For most college students, opportunities to meet potential significant others are presented on Friday nights at the bars, in the classroom or through the suggestion of a mutual friend.

But for students like Engineering senior Rick, who wishes to remain anonymous, it takes just a few clicks of his mouse from the comfort of his room to access thousands of profiles on Datemyschool.com, an online dating website for college students launched by two Columbia University students last year.

Living in a generation defined by dependence on the Internet and an obsession with Facebook and Twitter, it seems natural that more and more people log on to Match.com, OkCupid.com and eHarmony.com to search for their soul mates.

Online dating, despite its unconventional methods, can be appealing for busy students like LSA senior Lauren Andrzejewski, the pressures of classes and extracurricular activities leave little time for a romantic life.

“I don’t even have time to go out, and when I do go out, I’m usually just with my friends and not really interested in meeting anyone new,” Andrzejewski said.

She noted the college scene isn’t exactly conducive to finding a significant other.

“Everyone is just so busy and has their own interests and so concerned about their future,” Andrzejewski said. “I think that a lot of people just aren’t even looking for relationships.”

Rick found out about Date My School when he happened to pick up a flyer in the basement of the Shapiro Undergraduate Library. He is one of the 800 University students with profiles on the website. After his roommate created a profile for Rick as a joke, he has been an active user for about a month and enjoys going on the site despite the stigma associated with Internet dating.

Rick added that Date My School differs from other sites like Match.com and eHarmony, which are geared more toward adults.

“I guess there’s kind of this camaraderie,” Rick said. “Everybody on the site knows that there’s this stigma with online dating. Yeah, there are girls on there that are trying to find their future husband, but at the same time, there’s an understanding of what’s really going on.”

Though he hasn’t gone on any dates through the site, Rick has talked to plenty of girls with the help of Date My School. Having a profile, he said, helps to facilitate conversation and is a handy tool that isn’t available when meeting someone in real life.

“It’s definitely different,” he said. “It’s difficult to pick up what you want to say to a person, but it’s easier at the same time because you can view their profile and see what they like.”

Humberto, a senior at the University who wishes to remain anonymous, has had a profile on Date My School for more than a year and also frequents OkCupid, a dating website that suggests matches for the members based on their answers to quizzes.

For Humberto, online dating allows him to engage in the dating scene while juggling his busy schedule. He said he feels this method is more efficient since everyone on the site is presumably looking for the same thing — a relationship.

“If you’re looking for somebody to date and you go to a bar, you don’t know if the other person is there for that (or) if they’re there just to have fun, and you might offend somebody if you ask,” Humberto said. “At least in this environment, everyone’s there because they want a relationship or some sort of thing.”

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With online dating, there’s an inevitable fear that the person on the other side of the computer screen might not be the same person described in his or her profile. In addition, online daters are often classified as people who have failed romantically in the real world.

For this reason, Humberto and Rick preferred not to reveal their real names.