For the past two years, students at the University of Toronto and several other global institutions have taken part in the algorithmic matchmaking event known as The Aphrodite Project. The project claims to “algorithmically provide you with one most optimal stable match from your school…based on your response to [their] questionnaire based on extensive primary and secondary research.”
Students are able to search for an ideal romantic or platonic match, who they are then able to contact just in time for Valentine’s Day. The questionnaire itself is incredibly extensive, though perhaps not as accurate as it appears it should be. The Strand reached out to a variety of students to see how they honestly felt about their match last Valentine’s Day—and if they’ve given it another shot a year later.
The Questionnaire Itself
The 2021 Aphrodite Project’s online form consists of an approximately 20-minute-long survey, which aims to collect data about an applicant’s demographic information; “dealbreakers”; hobbies; values; and behaviour in order to secure an ideal match. There is a wide variety of different questions in different formats, ranging from one’s own sexual orientation to one’s comfort level with a partner who is a user of hard drugs. Some questions are multiple choice, others on a spectrum or scale, and one requires participants to allocate 20 “coins” to different aspects of their personal lives and aspirations.
It appears as though the Aphrodite Project might be more thorough in its blind matchmaking than a commonplace—and frankly, physical attraction-based—dating app, such as Tinder or Bumble.
“I honestly liked the format quite a bit!” says second year student, Emily*. “It was sleek, user-friendly, and asked insightful questions on a range of topics. It kind of felt like one of those Buzzfeed quizzes/surveys where you’re just doing it for fun but also get to self-reflect while doing it… I also found the questions nice and open-ended, with lots of opportunity to input responses that would best reflect you overall.”
Another student, Aurora, felt similarly: “it can definitely be weird to think of something as amorphous as love and attraction in a tabular manner, but I think we all have certain things we look for in a partner even if we aren’t aware of it, so in a way the questionnaire helped me reflect on what qualities I seek in people!”
Though perhaps helpful for self-reflection, in terms of actual question-type, some students were on the fence: “I like the multiple-choice questions, but not the ones where you just type your interests. because I feel like someone could have the same interest as you but just spelled it differently” comments Hannah, a fourth-year student.
Other students, such as Wyatt, were completely unsatisfied with the nature of the questions: “The form was way too vague. Quite frankly, it didn’t include enough deal-breakers that matter to me… The thing also failed to give you a chance to indicate your own status, just preferences in a partner for others… suppose you’re comfortable with a drinking partner but don’t yourself. [There was] no way to indicate that… the [scale of] 1 to 7 is not great. It’s unclear and fails to weigh how different people may have different levels of self-awareness.”
Meeting your Match
Despite the lengthy questionnaire and claim of a “most optimal match,” it appears as though most students interviewed found their matches to be underwhelming, if not completely inaccurate.
“None of my matches worked out.” Wyatt explained.“I talked with them for a while, but neither was my type nor I theirs.”
“I never ended up reaching out to my match (nor did they reach out to me); I was honestly a bit overwhelmed by school at that point and didn’t feel I had the energy to meet someone new,” says Emily.
“The person I was matched with and myself never ended up becoming anything other than Instagram followers for each other, but it’s still funny to think about how that’s our association for each other,” comments Alex.
Hannah says: “I don’t think my match was very accurate, we never talked because he didn’t leave any contact info.”
“I’m not sure an algorithm is the best matchmaker out there and the success rate of my past matches definitely speaks to that. I don’t really know anyone whose match led anywhere, which is definitely not the best” Aurora adds.
Data Collection
An interesting component of this project is that following the matchmaking, some participant data is anonymized and sent out in a “brief aggregated data report,” as discussed in Section 4.3 of their Privacy Policy. Last year, this consisted of a variety of graphs about the UofT student body. Some students were unimpressed with the practice: “I barely have words for how much it annoyed me…the data output was useless. It simply confirmed a few stereotypes and failed to generate much useful data. It also claimed to be representative of the student population without noting selection biases in both the original pool and the responses. I wrote a lengthy rant when they sent it out, actually,” explained Wyatt.
Others found it interesting: “I thought the data was cool and really interesting, but I understand why someone might be mad about it being released, or that it presents it as if it represents the full student body,” comments Hannah.
So, would you do it again?
For the most part, yes. As a whole, most students who were interested in participating again this year—even with unsatisfactory matches last year—found some fun in a little virtual matchmaking.
Emily commented, “I did do it again this year for Valentine’s Day! I thought it would be cool to see how the format has changed, and value the chance to form new connections during quarantine. I don’t have many expectations regarding the outcome; I honestly just like filling out the survey!”
Others simply reflected on their experience with a fun anecdote. Alex mentions: “the person I was matched up with ended up being in two of my tutorials last semester.”
Another student explained that they “got matched with a TA who sent me a link to his meme website.”
If not for the fun, as Aurora puts it:
“I feel like assimilating to online dating is just a part of the 21st century, especially during the pandemic, so I’m definitely open to try [the project again] but it’s mostly because a lack of any better options. Worst case scenario, you get ghosted!! And that’s like, just another day on a dating app.”
*All student names have been changed.
