Scott Brooks, a 29-year-old Dallas resident, was frustrated trying to meet women.
An outgoing University of Texas graduate, he met women at bars and online, but while many of his friends were marrying women from other universities, he struggled finding the type of high quality female he was looking for.
“I might go to a bar and meet a girl, but are we really going to connect?” he said.
To Brooks, the solution was Ambitious Singles, Inc., a group of Web sites he says combine high quality, educated people with the ease of online dating by connecting people from 28 universities.
The first site went up July 4, and six weeks ago the company added www.lsusingles.com. The Web site is open to students, faculty, alumni and friends of the University, which can be anyone from an LSU fan to someone who went to LSU for undergraduate studies and now attends school elsewhere.
Many students may have received an e-mail to their PAWS account about the site this week. Brooks said the site is not affiliated with the University.
The students who he e-mailed, he found their e-mail addresses on the LSU Web site, www.lsu.edu.
He chose to add LSU to the site because of its reputation for academic excellence and loyal following.
LSU is in the top five for schools with the most number of people signed up, Brooks said.
The network includes about 3,000 members and is steadily growing, with more than 400 people joining this past week.
The members are about 55 percent alumni and 45 percent students. Alumni like the site because social networks can shrink after college graduation, Brooks said.
“It’s harder to meet people when you have a normal job and you’re stuck in your little routine,” he said.
What sets the site apart, Brooks said, is the variety of people someone can meet, whether it’s an LSU fan or a football player from the University of Wisconsin.
“There’s really been lots of different types of people,” he said.
The diversity of people using the site is one of the positive responses Brooks said he has received so far. Another feedback he is working on is creating a way for members to identify their sexual orientation.
Membership for the site is free, but Brooks said within the next two weeks males will have to pay a monthly membership fee, ranging from $9.95 to $14.95.
The more months they sign up for at a time, the less it is per month. But women will still be allowed to use the site for free, he said.
“Most dating sites are majority guys,” Brooks said. “Guys just seem like they are more aggressive about picking up the opposite sex.”
Brooks also said, girls who would be considered in demand are not likely to pay a membership fee to meet people.
Without a membership fee, men can still browse the site, but will not be able to e-mail anyone whose profile is posted.
Another benefit for women is they do not have to worry about being harassed by people they meet through the service, Brooks said.
According to its online policy, harassing or threatening e-mails will not be tolerated, and some things members are not allowed to use in their profiles include harsh or abusive language, sexually implicit remarks or comments and anything that is politically/socially inappropriate.
“That happens a ton. It’s amazing how prevalent that is today,” he said. “But that’s just the world we live in.”
That world is the reason some students said they would not sign on to an online dating Web site.
Amber Rabalais, a communication disorders senior, said she knows people who have had good and bad experiences dating people they met online.
“I wouldn’t do it because not all people are truthful,” she said. “People are more apt to lie to people when they don’t have to see them face to face.”
Jing Hua, an accounting senior, agreed that she doesn’t think online dating is secure for women.
“Online they can use a not real name, age or something,” Hua said. “It’s more like cheating.”
Chad Holland, an undecided sophomore, said he thought the idea of meeting people over the Internet was impersonal.
“I don’t think you can totally read someone over the computer,” he said. “I think manners and interaction show a lot about someone.”
However, Janae Verrett, a general studies senior, said her friend, who used online dating sites, recently got engaged, so “it must work sometime.”
So far Brooks has not heard of any long term love connections created through an Ambitious Singles Web site, but as he said, it’s only been eight weeks.