I’m not talking about too large age gaps since we all know when it gets weird but what are your thoughts on ones that are close in age such as HS senior/college freshman? I wonder this as I know many people who are in these situations, such as they started their relations in HS and now another party is starting college. Do you think these are strange/creepy?
I don’t think they’re weird at all. I know a lot of people who have been in this situation. But I will say that most of these relationships don’t seem to last, especially if the younger person ends up going to a different college. It’s hard to stay connected with anyone back home in your first year of college when so many things are happening.
Nothing creepy about it. But they are hard to maintain. The “Turkey Drop” (breakup over Thanksgiving weekend) is very common.
It’s not creepy. A seventeen-year-old and an eighteen-year-old are basically the same, even though technically one is a child and one is an adult. I think the actual age difference matters more than any difference in grade levels, especially since a lot of people go to college earlier or later than 18. My boyfriend is a year older than me, but he was a college junior when I was a high school senior.
I always laugh at this question. Does anyone think that a 32 and a 33 year old (or even a 32 and a 34 year old together ) is “creepy”? I am not saying that there aren’t special challenges in that gap between HS and college, because there are. But creepy is Hugh Hefner and 22 year old bunnies.
It’s not creepy. Just unnecessary.
My first serious boyfriend was two years younger than I was, and one year behind me in school. We dated for almost three years, but he was at MIT and I was at UT, so it was hard. He dropped me at Christmas, not Thanksgiving, of my junior year in college.
I was 22 and my future husband was 30 when we met. 
Worked out OK - we’ve been married 30 years.
I don’t think they are creepy at all. They are hard to achieve, but I have known quite a few successful ones. I think one reason why people may see them as completely differently is because when you enter college you will have much more freedom and a completely different range of experiences and priorities than when you were in high school. For some people this gap is difficult to bridge, which causes people to break up, but for others they maintain those relationships for long periods of time.
I also think the person in college meets so many new people all at once… that is one reason it is hard to maintain a relationship with someone you don’t see often.
@LBad96 I would love to know what is so unnecessary about it?
This hits me fairly hard because I am in a fairly new relationship. I have had a crush on her for a long time, but she finally started liking me back a couple of weeks ago. I am going a few states away for college and that concerns me because we are so new. She is a grade below me.
Not looking for advice by typing that. Just wanted to tell OP that there are many other people in his boat.
It’s no big deal, but intparent is right- they generally don’t last.
My first boyfriend and I started dating in my freshmen year of high school, his sophomore year. We dated until I was a sophomore. He never went to college but the age difference was the same.
On the other hand, I know a couple who started dating when she was a high school junior and he was a college sophomore. That was almost 10 years ago and I’m going to their wedding in a few months.
I dunno, I think hs junior and college sophomore is kinda strange. With freshman and senior, they are pretty close in age and probably not much different maturity wise but with the former, the gap is huge.
intparent, well the difference is that 32 and 34 are at the same life stage, while people tend to say how hs and college are different life stages.
When did he start college halycon?
He started as a sophomore when he was 17 (using AP credit). I didn’t graduate early, but I took college classes full-time in my senior year and I met him through those classes.
@ intparent or this may be a more extreme example but its ok for a 44 yr old to date a 39 yr old but it’s not ok for a 17 yr old to date a 12 year old