As a male student entering the Corps of Cadets, does anyone have any idea of dating life in the Corps?
1.Is it harder to find a GF as a Corps member?
2. Is it common or taboo to date a girl in the Corps?
3. How much interaction do different outfits have between each other?
4. Is there any time for dating?
Thanks and gig’em!
these are the only things I have heard and seen (also an incoming male freshman into the corps).
1)I have heard that it is harder to find a GF as a cadet, although this is mainly up to your major (engineering or compsci = no girls). We will get back to this later.
2)It is not allowed to date a girl in your own outfit (this is explicitly stated in the rules). This is because dating could result in favoritism when it comes to things like promotions/awards etc. However, you can date a girl in the corps from different units (although it is incredibly hard for guys since there are very few women in the corps).
3)Outfits will interact when it comes to major events and also you can interact with other cadets during the academic day, but in the morning/afternoon, it seems to usually be pretty isolated within the outfit (although you will have 21 other fish alongside you).
4)From what I have heard, dating can only occur during the academic day and free weekends. From the time you wake up at 5 to 8am, you will obviously be doing morning pt/training. In the afternoon, there will be formation, dinner, and then study time (usually within the dorm room monitored by the 1SG unless you are excused), and eventually, at 10 pm it is time to sleep. So obviously you won’t be wandering around with a girlfriend during those times.
Going back to point 1, having the academic day to hang out with your girlfriend means that your major is the main factor in whether or not you will meet girls. If your major is heavily male (like engineering or compsci), then you will mostly only be seeing men during the academic day (8am to 4:30pm Mon/Fri and 8am to 6:30pm Tues/Wed/Thurs), which is the only real time you have to meet girls (other than weekends, a lot of which have corps events so they aren’t free weekends).
Being in the Corps can feel very isolating. IF you can juggle the time and your grades, join a non-Corps Co-Ed campus organization. It will afford you the opportunity to meet other students and interact with them in a “normal” social setting. I’m not sure if you know this, but every moment your whereabouts must be accounted for, and you must have justification and approval for why you went where. Campus organization activities are approved, and can be be a blessed escape from cadet life.
Also, the attitude toward cadets, by non-Corps females, can range from complete aversion to a huge attraction, especially if you’re an upperclassman with awesome front row seats to the football games.