Finding love in college is already difficult. But it’s even trickier on a small, rural campus in the middle of a village with only 4,000 residents. Despite the odds, Colgate upperclassmen Mayzie and Chandler found a way to make it work — and are elated with the way their relationship has flourished.
Mayzie: Colgate is in a little town called Hamilton, which is really, really small. There’s only like one stoplight, and there’s really nothing here except for a couple of restaurants.
Given how tight-knit their campus was, it’s no surprise Mayzie and Chandler had run into each other before. But it wasn’t until matching through the 2021 Colgate Marriage Pact that they truly had the chance to connect.
Mayzie: We knew of each other before matching, since we’re in the same scholars program. I’d seen him around and introduced myself, but we weren’t really in the same circle.
When Mayzie and Chandler heard about the survey, they jumped at the chance to brighten up a bleak, COVID-ridden spring semester with a bit of social connection.
Mayzie: We were under intense lockdown, so there was no way to meet people. We couldn’t even go outside for some of the time. We would have certain hours of the day where we could meet with specific groups of people, and that was it. There was literally nothing social going on.
Chandler: Social life just consisted of hanging out outside your dorms and talking to people in the hallways. And technically we weren’t even allowed to do that.
Mayzie: But one of my friends had taken the survey at NYU, and so when Marriage Pact showed up at Colgate, I was like, “I’ve heard of this!” I sort of took it as a joke, not expecting anything, but I still put a lot of effort into it.
Chandler: I initially just thought, “Oh, this could be kinda fun.” But at the same time, maybe 70/30, I thought, “What if something actually comes out of this?”
When the initials of students’ matches were released, Chandler pieced together a list of possible names (with no avail). Match emails shortly followed. After waiting a few days for Chandler to make a move, Mayzie bravely took the first step.
Mayzie: I thought about trying to be patient, but I just couldn’t. I DMed him. I’m pretty sure I said something like, “So Chandler, I’m dying to hear about your monetary values,” since that was one of the things we matched on.
Chandler: We went to a restaurant or brewery right there in Hamilton, like 3 minutes away, and we had a little date there.
Mayzie: We got right into a conversation, and it actually took us like an hour and a half or two hours to ask the basics, like, “Where are you from?” and “What’s your major?” We just fit right into it.
Chandler: Yeah, it was right off the bat. We didn’t really get into formalities until well into the first or the second day. Which was super cool, because it means the match worked so well that we had no trouble connecting.
Mayzie: Campus culture at Colgate isn’t super relationship oriented. I never had expectations that I could meet someone here where we could easily be real with each other. So it was so surprising to be able to connect with someone so quickly.
The pair say that things progressed slowly for the next few months. When summer rolled around, Chandler headed home to LA and Mayzie to Alaska — not exactly walking distance. Luckily, things started picking up again once they reunited on campus that fall.
Mayzie: Summer was coming up, and I was also supposed to be gone for the following fall semester. So we just dated casually, not thinking it would go anywhere, at least until I got back. But over the summer I found out that my abroad program was canceled, and then we started talking more regularly.
Chandler: About a month or two into that semester we started dating. October 10, we made it official.
It’s no surprise Mayzie and Chandler share many values, given their almost 90 percent match. But one of their most salient similarities is the significance they place on relationships.
Mayzie: We’re both really social people. We care about our friendships a lot, and we both take relationships really seriously. Which is good, because it means we share those values and want similar levels of commitment — but we were hesitant initially to commit. It took us a while to really be confident that we would have time for a relationship. But it came to a point where we just really wanted to make it happen. So we did.
The pair say that the stresses of college life made their first few months a bit murky, but that their relationship has since reached new heights.
Mayzie: That first fall was hard, because Chandler had a super heavy semester and was taking a bunch of extra classes. I also think that dating in college can be hard — you’re away from all the things that have made you who you are. But I feel like we really fell into our rhythm this year.
They describe a trip they took to Oneonta, a small town an hour away from Colgate’s campus, as a pivotal point of growth in their relationship.
Mayzie: Oneonta is a small, quirky town with a bunch of magic shops and vintage stores, and we stayed at a dingy Motel 66. They had this roller skating rink there, and it was super retro old-school up the wazoo — there were all these old people there with their personalized tricked out roller skates. We rollerbladed, played laser tag, and went to this really old diner that’s run by a cult or something. It felt like we stepped into a different world.
It was the first time we got to step away from campus, and put aside all the school stress and school relationships. We totally struck a rhythm and were able to see what our relationship could be like outside of the context of our little college, and we held that with us when we came back.
Chandler: It was pretty incredible, honestly. Oneonta was a totally brand-new experience that we were getting to have together, and it was huge. When things clicked, we were both still a little guarded, and we both had our own lives and things we hadn’t talked about with each other yet. But we chipped away at things slowly but surely, in a confident and consistent manner. And that was really nice, and it was super fundamental to where our relationship is now. We’ve just grown incredibly.
Mayzie and Chandler are looking forward to a spring semester spent hand-in-hand — and all of the adventures yet to come.
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