When it comes to love, it can be difficult to find “the one.” Some even believe that the United States suffers from a “marriage material” shortage. But at Brown, students are trying a new strategy: an online algorithm.
As the fall semester drew to a close, Chloe Jazzy Lau ’27 — a member of The Herald’s data desk — and Felipe Barbosa ’27 settled on a way for Brown students to find their perfect match: Marriage Pact. While the duo was optimistic about bringing the platform to Brown, they never expected it to grow into the phenomenon that it became.
When the platform’s five-person leadership team at Brown initially launched the questionnaire at 8 a.m. on Jan. 7, they had a goal of attaining 2,500 signups — or 30% of the undergraduates — according to Jazzy Lau. By 8 p.m. that day, there were 567 submissions and by the end of the week, 45% of the student body had filled it out. In the end, 3,158 signed up.
Marriage Pact’s origins can be traced back to 2017, when Liam McGregor and Sophia Sterling-Angus created it as a final project for a Stanford University economics course. The project soon spread to other schools, and today it has reached 100, including Brown.
For some, the platform has been a major success, according to Barbosa.
“30% of people actually meet in real life after Marriage Pact,” he said. “Three to four percent of people are still dating after one year.”
Although the idea at Brown seemed to spread quite naturally, the team described their marketing strategy as “intentional.”
“We wanted to be mysterious and come from all sides,” Barbosa said, explaining that students were more likely to sign up if they heard about it from their friends.
“I think Sidechat helped a lot,” said Natalia Baños Delgado ’26, a member of the leadership team, referring to the anonymous online social media platform for Brown community members. The first post announcing the platform’s arrival “blew up,” she said.
After students completed the questionnaire, the intrigue only heightened. They received occasional emails which provided hints at who their “match” would be. These hints included the match’s initials and intended concentration. According to Baños Delgado, these emails prompted a new wave of signups.
Jeffrey Pogue ’27, a member of the Marriage Pact’s leadership team, said the group’s project manager at Stanford instructed them to promote the platform anonymously to create a “more organic rollout” using a form of marketing called “astroturfing.”
Pogue believes that the team’s strategy was successful.
“I never met a single person within the final 48 hours who had not heard of Marriage Pact,” he said.
“The community at Brown is very open and engaged, so I didn’t see anyone refusing the idea,” said Brenda Subilhaga ’25, another member of the leadership team.
The platform’s popularity wasn’t limited to those looking for romance. In the final week of the signup period, the Bear Necessities acapella group used Marriage Pact’s aesthetic to promote their spring auditions.
The buzz around campus inspired many students to sign up for Marriage Pact, which officially released match results on Feb. 4. Some students have already connected with their matches.
For Aryan Sawhney ’28, who had a 100% match with his friend, the result was “humorous.”
“A part of me, I guess, wishes that maybe I could have met someone new. But I also think it was just a lot of fun,” Sawhney said. “We’re definitely joking around about it together, and I think I’ll probably send her flowers for Valentine's Day.”
“I got matched with my roommate,” Amy Park ’28 said. “We had a little laugh about it and then we moved on.”
Evan Li ’28 characterized his match as a success.
“We set a date for Friday to meet up,” Li said. “It’s kind of crazy how well it actually worked out.”
Talia Udelman ’28 also reached out to her match. “He seems like a cool guy. We’ve only talked a little bit, but who knows,” she said.
“It was cool to see Brown’s community come together (in) these ways,” said Jazzy Lau. “People want connection, people want to find love at this school.”
Amber Marcus-Blank is a senior staff writer covering undergraduate student life. She is a sophomore from outside of Boston studying Political Science and Public Health on the pre-law track. She is interested in working in politics and journalism in the future and enjoys playing soccer and making playlists in her free time.
