Dena Kronfield

So you’ve graduated high school, and are super excited about starting college in the fall.  It’s going to be awesome…or so you keep telling yourself.

New friends, dorm life, leaving home for the first time.  There’s only one problem: Your dearly-beloved significant other is not going with you.

At this point, you have to decide whether or not to make your relationship long-distance.  Before you make the decision, there are a few things to consider.

1) Time Spent Dating

This is going to sound harsh, but if you’ve only been going out for a few months, chances are when the distance sets in and you won’t get to see each other as often, you might be less inclined to stay together.  Also, if you’ve only been going out for a few months, you might still be in the “honeymoon phase” of your relationship, something the distance might bring to a crashing halt.

2) Distance

How far apart the two of you will be is obviously a big factor, too.  If you’re only going to college two or three hours apart from each other, you obviously can squeeze in several weekend overnights during the course of a semester.  If the two of you, on the other hand, are heading off to schools on opposite sides of the country, you might only be able to seen each other during breaks.  Consider how important this is to you before you head off to school.  You don’t want to be crying and hugging your pillow in Pennsylvania painstakingly counting down every hour until the light of your life returns from California… three weeks from now… if you don’t think you can handle it.

3) Communication

One of the only ways to keep long-distance relationships successful is to communicate constantly.  This doesn’t mean the two of you have to talk every day, but you should keep your communication regular, at a frequency that both of you are comfortable with.  Don’t take anyone’s B.S. about their phone bill being too high trying to stay in touch with you.  Skype is free, after all.

4) Relative Hotness of Classmates

This might make me sound like a dick, but the relative hotness of your classmates might mean failure for your long distance relationship.  I’m sorry, gentlemen.  You might be one sexy piece of ass, but if you’re a two-hour plane ride away from your girlfriend, and she finds there are other sexy pieces of ass right on her campus, well… you might get dumped.  The only problem with this last factor is that there’s no way to know if it’s going to affect you until you’ve already started school.

Remember, long-distance relationships aren’t for everybody.  After you’ve considered all of these factors, sit your significant other down and talk to them about your plans for the upcoming school year.  The worst thing you can do is assume you both want one, and then get upset when your boyfriend runs around with other chicks during freshman orientation week.