Academic Singles: Our experience with the dating site for educated singles in New Zealand

If you take a closer look at Academic Singles, you will quickly realize that in terms of quality, the website is among the best. This is immediately noticeable, for example, by the manual checking of the newly registered user profiles. Newly uploaded photos are always checked manually by the customer service.

This process is also quite strict. Too much naked skin is prohibited, photos in sports bras, for example, have been rejected.

The benefit of the manual photo check: hardly any fake profiles

We could not find any fake profiles in the Academic Singles test. Of course, this is no guarantee for the future. However, anyone who comes across suspicious profiles can report them. The button "Report member" can be found on every profile.

Nevertheless, we assume that the higher platform fees and the strict controls will keep fake profiles and scammers away.

Profiles are moderately well filled out

Unfortunately, not all members take advantage of the many options offered for designing their profiles. In our test, about 30% of the profiles were filled out individually. The rest were satisfied with standard answers. However, this is a problem that one encounters on many dating sites and dating apps.

Although Academic Singles as a dating platform provides many options for personalizing profiles, perhaps the operators would have to create more incentives for the majority of users to make use of them.

Sufficient contact suggestions in big cities - somewhat less in country areas

Due to Academic Singles' focus on a specific target group (educated singles and academics), one quickly notices here that the site is not the largest dating site in the country. The dating site is well visited, but there could be significantly more users, especially in country areas.

In cities we found enough members online, but in countryside it became difficult. The majority of users are between 35-55 years old. Even though the name of the site is "Academic Singles", it is noticeable that not only academically educated singles can be found here.

Is that a problem?

Not necessarily! In the end, it's about introducing singles to each other who live a similar lifestyle and belong to a certain social class. A degree from a university is certainly not the knock-out criterion when it comes to finding love.

Are you still wondering whether you can find the right partner here?

Our advice:

Just test out the platform yourself and make up your own mind, completely free of charge. As on almost all platforms, the basic membership at Academic Singles is free of charge. There is nothing stopping you from registering free of charge and creating a profile.

Registration with a personality test

Those who have registered with a dating site want to look for profiles of other members as quickly as possible. The platform operators of Academic Singles NZ, however, propose a different solution.

And which one is that?

During the registration process, you will first be presented with a short personality test. Based on the test (which every member has to fill out when registering) Academic Singles suggests members who should be a particularly good match for you.

Contact suggestions instead of individual search

There is no classic search function where you can search the entire member pool. However, you can change your general search criteria in the settings, and in future other contacts will be suggested who match the new search criteria.

However, in practice it has been shown that the preset search criteria are quite often ignored by the platform operators.

Why is that?

If you look in the help menu you will find the answer:

"Sometimes we introduce you to members who don't exactly match your search criteria . Our system looks for the best matches for you and does not exclude suitable matches just because a preference might differ.“

Where do you find the search criteria?

It's a bit hidden. To get here, you first have to click on your profile and then find the option "Search criteria“.

If you change the search criteria, however, you should know that the results are only visible after 24 hours if you have a basic membership. On the other hand, if you have a premium subscription, you can change the criteria several times a day.

Many options for individualizing profiles

The profile can be customized very well on the dating site Academic Singles. However, the menus are very hidden.

Only when you click on the "Sport" button, for example, will you notice that there are more questions and text fields hidden behind it. Therefore, the motto at Academic Singles is obvious: Give it a try and click on everything.

Once you have done this, you should have created a very good and individual profile using some creativity.

Good to know:

If you have answered all the questions in your profile, your contact suggestions will also be much better suited to you. A little diligence at the beginning therefore pays off. Your profile visitors will also thank you.

It's easy to make contact

The offers for getting in touch are also varied. Whether test questions, likes or personal message - you can choose between 5 options on how to contact other singles. That's what we really liked here.

What we like less ...

That the possibilities with a free basic membership are very limited. Profile photos are only blurred unless you have a premium subscription. Private messages can't be read at all and the "Who is online search" can't be used either. You can see who else is online, but if you want to click on the profiles, you are automatically redirected to the premium subscription page. In our opinion, Academic Singles should reconsider this approach.

The cost structure on Academic Singles is pleasantly transparent. There are no hidden costs or additional features for which you have to pay extra.

You can only choose from 3 different contract periods. The costs vary according to the length of the contract term:

You have the following options:

• 3 months premium subscription - 99.90 NZD (one-off payment at 299.85 NZD)
• 6 months premium subscription - 69.95 NZD (one-off payment at 419.70 NZD)
• 12 months premium subscription - 49.95 NZD (one-off payment at 599.40 NZD)

Can I also choose monthly installments when paying? No, unfortunately only one-off payments are accepted for all subscription types, which are due right at the beginning of the premium subscription.

By the way, no differences are made here between women and men. Both women and men have to take out the same premium membership if they want to chat and flirt with other singles. The costs are also the same for both women and men.

How to terminate Academic Singles NZ

To terminate your Academic Singles Premium subscription, it is best to visit your profile settings. If you scroll down the "Settings" page, you will see an option where you can manage your Premium account. Then follow the instructions there to terminate your Academic Singles subscription.

The cancellation period is two weeks prior to the end of the contract period. If you miss this deadline, your subscription will be automatically extended by the originally booked term. A tip: If you cancel directly after taking out the Premium Membership, you will not forget to cancel later. Of course, even if you have cancelled, you can still use all Premium functions as normal.