College can sometimes seem a little bit like a fantasyland – from being able to live with your best friends, to semesters in foreign countries, to loads of free time, to parties on school nights, college is in no way a reflection of what I’d call “real life.” And among its otherworldly qualities, college is a haven for what seems to be an entirely different breed of human: the college boy. This creature, for lack of a better term, can possess any number of stereotypes – the jock, the frat-star, the nerd, the smart lazy-ass, the full-fledged lazy-ass, the stoner, the partier, the socially inept… the list goes on and on.
Not unexpectedly, these boys perpetuate their stereotypes via any variety of antics that might apply. But come graduation day, it’s almost like a switch is flipped, and with the toss of the tassel, their college personae get cast aside, too. All of a sudden, they’re graduates, onto bigger and more impressive things than pledging and partying. They might be the same person, but the air of post-grad confidence is undoubtedly something that collegiettes seek over college-boy stench.
What is it that makes a young working guy in a suit so sexy? Why are college guys so immature? And what is it about “real guys” that makes us roll our eyes when college boys can’t behave like normal human beings? While we don’t all prefer the older/hotter/wiser type, there are certainly differences between college boys and real men that keep us hanging around the grad school libraries.
The college guy funnels beer, while the real guy wines and dines us.
There’s a certain maturity level that college boys don’t seem to reach until they’re catapulted out of their beer-laden college living accommodations. In the free-for-all that we like to call college, boys are fascinated by things like Octobongs, theme parties (you know, the Golf Pros and Tennis H*es kind), and sometimes, though rarely, their classes. What doesn’t seem to be on their minds most of the time is capturing girls’ interest using wit and charm – rather, it all depends on how much the two parties involved have had to drink. But in the outside world, post-college guys just know what they’re doing – they wine n’ dine, perhaps providing a proper basis from which a normal relationship might develop. We are impressed by their dating techniques, simply because they’re so much more suave than the un-subtle “I-guess-we-should-make-out-now” moves that college boys employ.
The college guy can’t articulate anything, while the real guy initiates conversation.
Get a few drinks in him, and maybe he’ll be able to shed his awkward outer shell and have a normal conversation with you. But talking to a college guy outside of a bar/party can be extremely challenging, not to mention boring. It becomes clear that they don’t really get us, and in turn, we just can’t understand why there doesn’t seem to be anything but cobwebs in their heads. Normal, down-to-earth conversation can stimulate a girl more than college guys appear to understand. Questions beyond the obvious, “So…do you wanna get out of here?” are hard to come by when you’re out at a college bar; because of their post-college experience, “real” guys tend to offer conversation that goes beyond the scope of whose place you’ll end up at by the end of the night.
The college guy looks a little dweeb-y, while the real guy is sexy.
A little scruff can go a long way for a guy, and that older look can be refreshing to collegiettes. They’ve grown out of their skinny, scrawny bodies, gotten rid of their acne, and can grow a full beard. Instead of laying around their dorm or the library and snacking on chips and fast food, they learn that the gym can do wonderful things to the male body, and that a sense of style can’t hurt either. From V-neck sweaters to tailored dark jeans, lots of “real” guys tend to adopt a more socially acceptable style of dress. Perhaps because they’ve entered a broader dating scene, they look more polished and put-together – a huge change from the just-rolled-out-of-bed-chic look, consisting of navy baggy sweats and black ratty t-shirts (worn together, obviously).
The college guy spends money on weed, while the real guy pays his own rent.
So he’s supporting himself, and he’s facing the world on his own. A stable guy is attractive because he can offer stability to a girl, too. Essentially, his responsibilities are no longer limited to providing his frat house with alcohol(/drugs) and turning in papers mere moments before they’re due. He has more things to take care of, and with a more mature outlook, tends to do a better job at managing his life. With hard-earned money to spend, a nice dinner date or drinks are his treat, not his parents’ or the dining hall chef’s.
Certainly, we all have our own preferences and requirements for our potential boyfriends. There can be any number of things that a collegiette wishes to have in a guy – no judgments if acne and sweatpants are part of your list – and therefore, there’s really no one type of guy that appeals to us all, unless you’re talking about, like, David Beckham. But whether stereotypical or not, it seems that it’s usually the older, more mature guys who make us swoon, for any number of reasons. For the time being, college boys might be fun to have around, and they can entertain us for as long as they’re willing to take a break from playing their video games.
But alas, (thankfully), they all grow up at some point, and there’s potential for them to turn into those perfect older guys – that only requires us to be patient for a few years. Dealing with these college-boy imperfections comes with the territory, it seems, and sure enough, we’ll eventually find out what downsides there might be to “real” guys too… but that’s another article. The truth is, when it comes time for us to face the “real” world and “real” guys, we’ll probably be begging to spend just a few more weeks in our college fantasyland, anyway – patchy beards, limited speech and all.