 It's the day before Valentine's Day, and it would seem that love is all around on this typical college campus, however, that may not actually be the case. I have never been in love, so my college love life is just mainly consistent with a lot of one-night stands. The quote-unquote hookup culture has rapidly permeated through university campuses all over at what appears to be the expense of more traditional romantic values. It's just, it's just become so stereotypical college, which it sounds so bad, but it's so true. You know, you're just like, this is what people do that are our age, or this is what my friends are doing. They're not just on the bedposts, like that's actually true, the lists, that's true. The stats speak for themselves. In 2011, the National Center for Health Statistics released a report stating that more college students preferred short, casual sexual relationships rather than more committed long-term ones. Another study, conducted by Michigan State University, found that two-thirds of college students had been in a friends with benefits type of relationship. So why are college kids ditching relationships for hookups? Guys are really into just like, hit it and quit it from the ones that I've encountered. You have to know the drug and alcohol culture, like, at universities. I mean, like, it's a huge part of it also, and like, girls who have used that as an excuse and guys who have used that as an excuse, guys who have used it as an excuse. We all have. However, while boys and booze may often receive a lot of the blame, they aren't the only culprits factoring into this phenomenon. There's a new line of thought that today's college women are actually opting for casual encounters in lieu of serious commitments. But why? Today's collegiate women fear that a serious relationship may derail their career aspirations. An overly serious suitor presents a risk, and one that some girls hope to avoid at all costs. It's not on my priority list right now. Meet Katie Locke. As a second semester senior at Boston University, she's got a lot of things on her mind. A boyfriend, however, isn't one of them. My dating experience has been adventurous. I don't feel the need to make things official, not only because I don't remember what that looks like or what that feels like or how you're supposed to maneuver an official relationship. But I think that mine and other women I think are interested changed. I don't know anybody who wants a relationship right now, and I don't think that that is just a characteristic of being a second semester senior that's been kind of like a consistent trend throughout college. A recent BU survey found that more than 92 percent of female students see more emphasis placed upon hookups than relationships. I would say that being unattached is more valuable for a career-oriented collegiate woman, definitely. But not everyone on campus would agree with that statement. My husband and I met in sixth grade chorus in our middle school in Connecticut. Megan Wade, like Katie, is also a second semester senior. However, their views on relationships couldn't be more opposite. We got married Columbus Day weekend my junior year, so we got married on October 7th, 2011. Being in a marriage enhances my educational experiences and my career experiences because I have someone to share that with. I have someone to share the burdens, the stresses, the successes. Megan's acceptance to law school in the fall serves as testament to her belief that success and commitment don't have to be mutually exclusive. I think if you want both, you can have both. I think you can have it all. Still, as a married collegiate, she remains in a very, very small minority. When people found out I was married, I was kind of shunned at first because they thought, you know, she's not going to want to go out and have fun. She's not going to want to, you know, do things. She's just going to be this, you know, tightly wound married woman. I'm like, I'm still a college student. I can still go out and have fun. I'm just not going to hook up with random guys. I'm not going to, you know, be flirting and things like that. As for the rest of college girls, many seem to have accepted, if not embraced, the hookup mentality. I think that women have allowed the, and myself included, we've allowed the hookup culture to persist. And I think that they've just kind of, we've kind of accepted, you know, we've both accepted the expectation that is now upheld, which is minimal expectations. Reporting for BUTV 10, I am Victoria Price.