Even with Adele in your headphones, breakups still suck. (Yes, she gets us.) But seriously, a heartbreak is extraordinarily painful. The pain of losing your boyfriend or girlfriend stings enough, but sometimes they manage to do in such a terrible manner you wonder how you ever loved them to begin with.
You are not alone if you’ve had a soul-crushing end to a relationship. 20 college women share their stories about their worst breakup — guaranteed to make you feel better about your own!
“I came out as bisexual in 10th grade. At the time, I was dating a conservative Christian guy (it was Texas and I was young). When he broke up with me shortly after I came out, he said it was because he didn’t have time for a relationship anymore, but I heard from some of his friends that he broke up with me because I’m not Christian, and I heard from other friends of his that he broke up with me because I’m not straight (even though I’m still into guys).”
-Emily, Williams College Class of 2019
“Last semester, I studied abroad in Spain. My boyfriend and I had been together for about eight months before I left, and we decided to stay together. Things were a lot harder than I thought they’d be, but I thought we would stick it out for the semester. About halfway through the trip, he broke up with me out of nowhere—through a text message. I was in London for the weekend and was absolutely devastated. Although I was upset at first, things worked out for the better, and I ended up getting more out of my semester abroad.”
-Rachel, James Madison University Class of 2017
“A couple weeks before prom he texted me to tell me something…he had asked someone else to go to prom with him. The guy I’d been dating for months (!) went through the entire ‘promposal’ for another girl and told me about it afterwards. Needless to say, he didn’t actually have to say, “I’m breaking up with you.” It was crystal clear. What really stinks is that a ‘promposal’ isn’t a last-minute sort of thing. He must’ve planned whom he was going to ask and how he was going to do it, all while picking me up in his truck, taking me on dates, and having me meet his parents. Cue Taylor Swift.”
-Casey, University of Pittsburgh Class of 2018
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“I was really young, only a sophomore in high school. I had been dating this guy for about two years. Even though I was so young I was head over heels. He was the typical dream guy in high school; cute, quarterback of the football team, the one every girl wanted. Yet, he somehow wanted me. I gave him all of me. We were planning to go to homecoming at my school (we went to different schools) and a week before it he broke his ankle in a football game. He had surgery two days before the dance so we couldn’t go. The night of homecoming I went to his house instead of the dance because I didn’t want to go without him. That night he broke up with me and then took another girl to his homecoming two weeks later. A girl who was his ‘friend’ but I know had an agenda when it came to him. I was devastated. It taught me a lot about myself though: that you can pick up the pieces and be okay.”
-Elizabeth, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Class of 2018
“So, in high school I had been dating a guy for about 10 months and my family took him on vacation with us to Disney World. The most magical, lovely place on Earth! We had a great time, but spending every waking moment together got pretty annoying. We got on each others nerves a bit, seeing as we never spent that much constant time together, especially with my family (who can be a bit overbearing). So, on the plane ride home we were sitting far from my parents and he said I think we should break up. I had to be super quiet about my hysterical tears. Looking back, I probably should have slapped him. However, we ended up getting back together the day after we got back, it was just a weak moment. We’re not together anymore but it makes for a great story: hey, I got broken up with (sort of) on the plane ride home from Disney. All my friends find it hysterical.”
-Sarah, Villanova University Class of 2018
“During my senior year of high school, I dated this guy who went to another school and I really liked him. We hung out almost every day and I was really close with his family. My birthday rolled around and he got really distant and I could tell something was wrong. When he got me a scarf for my birthday I knew for sure something was wrong. (That sounds mean but he usually gave awesome presents.) So the next day he asked me to drive to his house so we could ‘talk’. So I drive the 20 minutes it takes to get to his house and he sits me down and starts to say how much he loves me and how pretty I am and then he just stares at me and says that we are breaking up. So I start crying and start to get up and walk away and his mom walks in and yelled at him for breaking up with me! I left and started to drive home but I had to pull over because I couldn’t see past the tears coming from my eyes. Long story short, he broke up with me the day after my birthday and didn’t even have the decency to drive to my house to tell me.”
-Elaine, California Lutheran University Class of 2018
“My first break up was by far my worst break up. I was in high school and my boyfriend was two years older than me. Hanging out with him automatically associated me with the ‘cool, older’ crowd. I was head-over-heels for him until I went to school one week and he started playing the ‘quiet game’. He ignored me for an entire week. This included avoiding me in the hallways, ignoring my text messages and my attempts to contact him over Facebook chat. I was so confused. Eventually I sat him down and asked what was up, but he avoided that conversation too. He then decided to handle the matter via text message and told me, ‘I woke up, and I just don’t like you anymore’. Probably the most shallow breakup text you could ever receive. I cried, a lot, and probably ate too much Phish Food that day. But looking back, it was probably for the better!”
-Rachel, University of Virginia Class of 2018
“We were both dancers and we were at our jazz recital and everything seemed normal. After the first part of the recital he tells me he wants to talk to me. Just when I’m about to go on stage he says, ‘I don’t think this is working, we should break up’. I had to do the entire second part of the recital (in some parts he was my partner) and after I was done, I left running to the bathroom crying. Once I calmed down I went looking for him and he had already left. This was about 3 years ago and I still don’t know the reason why he left me.”
-Kimberly, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus Class of 2018
“My worst breakup was in the middle of high school. He cheated on me a variety of times and denied it each time I asked. After a year of being together with one short break taken in the beginning, he dumped me for a girl he had talked negatively about before. When the breakup happened (since we went to a small school) he had managed to turn most of our class against me with multiple lies. About six months later he wanted to “hang out” while still dating the other girl and I had already moved on. Now, about five years later, that ‘other girl’ is my closest friend after dumping him because he cheated again. We often laugh about how things happened and the circumstances that brought us together as friends.”
