Dear Dr. Date,
I’ll make this short. After high school, I didn’t go directly to college; I worked for a few years. Recently I decided that I wanted to pursue a four-year college degree. My problem is that I’m 25 years old and most of my classes are filled with tons of first- or second-year students. I’m a bit wary about approaching an 18- or 19-year-old female, thinking that my age will be a quick turnoff. It seems that the 18- or 19-year-olds are the only ones I come into contact with. Can you give any advice to an older student looking to meet someone at the University, especially in those large lecture classes?
–Anonymous

Once a person reaches a certain age, say 24 or 25, they tend to develop an age limit for potential dates. While this certainly isn’t true for everyone, it is obviously true for you. Luckily, the University is not a traditional four-year institution filled exclusively with 17 to 21-year-old students. There are many non-traditional students like yourself here at the University — you just need to look for them. Because you are taking introductory classes, you aren’t going to have much luck meeting older students. Also, if you are taking primarily day classes, you will also have trouble. My suggestion is to take a couple night classes. These offerings count just like the day classes, but the age makeup is decidedly different. In addition, night classes seem to attract the type of student that is a bit more serious about learning.
Some classes are better than others, too. I’ve found that the best classes to meet people in are the classes you take outside your major. Everyone has to take a certain number of classes in various fields of study. In a couple of years, as you near the end of your time here, you will find that the 3000- and 5000-level classes will have a better mix of people. Of course, classes aren’t necessarily the best place to meet people. Most of the bonding and wooing takes place outside of class. For right now, you may need to look outside of the classroom for the right connection.
While bars, by definition, are going to have an older crowd, you may not be a drinker or a smoker. In this case, I’d check out many of the coffee shops located near campus and around town. In Dinkytown, the Purple Onion seems to attract a younger crowd in comparison to the smoke free Espresso Royale down the street. Jitter’s, located downtown on Nicollet Avenue, has a good mix of people. Espresso 22 in the Dinkydome is also a good choice.