College time is often the time of first love, relationships, and new experiences. It also means meeting new people and new professors. Sometimes these things mix up, and students and professors fall in love with each other. So what is going on when this happens? We polled 1000 students and 1000 professors from all over the USA to find out!
How Do Students and Their Profs See Their Relationships
The relationship between students and professors has always been a complex issue. Someone may treat it as a problem, but someone, on the contrary, still considers their university professor a crush. But how do students and teachers themselves feel about this? And even more, so those who have had time to be in such relationships. This is what we wanted to find out.
Both students (69%) and professors (73%) mostly answered that they have favorite students or teachers, respectively. But just having preferences doesn't mean anything romantic. The reasons can be very different. Our next logical question was: what can make a student/teacher your favorite?
For the students, the answer was obvious. 84% said that the way the professor teaches is an essential factor for them. A pleasant, understandable, and modern approach to teaching makes good teachers stand out, quickly turning their class into the most visited one. 58% indicated the personal qualities of a professor as a factor that can turn them into a favorite one. 25% indicated how the teacher grades and only 16% stated appearance as a decisive factor.
The professors' answers varied slightly. Personal qualities were the most significant factor here. 75% chose it. In the comment to the question section, many respondents specified that among these traits, they value politeness and an equal and positive attitude towards other students and teachers the most. For 63%, the decisive factor was the academic results of their students. Respondents wrote that they love to see a student's commitment to learning and their academic discipline in particular. 13% of professors stated that students' appearance is valuable to them.
Are Romantic Relationships a Taboo?
But the fact that a professor or a student has a favorite person in class or a teacher to listen to does not mean they are connected with a romantic relationship. As we see above, the reasons can be completely different, from learning or teaching skills to personal qualities or politeness.
We wanted to find out how often professors and students enter relationships and how they relate.
First, we wanted to know the respondents' opinions about this relationship. 52% of students said that relationships with teachers should be taboo. At the same time, among professors, this figure was somewhat higher. 68% believe that romantic relationships between teachers and students are unacceptable.
Returning to the possibility of such a romantic relationship, we asked our respondents if they would date a professor/student if they were sure no one would find out. Here, the results have varied considerably. 48% of students said they could accept it and go for a romantic relationship with their professors, although this figure was only 17% among professors. We see that students are more open to romantic relationships with their teachers.
Among the teachers' comments, it was also often mentioned that their answer would depend on whether the student was currently in their class.
30% of professors noted that they know someone from their colleagues who dates or has ever dated a student. Among students, the same figure was 35%. We can see that even though only 17% of the professors said they would date a student, almost every third of them knows someone who did.
Never Have I Ever
Turning directly to the attitudes of our respondents, we have identified several interesting antecedent factors. 52% of students said they had a crush on a professor. 37% said they fantasized about their professors, and 29% said they had ever flirted with them.
Among teachers, these figures differed. 23% said they had a crush on a student. 22% fantasized about their students, and only 14% reached the level of flirting.
There is a higher number of initiated relationships among the students at 36%, yet the professors have started 33% of the connections. Only 31% of respondents belong to the category where no relationship has been started. The motivation for the relationship included the presence of romantic feelings, as one can see that 45% of students belong to this category. The second primary reason is related to seeking a new experience. Only 15% of respondents claim that they sought an older and/or more experienced partner. Contrary to popular belief, the problems with a current partner only make it to 10% of respondents. The better grades objective involves only 11% of respondents, while the professors that would hit on students conclude 19%.
Statistically, 57% of professors stated that they had had no crush on a student, while only 23% of respondents had a crush on a student. Flirting included only 14% of professors, while fantasies included only 22% of respondents. We can also see that 86% of professors did not engage in a romantic relationship.
Getting into deeper detail, 41% of students did not include sending photographs that contain nudity, virtual sex, or sexting. Most students with relationships with professors turned to sexting at 48%. According to professors, 40% of respondents sent nude photography to each other.
Now the main question is: how did the dating happen, and whether it has been secretly? The survey shows that 47% of respondents dated secretly, and only 11% of couples believed telling someone was acceptable. Likewise, 11% did tell someone, and only 11% decided to date openly. However, the actual going out on dates was limited to 22% of respondents. Only 19% of professors dated secretly, while 10% of respondents dated openly. Based on the survey, only 15% of professors listened to what their co-workers said.
When asked about initiating a relationship, 25% of respondents could not tell who had started it; only 8% of professors claimed they were the ones to start. Speaking of romance, 20% of respondents had romantic feelings. The students that started to hit on professors resulted in only 7%.
Without a doubt, there was a social judgment that was limited to 22% of participants, yet there is a higher number of 37% who did not face any negative consequences. There is equality between feeling ashamed of the situation and being judged by other students who knew of the case, at 19%.
Statistical data shows that fellow students mainly influenced students, while only 9% of college professors have faced negative opinions of what other professors thought.
The students said that the average length of such dating had been five months, where the most prolonged duration was 16 months, and the shortest was only one month.
According to professors, an average relationship lasts for three months, with the longest being at 10 months. It shows that college professors see the length of an average relationship differently, as the statistical survey data shows.
An exciting aspect worth mentioning is that 59% of students did not have their grades change, and only 25% of students got better grades due to dating. While most students did not consider relationships as a way to improve their academic studies, professors also did not consider changing anyone's grades. The professors stated that the grades weren't the deciding factor, at 38% of unaffected students and only 15% of those who changed their grades.
And What Happens Next?
The breakups are seen differently when comparing statistical data issued by professors and students. Only 33% of students stated that they feared the consequences that might have happened theoretically, while only 13% broke up because of the actual consequences that have taken place. The social judgment factor has resulted only in 24%. Professors said they feared the possible consequences at only 26% of respondents. The actual consequences have resulted in only 8% of professors. The students were more willing to discuss the situation. There are similarities in terms of apprehension regarding the actual versus possible consequences.
The students also belong to 49% of respondents that noted that they were the ones who initiated the breakup. Compared to what professors said, only 10% of students were the ones to start the breakup. Only 33% of professors claimed that they initiated the breakup.
The further statistical data states that 58% of students did not regret having a relationship with a professor. Only 22% of students felt sorry for the situation. Speaking of professors, 32% of polled individuals did not regret having a relationship, and only 19% had regrets. None of the above replies was 49%, with the "never had" among professors and only 20% among students. It shows the significant differences between being honest regarding regrets and outcomes.
Was it a Perfect Match?
The students claimed that only 56% of surveyed individuals had used dating apps. The professors stated that only 43% of them turned to dating apps. 
Regarding seeing professors on dating apps, only 42% of respondents have seen them. 45% of professors claimed that they had seen their students. We can see the similarity in this regard.
The dating app matching feature has been successful only in 67% of cases. 60% of college professors had their students matched to their profiles on dating apps.
The answers for students and professors are similar regarding all the questions mentioned in the survey. The final matching rank is high except for the provocative questions in both scenarios.
Statistically speaking, it's apparent that both professors and students have placed "yes" for the third question compared to the second. The fact can be explained by the aspect of dating the ones that they could not see during the class.
