by Holly A. Phillips

 

Since kindergarten, we’ve been trained to know money doesn’t buy love. Maybe now, we’ve seen sometimes it buys us happiness in the form of a night at the bar or rent money. However, I have yet to see that cash can win over someone’s heart.

Patti Stanger is out to prove us and our parents wrong. Ms. Stanger is the owner and creator of The Millionaire’s Club, the subject of Bravo’s new television series “Millionaire Matchmaker.” Stanger is a third generation matchmaker who created the club for millionaire men and the women who want to date them.

If you’ve been studying too hard and haven’t seen it, don’t feel left out. While Stanger is successful in matching up her clients, her methods prove there’s much more to love than money.

Watching ten minutes of an episode will reveal Ms. Stanger’s habits in the way she treats people. The people involved in the club are not permitted to be themselves.

In order to get into the club the men have to be, you guessed it, proven millionaires. Stanger and her coworkers spend hours pouring over video footage of the men at their jobs and their mansions. Men must meet with Stanger and undergo an interview as to why they want to be matched.

Stanger is no sweeter to the women involved. While women don’t have to be millionaires, they do have to look a certain way and must promise not to sleep with the men in the club. Stanger advises all women to have long, straight hair and dress in ways that flatter their bodies.

Stanger could use a few lessons from college students. Love isn’t about what’s in our bank accounts or how impressive our homes are to others. In college, we are our raw selves.

Most of us are still learning how to juggle a busy schedule along with bills to pay and a decent social life. We might meet people on our way to class in our worst attire or in our very best at a decent bar. Maybe Stanger can brew love in ideal situations, with money piles and foreign cars, but college students can impress in fraternity houses or at a football game.

It is tempting to change for people who sometimes expect more; the girl who drives a Mercedes may not ride in my Ford, etc. However, being true to yourself is the best advice to carry with you in dating whether you’re 21 or 51.

We will always have ourselves to give when money is good or bad, when work is stressful or when we’re madly in love. My friend Mike, a senior at University of New Orleans, told me the most attractive thing about a woman is when she knows exactly what she wants and she isn’t afraid to get it.

If someone doesn’t love your curly hair, then they aren’t the one for you. If they can’t appreciate your knitting hobby, then it’s time to find someone else. Being yourself is what you know best and it’s the only thing you can offer to a partner.

Opportunities to change ourselves are endless and they’re everywhere.  If you attract someone after you’ve changed yourself, then you might never be able to be yourself again. No one wants to live like that; it’s tiresome and dishonest.

Maybe Ms. Stanger knows a formula for attracting men that I missed in my chemistry 2032 class, but I doubt it. While Ms. Stanger might make a sweet living matching up fake people, remember that she isn’t married either. Sometimes, being yourself might seem more difficult than changing, but it won’t be worth it in the long run.