grad school? Do you want to maximize your dating odds? Then read this article and consider the options presented.
To make sure these schools listed in this article have general appeal, I have selected them for a few criteria:
- Enrollment of 4,000 students or more
- Offer a wide-range of degree options
- It isn't a nursing- or fashion-focused school, which tends to be overwhelmingly female.
- Not a historically black college or university (HBCU)
Our source for this data is The U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Ranking. Now, let’s get right down to it.
#10: California State University - Dominguez Hills
- 64% women
- Location: Carson, California
- 13,816 undergraduates, 14,670 students total
CSU Dominguez Hills is a public school located in the Greater Los Angeles area and has a suburban campus. It’s pretty close to Long Beach in the South Bay area.
While opinions on LA vary (it sucks), being part of the fabric of such a dense environment means that the favorable dating pool is going to be somewhat diluted. However, the insular nature of a suburban-type college will keep the odds stacked in your favor.
Things to know about CSUDH:
- CSU Dominguez Hills offers basically any program you could want, with an emphasis on business, education, and health sciences.
- Being in the country’s second-largest metro area, there are plenty of opportunities for internships.
#9: University of North Carolina at Greensboro
- 65% women
- Location: Greensboro, North Carolina
- 15,178 undergraduates, 18,074 students total
UNC Greensboro is a public school located in – you guessed it – Greensboro, a small city in the hilly Central North Carolina region. Despite the “city” status of its home, the UNCG campus has a decidedly insular and low-density environment of the classic rural-type america campus.
Considering its population, gender ratio, and insularity, the campus is a nearly ideal place for a male student in terms of dating prospects. Being in an (admittedly small) city, you have some of those city amenities, too.
Things to know about UNCG:
- UNC Greensboro is well-regarded among public universities in the region
- Known for its strong programs in health sciences and business.
- Close to the Appalachian region, one of the most beautiful parts of the country. It’s about an hour drive from UNCG to nearby state parks in Appalachia.
#8: CUNY Hunter College
- 66% women
- Location: Manhattan, New York
- 15,274 undergraduate 23,089 students total
The Big Apple, baby! CUNY–Hunter, a public university, is right in the middle of it – in the Upper East Side to be precise. Hunter College isn’t actually a college, but a university. It used to have another misleading name: “Normal College of the City of New York” – but nothing is normal about this freaking gender ratio!
As you may have surmised, Hunter’s campus is urban. It’s about as urban as it gets, in fact, consisting of a few buildings that are squished against Manhattan skyscrapers. The good news is that NYC fucking rules if you’re a young person. The bad news is that the social advantage of the gender ratio is almost entirely diminished in such a setting: students will not be on “campus” except for classes and on-campus, which is very scarce and very competitive.
The good news about that bad news is that NYC itself has an excellent gender ratio for men’s dating, one of the best in the country in fact – but not as good as any school on this list.
Things to know about CUNY-Hunter:
- Hunter College is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system.
- On-campus housing is limited and competitive. Manhattan is expensive.
- Offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs, particularly strong in social sciences.
- Manhattan location can be life-changing for networking and opportunities.
#7: University of Northern Colorado
- 66% women
- Location: Greeley, Colorado
- 8,806 undergraduates, 12,710 students total
The University of Northern Colorado is a public university on a suburban and campus of the classic America variety; Greeley, Colorado itself is a mid-size college town of the classic American variety, if that’s what you’re looking for.
The location is also roughly equidistant from Denver and the Rocky Mountains, giving you a nice mix of urban and natural options. Uh an WEED is freaking LEGAL?? Wait, nevermind, that’s pretty much every state now.
Things to know about UNC:
- The University of Northern Colorado offers strong programs in health sciences.
- Known for its focus on hands-on learning and research opportunities.
- In Colorado. Good or bad depending on what you like.
#6: Indiana Wesleyan University
- 67% women
- Location: Marion, Indiana
- 3,060 undergraduates, 10,000 students total
Indiana Wesleyan University is a private evangelical Christian university. Which is really cool if you’re evangelical, but not so much if you’re not. It’s also notable for having a majority-remote student body, making the number of students on campus about 4,000, making it the smallest school on this list. It’s on a rural campus on the outskirts of a remote Indiana town.
If you’re horny enough to read an article like this, Indiana Wesleyan is probably not the college for you. The university’s student handbook sets strict guidelines on the sexual behavior of the student body, which includes prohibitions on premarital sex. It’s unclear how much this is actually enforced, but it should be respected.
If you’re a horny evangelical (many such cases) reading this, it’s a different story altogether. This school is likely a perfect fit for you.
Things to know about IWU:
- A good choice for conservative protestants.
- A bad choice for pretty much everyone else.
