I was chatting with some of my readers and they asked me if Christian Mingle good for college students? I had to do some research to find the answer.
Is Christian Mingle Good for College Students?
Christian Mingle can be good for college students but I cannot say it is the best choice for a starving student for various reasons. For the average college student, I’d recommend OkCupid instead.
What a College Student Would Like About Christian Mingle
Christian Mingle is the world’s largest online Christian dating community, boasting over 16 million members and is growing every day. What I like about paid sites is that people who are actually willing to put their money where their mouths are, tend to be more serious than someone that set up a profile by connecting their facebook account for free. Another site I like is eharmony. That’s where I met my wife. However, eharmony isn’t cheap and the questionnaire takes a long time (up to 40 minutes). Christian Mingle used to let you set up your profile and review your matches for free. Check to see if they still do that.
If you are considering joining the Christian Mingle Community the site is a good resource for Christians who are looking for a life partner. In fact, it’s the largest Christian dating site in the world–boasting a membership if 16 million+. However, there are some cons that need to be considered so in order for you to make an informed decision I will give you the Christian Mingle Pros & Cons.
- Extremely easy to set up a profile. You can just import your Facebook information with one click, answer a few questions, and start seeing your matches
- Christian Mingle has a very large member base with over 16 million Christian singles.
- The Statement of Faith listed on the website is Biblically based and accurate.
- The website is clean and does not use sex to sell their service.
- Part of a large Christian network of sites that are all Christian based and work to spread the Christian faith.
- Sign up is completely free as well as browsing through your matches.
- Offers real Christian singles in your own area.
- Gives its members an entire page outlining how to keep you safe while using their site.
But Hold On…
16 million single Christians eager and ready to find their life partner, what’s to lose?! Like the old saying goes the devil is in the details. While they have 16 million members what matters is how many of them are active. Of those 16 million members only about 160,000 (10%) of them accessing the site on a daily basis. Compare that to 66% of Facebook users who access the site every day. Another thing college student daters need to consider is that Christian Mingle tends to cater to crowds that are 30+.
160,000 is still a good amount considering that you only need one person to be your spouse. Since it’s free and super easy to create a profile (click one button) there’s no harm in visiting the site and browsing around.
Christian Mingle Alternatives
There are a few alternatives to Christian Mingle for college students. The two I’ll present to you today I really like because they are either free or offer a full free trial with no credit card required.
Christian Cafe
If you want to give online dating a go then also consider Christian Cafe. This site is Christian owned and the biggie for me is that they delete inactive profiles! I took the time to create a chart for you guys to compare Christian Cafe with Christian Mingle.
Christian Mingle vs Christian Cafe Comparison Chart
| Christian Mingle | Christian Cafe | |
| Price | 29.99 per/mo
|
34.97 per/mo
|
| Number of Users | 16 Million | 750,000* |
| Christian owned | ❌ | ✅ |
| Number of cool features | ❌ | ✅ |
As you can see Christian Mingle has some distinct advantages over Christian Cafe. Namely the price and number of users. For many daters that makes the choice pretty clear but hold on a second. Many Christian daters will appreciate that Christian Cafe is actually Christian owned while Christian Mingle is owned by a big corporate conglomerate–Spark Networks. This is the same company that owns sites such as Attractive World where users must pass a looks test in order to be accepted. I’d say that’s hardly a Christian value.
Christian Cafe Benefits
In addition, Christian Cafe has some distinct advantages that many daters will like:
- QuickMatch-A feature which suggests profiles who are compatible in terms of age, faith, location, and relationship goals.
- Ability to see if your message has been read
- Photo verification–All photos must be recent & clearly show the users’ face to be approved
- Inactive profiles are removed–This means you don’t have to worry about sending messages to users that don’t bother to check their profiles
- Actively managed–The Christian Cafe team doesn’t hesitate to remove troublemakers from the site
- Faith over finance–They know they could attract more users if they let people post scantily clad photos in bikinis and short shorts but they don’t allow that
- It offers ‘cafe’s’–Forums for members to interact with each other
- Free 7-day trial–Try it before you buy it
So you see while the user base is small it’s active. What good are 16 million or 16 billion users if 3/4 of them haven’t logged in for more than a year? Christian Mingle’s focus is on growth and numbers and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing those who are serious about their faith may be disappointed that their ‘matches’ aren’t as Christian as they’d hoped.
Christian Cafe while still a business puts faith over finance and works hard to create a truly Christian environment. This enables people of faith to find Godly matches who share their values. The best thing I liked was the free 10-day trial. This allows daters to see for themselves if the site is the right choice for them.
OkCupid
OkCupid is my favorite dating site for young people. They also have a matching system and it’s totally free to use. While of course, it has up-sales none of those are necessary in order to fully use the service. I know a few young people who met their spouse on OkCupid.
The site also allows you to tailor your matches to only Christian singles, but of course, there are no guarantees but it’s far less likely you’ll run into atheists and holiday Christians once you tailor your matches than on Tinder or Bumble. When I was in college I was broke and every penny counted. That’s why I highly recommend trying OkCupid before trying any paid dating site.
Wait, If OkCupid is so great then why don’t more Christian sites recommend it?
*whispers* Because OkCupid doesn’t pay website owners a commission for referring new users.
What are the downsides?
Like anything, there are downsides to OkCupid. Namely, because the users don’t have to put their money where their mouth is you’re still far more likely to get users who aren’t serious. You’re also more likely to run into holiday Christians than on a site like Christian Cafe or Christian Mingle. So while my overall recommendation for most college students is OkCupid it doesn’t hurt to set up a free profile on Christian Cafe or Christian Mingle just to see what’s up.
