College is an interesting time, because the differences between a freshman and a senior can be alternately glaring or subtle. I know quite a few upperclass guys who haven’t matured much since their years on the third floor of New South. And there are more than a few freshman who regularly impress me with wisdom beyond their years.

At the crucial junction between the ages of 20-22, a mere two or three years can make a huge difference. My friend Sarah, arguably a real-life Elle Woods from Legally Blonde, explains the female collegiate options: “men from 23 to about 30ish have functional relationship potential. Anything older than that is most likely a sketchy affair and anything below will result in unpleasant recollections of high school.”

Ah, high school. (Begin unpleasant recollection.) My first love was one year my junior. I admit this the way one might admit to cheating on a final exam — that is, not readily. Maybe it was that I had to drive him around until he finally got his license, or maybe it was that when I came back for weekends my freshman year in college, he still had a curfew. Perhaps it was throughout our three year courtship, his mother scheduled his orthodontic appointments — hell, she probably still does. Whatever it was, it was a turnoff, and when that ended, I vowed never to date a younger guy again. 24, 27, 32 — those are fine. 20? No. Not gonna happen.

Most girls I know feel similarly. One Georgetown grad confirmed the trend, alleging that women he had known or dated were overly obsessed with his "raw number," so to speak. “One particularly eccentric ex- girlfriend admitted she had hesitated to start going out with me because she was eight months older.” As I tell this story to my roommates, they nod with understanding — in her favor.

Our conversations regularly go like that; on any given day, my roommate CD and I check out numerous attractive males. “That one’s cute,” I say, spotting a particularly fine specimen in Darnall cafeteria. “Oh, no,” she’ll reply. “That one’s only a sophomore.” When I point out that the young man in question is actually the same age as she, she seems taken aback, then thinks for a minute. “I guess,” she nods. “but I would never date a guy that young!”

But why? We compiled the “Top Five Reasons Not to Date Younger Guys”:

1)    Beer, not wine
2)    Dorm room, not apartment
3)    Twin bed, not king
4)    Bike, not car
5)    Your little brother will mercilessly harass you

According to my ex-roommate Amber, the reasons to date older guys come down to “mo’ money, mo’ maturity, less mama.”

But what if he has too much money, too much maturity, too little mama? (wait … scratch the last — there’s no such thing as too little mama.)

I would describe myself as a confident dater (perhaps over-confident at times); I feel that I can hold my own with practically anyone, regardless of age. However, recently I was out with a fellow in his early 30s, and all of a sudden I realized that I had absolutely nothing to say. I guarantee you, this happens very rarely. There was just such a gap in our life experiences that it seemed as if any comment I made would be laughable or arbitrary. Him: “I’m going to Europe, the Middle East, and Australia next month for business.” Me: “Umm … I’m going home to Chicago for spring break!” The gulf seemed very wide indeed.

And yet, this man probably would have been out of my league, experience-wise, at the tender age of 26, a vintage year I would consider average among my dates.

So is it experience that makes a difference, or years? What you’ve done, or who you are? Should we really be that hung up on a number?

Well … not according to two upperclassmen I know. To protect the studs' identities, I’ll just call them “Mike” and “David.”

Mike, who started dating an “older woman” his freshman year here at GU, is still together with the now second-year law student. “Age just never seemed like an issue,” he tried to explain to me, ignoring my continued allegations that he must have tricked and/or drugged her.

“No, seriously,” I kept saying, “how did you do it, my man?? How’d you get her!?”

“It really wasn’t that big of a deal,” he concluded serenely and walked away.

Not that big of a deal??

David was slightly more illuminating. Although he admitted that age actually was the reason he and his older girlfriend had broken up, it wasn’t because of social pressures against such an unconventional union. Instead, the break-up rested on the differences in their lifestyles. “She had graduated; she was working a 9-to-5. I was still in college. It just wasn’t going to work out.”

That having been said, he explained that in a relationship, having common ground trumps age. One doesn’t necessarily need to have the same experiences or background to be compatible — but it helps. “More important is your mutual understanding about life: do you two share similar value systems? That’s what’s really fundamental.”

Maybe two people can transcend the year they were born.  Personal growth is not linear — life experiences don’t come evenly as we age, in nice uniform increments. Certain events make more of an impact upon us than others, change us in ways we would never expect, alter our worldview and subsequently, our personalities.

Like anything else, these rules of thumb are there to describe the average situation. When it comes to age and dating, we can guess what might work best, or what might not, but ultimately these are just guesses, nothing more.

And so it may be possible for a 22-year-old to have a crush on say, umm … a freshman, right?

Absolutely!  Because sometimes age ain’t nuthin’ but a number.