- Doesn’t offer many doctoral programs
- Not as strict as the strictest evangelical schools, such as Liberty University
#5: University of West Georgia
- 67.1% women
- Location: Carrollton, Georgia
- 9,500 undergraduates, 11,893 students total
Alright back to typical colleges. University of West Georgia is a pretty typical public university located on a classic rural-type college campus. Not typical, however, is its astounding student gender ratio, which comes to about 2.1 women per man.
One thing which may also be attractive to a man is UWG’s notable strong business program – one of the best business programs on this list. How useful is an undergrad program in business? Who could say? But this one is strong.
Like UNC-Greensboro, UWGs Carr is pretty close to the Appalachian mountains.
Things to know about UWG:
- Has a satellite campus in Douglasville, which is closer to Atlanta.
#4: Adelphi University
- 68% women
- Location: Garden City, New York
- 5,360 undergraduates, 7,279 students total
Adelphi University is a private university located in Nassau County, Long Island. It’s got a compact suburban campus that’s pretty close-knit: students spend a lot of time on campus, and there are a lot of clubs meaning that the gender ratio will count for a lot. The school also emphasizes personalized education with small class sizes.
Being in the inner part of Long Island, Adelphia has great access to New York City, especially without a car: there are multiple commuter-rail (Long Island Railroad aka the LIRR) stations that are near the campus and its environs, the closest of which is a 10-minute walk from campus. The LIRR is pretty good rail transit by American standards, too.
This excellent access could be a double-edged sword, though. A big chunk of Adelphi’s student body commutes, which might matter to you if you want a very populous and vibrant campus.
Things to know about AU:
- Adelphi is known for its strong programs in psychology.
- Emphasizes personalized education with small class sizes and strong faculty support.
- A 15-minute drive to Hofstra University, another private school
#3: Loyola University Chicago
- 69% women
- Location: Chicago, Illinois
- 11,819 undergraduates, 16,899 students total
Loyola (or LUC) is a private Catholic university located on an urban campus in the Rogers Park neighborhood, on the northern edge of Chicago.
Though the campus is near the boundary of the city and far away from Chicago’s skyscrapers, the environs around the main loyal campus is still pretty city-ish, meaning there’s plenty of fun stuff to do. It’s not like a school you’d find in Manhattan – the campus is definitely distinct from the urban fabric around it, meaning there’s plenty of real campus life separate from the city, making its incredible gender ratio carry plenty of weight.
LUC is the school with the overall highest-rated academics on this list, making it a good choice for pretty much any major.
Things to know about LUC:
- Has a diverse and robust offering for doctoral programs. The social work program is highly rated, as is the business program.
- It’s a Catholic university, but this religious affiliation doesn’t mean it has any sort of strict student guidelines like Indiana Wesleyan has.
#2 Nova Southeastern University
- 72% women
- Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- 6,971 undergraduates, 25,670 students total
Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is located on a suburban campus about a half hour north of Miami, Florida. It’s notable for having far more graduate students than undergrads, which is rare indeed. The explanation is NSU’s diverse student body: the university offers an unusually wide range of specialized graduate programs, particularly in health sciences and professional fields, making it a magnet for students seeking advanced degrees. Many of these programs are online or hybrid programs.
But it’s still a good choice if you’re an undergrad. You’ll find a solid department for any major you might be interested in.
In terms of stuff to do, Fort Lauderdale is a small city in its own right, and the much larger and much cooler Miami is just a step away.
Things to know about NSU:
- NSU has particularly strong programs health sciences and psychology.
#1 Texas Woman's University
- 88% women
- Location: Denton, Texas
- 12,837 undergraduates, 15,058 students total
So, it’s come to this… the bottom of the list. The big enchilada.
The aptly named Texas Woman’s University blows everything else out of the water with an unreal student body of 88% women. That’s a gender ratio of 7.3 women for every man. Would you believe that this school used to be a women’s college?
TWU, a public school, is located in Denton, a suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. It’s on a suburban campus, close to Denton’s downtown – about a 15 to 20 minute walk. Denton is a very small city (more of a large town) that’s quite far from the rest of the DFW metro area, meaning that the insane gender ratio for TWU will indeed be felt.
On the other side of town is the University of North Texas, a much larger school. This school leans female, but only by 54%. Since Tinder is a thing, this is where all your competition will be found. But your classes, clubs, and campus life will all be female, female, and more female.
Things to know about TWU:
- Yes, Texas Woman's University, despite its name, is co-educational and admits men.
- Known for its strong programs in health sciences, business, and education.
- Is a large enough school to get the classic big-campus experience from.
The Takeaway
Higher-education skews female in the United States. As of 2024, male students constitute approximately 42% of the student population at four-year colleges in the United States, while female students make up about 58%.
This means that most college will stack the dating odds in your favor unless it’s a school that focuses on male-dominated subjects like math or engineering. So, use the listed universities in this article as a source of inspiration: if one of them has a program you’re interested in or is in a location that makes sense for you, add it to your list of schools to apply to. You don’t need a massively favorable gender ratio to get a date in a college – but it certainly will help.