Have you met your match?

A few months ago, I got a phone call from one of my childhood friends asking me to be a bridesmaid in her June 7th wedding.

I remember feeling overwhelmed with excitement, joy and complete shock. How was it possible that the wild, curly-headed girl I used to ride horses and have slumber parties with be engaged?

I was even more bewildered when I met the couple for dessert later that month. The bride-to-be showed me pictures of her strapless white wedding gown, the blue bridesmaid dress I would soon be wearing, the venue, and told me her wedding colors-sage and light blue.

As I sipped on my coffee and stuffed my face with chocolate cheesecake, the lovebirds told me their plans after saying "I do." Following a seven-day honeymoon cruise, they planned on purchasing a new condo. Gulp. My boyfriend and I were planning on going to a friend's house later that night to play beer pong.

As I drove home, I started to think about college relationships, and whether they are the gateway to a happily-ever-after marriage. What about people who are not in a relationship with someone? What are the chances of meeting your future spouse in college?

With all of these questions bouncing around in my head, I decided to do some research. As I searched the web for marriage statistics, I stumbled across the Pew Internet and American Life Project, an online resource that examines the effect the internet has on society.

In "Not Looking for Love: the State of Romance in America," a study intended to find the percentage of married couples who met online, Lee Raine and Mary Madden asked internet users where they met their spouse or long-time boyfriend or girlfriend. Thirty-eight percent of the people surveyed said they met their partner at school or at work.

When you register for college, are you also registering for your life afterwards? If you are one of the students that is part of the 38 percent, then choosing what school you go to is pivotal. What if you hadn't chosen College of Charleston, and what if my friends had not gone to school in Florida? Would you be with or without the person you are currently dating, or would you be focused on something entirely different from walking down the aisle.

For some students, marriage is the last thing on their minds. Believe it or not, many students choose to focus on their Masters Degree instead of their "MRS" and "MR" degree. This explains why the median age that men and women marry is at an all time high (men 27.5 and women 25.5).

"I think that marrying young is something that has shifted over the years," junior Gracie Young said. "If you look back at women's history, changes in lifestyles and even life expectancy, of course everything has changed. For some people, it's still completely appropriate to marry young, but for a lot of other people, it makes more sense to wait."

Senior Jesse Berger thinks that that getting married at a young age is not a smart decision. "I don't know what they're thinking. I think they're setting themselves up for divorce," he said. Berger, who would maybe consider getting married young if he met the perfect person, thinks the decent age to get married is anywhere from 25 to 30.

C of C student and CNN intern Matt Horton thinks that there is a huge difference between dating and making concrete plans.

"People should date all they want to," said Horton, who thinks a good age to get married is anywhere from 28 to 32. "It's odd when people want to close doors. Your career is what's going to be your life. After you've been to college and established your career, you've had life experiences and some fun."

"I think there's more to life than dating two or three people in college and then getting married" Horton added. "There are more than just C of C girls out there."