The Villanova Marriage Pact is a compatibility quiz with 50 questions that any student can take with the hope of being matched with their one, true love.  The questions revolve around what one values most in a partner. That is, the questions ask quiz-takers to rate on a scale of 1-7 how they feel about political views and religious affiliation, and how one feels about the use of drugs and alcohol.  Of course, the marriage pact asks personality questions too, including how outgoing, funny and smart a person is, while also considering personal goals, like the desire to rule the world. 

  All these questions are then compiled, placed in an algorithm and run with the results being almost entirely 1:1 matches with the most compatible person for you. Many people, upon seeing their results, are met with matches that are upwards of 90% compatibility, some even 99%.  However, as with any algorithm, there are going to be outliers.  I, for example, was one of these outliers.

         After filling out the questionnaire last year and receiving my results, I was met with an email saying “the algorithm doesn’t work for everyone” and “we’ll be the first to admit this match isn’t perfect (far from perfect, to be more specific).” My results matched me with someone whom I was 20% compatible with. As a math major, I understand that outliers exist in large groups of data such as this, so I was not wildly upset when I received these results.  

However, this year, after filling out the questionnaire for the second time, I was again met with the same email expressing that the algorithm is not perfect and does not work for everyone.  I was paired with the exact same person as last year and we received an equally low compatibility score of 21.47%.  Not only did the algorithm match me with someone I am incompatible with twice, it also matched me with the same person twice. A person who will clearly not become my one, true love. 

Junior Erin Costa was equally met with disappointment. 

“I was matched with a ‘friendship match’ for two out of the three years I did it,” Costa said. 

         With thousands of entries into the marriage pact, how could something like this be possible? This, of course, led me to ask the question of whether the marriage pact is simply an overrated questionnaire that pairs people up with no rhyme or reason. Of course, this is a question only a person in a circumstance such as mine would ask.  

So, my cynical views aside, I do not think the marriage pact is overrated.  Every other person I know was matched 95%, 96%, 99% with their matches. I truly am just an outlier in this marriage pact’s algorithm. In some ways, perhaps this is more impressive.  Being an outlier in a data pool containing thousands of applicants is quite unique. In general, the marriage pact seems to do a relatively good job of matching people up with compatible options.

         And, regardless of whether the algorithm created successful matches, the marriage pact sure is good at one thing: creating excitement. Every year when it is released students excitedly answer the questionnaire and upon submission anxiously await for the coming days when they will receive their email of destiny.  For that, the marriage pact should be proud of what they nurture on this campus. Getting students excited about something can be hard; however, the marriage pact does it with no issue. I guess any chance to meet someone who may be your one, true love would get anyone excited.