Sex Survey 2025

Dating at Imperial: flatcest and hook-ups

Felix

14 Feb 2025 — 3 min read

Every couple has their meet-cute story. May it be at the bar, or at a party, or because you both sat down next to each other at orientation and locked eyes. I admit, the last one is straight from a rom-com.

Interestingly enough, the majority of students met their partner before they even entered university. Hence, the most common place to meet a potential partner is via the second-place answer: via friends (34%). Thanks to inter-sex accommodations and the digital age, accommodation (23%) and dating apps (19%) follow suit.

Even though there may be a popular idea in media to meet your partner at a nightclub (12%), remember what Ed Sheeran said, so you should probably avoid the club and try the bar.

Which dating apps do you use?

66% of students said that they are not on—and never have been—on dating apps. However, Hinge is staying strong as the number one dating app. Admittedly so, Tinder has received a reputation for being a hook-up up and Bumble limits the first-step action to females, an awfully exhausting and unnecessary task. Muzmatch, the world's only Muslim dating app, has received 1.15% of Imperial College's attention. (Included in the survey at Editor Mo's suggestion.)

Have you committed flatcest?

Changing the topic to flatcest, where two individuals who share a flat decide to become economic and share only one bed, Imperial has only 15% of students try this new money-saving hack. Yet is it really, if the majority did so in their first year in their own halls? The more interesting number is the number of second-year students (23% of respondents) who thought that moving in together in first year was a great idea and realised it was an even better idea once they had neighbouring rooms.

The question posed: “What year of uni did you commit flatcest?”

Lastly, sex before starting a relationship is very popular. It does not hurt to try and see before jumping into a relationship, but that is different for each individual. Overall, the most common answer was Relationship (32%), followed by Acquaintance (21%), Situationship (13%), Friend (11%), Close Friend (8%), Married (6%) and Engaged (1%). Of course, things can change...