This article is featured in the 2026 Winter Carnival Issue.
Maybe some of you spent your breaks like me — laughing at cheesy Hallmark movies with your family and scoffing as the girl decides to leave her job, her life and basically everything she’s worked for to go live with a guy who’s best personality trait is liking maple syrup. As someone who loves to hate on cheesy rom-coms, I enjoy watching that part when the spark between the main couple fizzles out and the girl realizes she sacrificed her life for some crunchy guy.
But this winter term, I didn’t need Hallmark sequels to see love die, I just had to turn to my friends. Winterim is notorious for being a time when freshman long-distance couples break up as they realize that their fellow classmates are way hotter than that high school sweetheart back home.
Interviewees were granted anonymity so they could speak openly about their significant others without getting into trouble.
One member of the Class of 2029 described how she broke up with her girlfriend “the second [she] came home.”
“It was too awkward,” the anonymous ’29 said. “Conversations were super stilted and everything she said started to annoy me. Honestly, I can’t believe we lasted that long.”
Another freshman described how his girlfriend came to visit him at Dartmouth, and then proceeded to cheat on him during the visit with another Dartmouth student. They broke up soon after.
Of course, there are many notable exceptions to the breakup rule. One Dartmouth couple has been dating since freshman year of high school and they’re still going strong. Both of them independently decided to come to Dartmouth, and they’re now continuing their relationship in college. While their story may rekindle some people’s belief in love, it’s a story that’s rare. Most freshmen I spoke with reported not dating anyone at all or breaking up with their high school girlfriend or boyfriend by the end of winterim.
Breaking up may seem sad in theory, but it’s a good experience for many students to have. After all, a breakup may be better than the alternative. One student said his roommate “just sits in his room talking to his girlfriend from home all day.”
“He doesn’t have any friends at college and just talks to his girlfriend constantly, for like 5 hours a day,” he said.
Being single sounds way better than that.
