ClassmateCatch dating website launches for U of O students
Ali Schwabe | Fulcrum Staff
Photo by Justin Labelle
THIS SEPTEMBER, OTTAWA-based web development company Nosco Media Inc. launched a new dating website exclusively for college and university students.
ClassmateCatch.com is currently open to only four schools, including the University of Ottawa. Managing partner Christopher Gimmer says he came up with the idea when he was a Carleton student struggling to meet girls.
“I found it was difficult to meet girls outside of my program, especially once I got into third and fourth year. The classes got really specific and I was always taking classes with the same people,” says Gimmer. “This site makes it much easier to interact and find dating partners outside of your faculty and even outside of your university.”
Gimmer’s business partner and former U of O studentv Marc Chouinard elaborates.
“It’s kind of hard for people who don’t live on campus in res to meet other people. You have such a busy schedule with all the commute that’s involved, so it’s hard to stick around just to meet people,” he says. “The site creates an opportunity for those who don’t live so close to school to meet others and then further connect offline once they’re in school.”
ClassmateCatch has a number of features that make it unique in the online dating world.
“Obviously, the main difference is the fact that it’s a student-only dating website,” Gimmer says. “Users will need their school email to sign up, and you’ll get a confirmation email sent there, and that’s how you have to verify your account.”
“The site, I feel, is trying an innovative approach to online dating in that it limits its member base,” says Sam Zokaei, a political science student at Carleton University who signed up for the site shortly after it launched.
Besides being exclusive to students, the site is also private. Only registered users are able to view other users’ profiles and contact them through live chat or by sending a message.
Another perk is the cost, or lack thereof.
“It’s 100 per cent free,” says Gimmer. “Even though there are a lot of other dating sites, like Plenty of Fish for example, where you still have to pay for certain features on the site, there’s not one feature on our site that we charge for. It’s legitimately, absolutely, 100 per cent free.”
Chouinard explains that the site works as a simple search system rather than a complex match system. Users can see who’s online, who goes to their own school, who recently joined the network, and more.
“At the moment, it’s fairly basic,” he says. “We’ll be adding more features to the site as it develops, but for our Sept. 1 launch date we wanted to keep it very basic, very user-friendly, and simple in its design.”
“It caters to students and helps them find what they are looking for within their school community,” says John Pilbrow, a third-year double minor in history and theatre at the U of O.
“Whether students are looking for a fling or something serious, the site helps them find someone in their program and school and keeps it a small environment.”
Jeanna Harrison, a first-year aerospace engineering student at Carleton University, is hesitant about online dating, but sees the new site’s potential.
“I’m not a huge fan of dating websites because I think it’s better to meet people in real life,” Harrison says. “I think that ClassmateCatch is a really cool idea because I am virtually friendless going into first year, and I think once more people get onto the site it’s going to be really successful.”
Gimmer and Chouinard aren’t worried about stigmas associated with online dating.
“I know so many people in relationships who have met online. Because it’s students only, it also further alleviates that stigma,” says Gimmer. “Just based on the feedback we’ve gotten so far, everyone is so excited about it.”
ClassmateCatch is currently open to students at the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, Algonquin College, and Queen’s University.