-Rachel, John Carroll University Class of 2017
“It was my junior year in high school and he broke up with me through text while I was in class. Oh, and did I mention it was my birthday? We had been dating for about seven months and he didn’t even know it was my birthday either.”
-Ricole, University of Cincinnati Class of 2018
RELATED: The 7 Types of Breakups That Happen in College
“My ex and I were in high school at the time. While we were dating, I thought that he was ‘The One’ and that we would be high school sweethearts. On my birthday, he took me to my favorite ice cream place. He ordered the most expensive, extravagant shake and I followed his lead, since I figured he was paying. When they came, I gulped mine down immediately but he waited a moment and dug into his bag. He pulled out a sheet of paper, put it on the table, and excused himself to the restroom. The paper said: “We’re over. Glad to do business with you.” Needless to say, he never returned to the table, so he never got to see me cry harder than I thought was possible.”
-Giselle, New York University Class of 2017
“My worst breakup was when I was a junior in high school with a guy I actually really liked. It was terrible because I felt completely blindsided. A few days before, he told me for the first time that he loved me, and then I guess he immediately had regrets. It was over the phone in the middle of my school day, and I just remember crying and wondering why. He told me there was another girl out there for him, but I wasn’t her. I hung up when he said that because I didn’t want to hear it. Then, I called him back on my walk home from school and gave him a piece of my mind. I was not about to let him have the last word!”
-Jen, Messiah College Class of 2016
“My worst break up was actually when I was the person calling it off. It was a fairly obvious choice to end it, because my boyfriend hooked up with my ex-best friend the weekend before. Just as fate would have it, the Monday following that weekend was one of my best friend’s birthdays, so, when we met before class like I asked, I was carrying three large gift bags, a balloon bouquet, and a tray of cupcakes. He actually looked really excited as he walked toward me, and right when he got to me I told him what was up. As he listened, he glanced over all of the things in my hands, and, after he and I went back and forth, he timidly looked up at me and asked if he could at least have a cupcake… I gave him a high five and walked away.”
-Sarah, University of Virginia Class of 2015
“Freshman year of college, I dated this guy Casey for three months. We were doing really well, but my friends were never big fans of his, they thought there was something sketchy about him. One day, I get a text from my friend telling me to go check Casey’s Facebook page. He was tagged in a photo with another girl, and I originally thought nothing of it until I saw a comment from the girl saying “Happy 1 year babe, so happy I got to see you this weekend!” He lived three hours away, and went home almost every weekend. I thought he was just homesick, but after seeing that I realized he had another girlfriend back home! It was heartbreaking to see the guy you’ve been seeing for three months have this huge secret. When he came back to school I confronted him about it, and he confessed to it, I was just his girl for school while he had one back home. I went off on him, and he retaliated by blaming me for all the things he hated about college. I broke up with him then and there. He didn’t end up staying at that school, and transferred home at the end of the semester.”
-Mary, University of California Class of 2018
“My first boyfriend broke up with me by deleting me on Facebook and changing his relationship status to single. I had no idea until my bestie at the time messaged me asking why my ex’s Facebook status was now single! I was so devastated since it was out of the blue and he wouldn’t even talk it out with me to my face to explain.”
-Anna, University of Maine 2017
“I got broken up with immediately after my last exam my freshman year. After he left I ran down the road after him with no shoes on to try and change his mind and consequently had to wait at two sets of traffic lights and explain to a passing cyclist why I was bawling my eyes out and barefoot…”
-Evie, The University of Nottingham Class of 2018
RELATED: 10 Funny & Serious Things To Do After a Breakup
“It was two days before Valentine’s Day, and my boyfriend of 18 months broke up with me through a 30 second conversation. I was furious. Three days later, I found out that he had been seeing someone else for almost three weeks before we broke up. I was shocked to find out he had been cheating and wished he had dumped me sooner. Two weeks later, my eyelids and ankle swell up; they both look like I got stung multiple times by bees. I go to the doctor and find out I have Mono! I contact my ex-boyfriend and find out he has it too; the girl he had been seeing gave it to him. It was a rough February!”
-Zoe, University of Minnesota Twin Cities Class of 2020
“I dated my first boyfriend in high school. Cliché, I know — but it felt real. We dated for a year. However, one day, I woke up from a nap with a huge text message. To sum it up, it said: “I’m breaking up with you. You are Satan.” He said I was too much temptation for him and because we’re not the same religion, he can’t date me. He called me Satan. I was only 15.”
–Carolyn, University of Buffalo Class of 2017
“My boyfriend at the time broke up with me while he was driving with me sitting in the backseat with his friends. He didn’t even look at me; it was through the rear view window!”
-Brittany, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Class of 2018
“I had gone home that weekend—a three-hour drive from school. He had gone to a Frisbee tournament about two and half hours away from school, in the opposite direction of me. I had texted him Saturday night asking about the tournament. I had asked him when he was getting back so we could hang out. He responded with ‘Idk’ and I continued on asking questions. He answered my one question and then sent a second text saying, ‘If I do get back early I probably won’t hang with you’. I was shocked and hurt I was like ‘oh okay’ and I said just that. The next text I got was ‘In general’. Now I was confused, what did he mean? I asked him what he meant and all he said was ‘not anymore’ and I asked like if he meant that he didn’t want to be together anymore and his response was ‘ya’. Then I got a second text saying, ‘Don’t want a relationship’. I asked why this time and all I got was this text: ‘BC I don’t like you.’”
-Catherine, Indiana University of Pennsylvania Class of 2018