Everyone complains about the lack of dating at Stanford. Fewer people actually do something about it.

Perhaps this is because we’re all still thinking inside the box. Maybe we’re limited by our concept of what dating is and should be. We still consider dating to start off with the usual phone call, followed by dinner and a movie.

But times have changed. We’re part of a new generation geared towards instant gratification. We value efficiency, speed and multi-tasking. So why not apply these same standards to dating?

The graduate students who planned the “speed dating” session in the Graduate Community Center last Friday took these ideals seriously. Their program consisted of 50 men and women who each went on a total of 25 three-minute dates before the night was over.

On any other day, the recreation room in the GCC would have looked like any other rec room — white-washed walls, fold-up chairs and prison-like windows. But on Friday night, the room was transformed into a dating paradise.

There were five tables, placed in a pentagon formation, surrounded by chairs on each side, so participants could face one another. Rose petals and Dove chocolates had been sprinkled on top of the tables and candles were placed around the room.

The organizers placed miniature lamps in each corner of the room and jazz music played in the background. There was a center table covered with various sweets and more than 20 bottles of wine.

The atmosphere was slightly romantic, yet somewhat awkward.

I walked in half an hour early and was instantly identified as the reporter. I don’t know what about me screamed “undergrad and Daily writer,” but the possibility of blending in looked pretty slim.

I immediately began to help out, attempting to diffuse my image as the sketchy journalist who would expose their identities and secrets to the undergraduate community. As people started to trickle in, the room filled with the hum of nervous conversation.

By 9 p.m., all of the participants had arrived and were assigned seats. There were 26 men and 24 women, which meant that I was able to take one of the open female spots. We had three minutes to talk to each person and then the bell would sound and the men would have to move one spot to the left to go on their next date.

At every seat there was a check list with all the participants’ names and short bios. The idea was that if you liked someone, you would put a check by their name, and if you did not like him or her, you would leave it blank. At the end of the night, you would get the contact information of every participant that you checked and checked you back.

I sat down across from participant number 24, and tried to think of possible conversation topics. There was nothing about him that immediately set him apart from an undergrad. In Diesel jeans and an Urban Outfitters T-shirt, he looked like a pretty normal guy.

Like most of the men I met that night, he was in the engineering department, which is known for its 8 to 1 ratio of men to women. His reasons for attending the program paralleled much of what I heard throughout the night.

“In the graduate community you really don’t meet people easily,” he said. “You’re pretty confined to your department, and in terms of dating that can be rough. You go to an engineering party and it consists of little pods of men surrounding one woman.”

He argued that living circumstances also made meeting women difficult. Most graduate students either live off-campus or in Escondido Village, which is a collection of separate apartments. There are no dorm trips or house events that bring people together in a social context.

“It’s hard because I feel so much more connected to the undergrads,” said one female co-term participant. “I thought that this event would be a good way to become more part of the grad student world.”

Many of the students said that the last speed dating event last quarter, organized by Lyman graduate residences, really helped to fill some of these social gaps.

“I got three great dates out of it,” said one participant. “One of them turned into a substantial relationship.”

When asked why he was at the event if he was already dating someone, he shrugged and said, “I already signed up for this event and we’re not that serious.”

By the time I had finished five conversations, my voice was gone and it was painful to smile. I looked down the line, and realized that I was only one-fifth of the way through.

All of the guys had been pleasant and interesting, but asking multiple people the same questions was exhausting. When I got to participant number 16, I was snapped out of my trance by his accusatory tone.

“So you’re the reporter,” he said. “Are you now going to go back and report that grad students are even sketchier? Like we don’t have to deal with that enough.”

This was a theme I dealt with all night. I found myself struggling to defend the undergrad opinion of grad students. I assured him that not everyone thought all grad students were sketchy, but it was just the occasional rub at a party or awkward moment in the CoHo that gave them a bad name.

“I don’t blame [the undergrads],” said participant 13. “If I was an undergrad girl and saw five engineering grad students coming at me at a party, I would probably run. You just have to realize that we’re not all like that.”

Many of the participants were enthusiastic about shedding the “sketchy grad student” image and mixing with undergraduates more often.

“I think the sketchy image is a myth that actually hurts the undergrads,” said one participant, who is currently casually dating an undergraduate. “If you think about it, we’re smarter, we’re older and we’re poised to make more money. Undergrad guys are barely over puberty. It would be to the girl’s advantage to consider us.”

By the time the night came to end, I had promised my speed dates that I would try and set up more events to mix undergrads with grad students. At the very least, undergrads should take note — the concept of speed dating is an ingenious, time-saving and effective way to meet the maximum amount of single people in a limited amount of time.

So next time, instead of RAs planning summer camp-like events for their residents, perhaps they should introduce students to the new version of campus dating.