On Feb. 3, 4,867 Boston College students received a long-anticipated, eagerly awaited email.
The results of the BC Marriage Pact were in.
The Marriage Pact, which claims to offer participants “the optimal back-up plan,” utilizes a questionnaire backed up by Nobel Prize–winning economics to pair students with their most compatible match at BC. Since its arrival in 2020, its matchmaking process has sparked excitement and buzz among students on the Heights.
This excitement intensified as thousands of students checked their inboxes—many of them at the BC men’s hockey Beanpot Semifinal game—to learn the name of their algorithmically perfect other half.
In the weeks since, though, another question has arisen: Does the compatibility percentage generated by number-crunching calculations and computer algorithms translate to compatibility in the real world?
For BC students, the answer can vary widely.
“Why Not?”
Many students filled out the Marriage Pact not expecting to find a serious relationship, let alone the “optimal back-up plan.”
“I was bored, and all my friends were doing it, and I didn’t do it last year, so I just wanted to try it out this year,” said Gabrielle Edwards, MCAS ’27.
The anticipatory feeling across campus was hard to deny—and it played a major role in driving student involvement.
Talk of the Marriage Pact seemed to take BC by storm as flyers circulated and students speculated about their match using initials and majors, which were provided as clues ahead of the release.
“Everyone was doing it,” said Claire O’Sullivan, MCAS ’28.
Sahithi Thumuluri, MCAS ’25 thought it would be fun to fill out the pact—but didn’t exactly think that it would result in a successful pairing.
“I don’t think I’ve ever actually done anything with my match,” Thumuluri said. “I’ve never actually pursued it, but it’s just kind of fun to get a name. And a lot of the times my friends will get people we’re also friends with, so it’s kind of funny to see who gets matched with who.”
Nonni Schwartz, MCAS ’25, approached it from a “why not?” perspective.
“I did it one year and I got a friend match, so I kind of wanted to do it just to see if I could get an actual match,” Schwartz said. “But I feel like I kind of just did it because I was like, ‘Oh, it’s senior year. Like, why not? What have I got to lose?’”
Other students shared her sentiment.
“I thought it’d be funny—kind of something interesting,” said Peter Wycoff, MCAS ’28. “Some of my friends who are sophomores and juniors and seniors were all saying that it was fun, so I thought, ‘Why not?’”
The Marriage Pact also provided an opportunity for students to meet new people, whether it be romantically or platonically.
“I thought it was a fun way to get to know someone, regardless of whoever you get,” said Sagarika Sriram, MCAS ’28.
Bradley Perlman, MCAS ’28, said he saw the Marriage Pact as a chance to form new connections with the BC community.
“I thought that if anything, even if the person that I matched with wasn’t someone I necessarily could be in a relationship with, I could gain a really good friend or another person to help me along my BC journey and learn from and grow from,” Perlman said.
Reflecting on Results
Unconfirmed stories of marriage pact outcomes are like urban legend at BC. Rumors of matching with exes, roommates, and even twins, though unverified, spread quickly across the student body.
For a majority of participants, however, Marriage Pact outcomes are largely unremarkable.
“My results were fine, but I’m not looking for anything, so I literally just did it for vibes,” said Sophia Mosqueda, MCAS ’27. “It was just like ‘Oh I see, that’s who I got,’ and then I just moved on about my day.”
Other students had similar experiences.
“I just followed her on Instagram, and that was it,” Wycoff said.
Thumuluri said she later ended up in class with one of her previous matches.
“I’ve never pursued any of them,” Thumuluri said. “I’ve always been kind of disappointed by my matches. I ended up in class with one of them a couple semesters later—that was unfortunate.”
Schwartz said she already knew her match from freshman year, as they were roommates with one of her good friends.
“I didn’t think we were super compatible, so it’s a little surprising,” Schwartz said. “But nothing happened with that one. It was like, ‘Oh, wait, I know that person. They knew me as a freshman. That’s scary.’”
Some students are met with unexpected surprises when receiving their Marriage Pact results. Perlman said one of his friends matched with someone who was already in a relationship.
“I felt really bad for him because he was really anticipating getting his Marriage Pact and was kind of theorizing who his initials were, but unfortunately, the person that he got was taken,” Perlman said. “I did feel really bad for him there. I don’t know why somebody would choose to fill it out if they were already in a relationship, but here we are.”
Another common outcome, especially for women looking to match with a man, was receiving a “friend match” due to the disparity in participation—more women than men filled it out.
While some people might dismiss this type of match, Sriram said that she took the opportunity to meet with and become friends with her “friend match.”
Shajani also received a “friend match.”
“I got my best friend from my friend group,” Shajani said. “It was kind of crazy. It was funny, I guess, because we’re such similar people.”
Matches Made in Heaven
For a lucky few students, the Marriage Pact has been a success.
Matthew Eichelman, MCAS ’25, began dating his girlfriend after the two matched during their sophomore year.
“I didn’t expect any outcome,” Eichelman said. “I just thought that it’s like a thing everyone does—it’s kind of a fun thing. Worst case, nothing happens. Best case, something does happen.”
Lucy Michael, MCAS ’26, and Adam Hassanein, CSOM ’26, also found themselves in a best-case scenario. Like Eichelman, they filled out the Marriage Pact with no expectations.
“More so my motivation behind filling it out was just a fun thing and not necessarily actually thinking I was looking for anything,” Michael said.
After the two matched, Hassanein decided to reach out to Michael via Instagram.
“I was like, ‘Oh, she’s super cute,’” Hassanein said. “And then I figured, ‘Why not reach out?’ It’s kind of the point of the marriage pact, but half—I’d say more than half the time—no one ever actually ends up reaching out. But in my case, why not? She seems cool.”
After DMing Michael, the two went on their first date to Playa Bowls.
“ I think we’ve just, in general, found that everything has gone super smoothly, maybe because, I mean, we were a 100 percent match,” Michael said.
Michael acknowledged that she has friends who were not compatible with their matches, but in the end, the match worked out very well.
“I think it’s a story of a true modern romance,” Hassanein said. “Meeting through Marriage Pact—DMing and stuff—it ended up going way better than I think I could’ve imagined, or Lucy could’ve imagined.”
Eichelman, Michael, and Hassanein all said they would encourage other BC students to participate in the Marriage Pact.
“I was telling all my friends to do it because there’s nothing to lose, so I think it’s totally good to just put that option out there … I think people should definitely always do it,” Michael said.
Veronica Pierce contributed to reporting.
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