Step aside Tinder, there’s a new app on campus catering to the self-declared single-and-ready-to-mingles! Whether you’re interested in meeting new people or simply on the prowl, “Scrush” gives you a hall pass to shamelessly interact with people you’ve seen on campus but have failed to approach. This app serves as both wingman and mediator between scrushes (“secret crushes”)—what more could we ask for? I got a chance to chat with co-founder and first year Computer Sciences grad student Stephen Lazzaro about Scrush’s launch on the UW campus.
Q: First and foremost, what sets Scrush apart from the rising app Tinder?
Scrush lets you anonymously match with your secret crush on campus. You might be thinking that sounds a lot like Tinder, but the major difference with Scrush is that it’s all about meeting your matches in real life.
Scrush has all the great potential of a convenient dating app combined with the real world interaction of, well, real life. Scrush (secret crush) connects you to potential matches who are going to the same party, class or bar that you’re already headed to tonight. Swipe right on your crushes before hitting the party, get matches when the feeling’s mutual, and save yourself the embarrassment of that cheesy pick up line you’ve been rehearsing. With Scrush, you’ll break the ice, discover matches in your social circles, and easily take a virtual flirtation into the real world.
Versus Tinder, which is, let’s face it, a game. People “play” Tinder, get matched and have fun messaging when they’re bored. But do you really feel comfortable meeting up with these random strangers? Scrush is built around real world events. Instead of creating random digital interactions and hoping you’ll move them offline, we’re taking real world events and the places you already go, and giving you a tool for meeting people at those events and in those places.
Q: What’s the story behind its origin/how did you come up with it? Was it a collaborative effort?
The idea came from a specific event that my co-founders and I participated in at my undergrad (Haverford College). At the end of every year the school throws a formal “Senior Party” for the graduating class. One year, the committee for this event hacked together a program that allowed the seniors to send an email containing the names of five other seniors they wanted to hook up with. If any of the five people on a senior’s list had also put down their name in an email, then they both received a response notifying them that they wanted each other. This turned out to be a really popular addition to Senior Party, and it occurred to us that this functionality shouldn’t be limited to this one party, but rather we should be able to do this for any party we go to. Soon after, Tinder launched and became extremely popular, further proving the idea that people like the ability to make anonymous selections and get matches when it’s reciprocal. However, we felt Tinder had a flaw in that it’s not based around specific locations where people are likely to see and meet their matches. From this, we came up with the idea that these matches should be targeted to a specific event/place or school.
Q: Do you know of any success stories/have you had personal success with it?
We have already had a good number of matches at multiple schools. I do have some friends who have matched with people they had a crush on through Scrush which is really exciting to hear! We are looking forward to hearing about more successful matches as the app grows!
Q: How does it target campus-only students?
Scrush requires you to login through Facebook so upon login, it pulls your schools and events from Facebook and then allows you to choose from any of your schools or events in order to swipe through people. Unlike Tinder where you are seeing random strangers within some GPS distance from your phone, with Scrush you know who you’re swiping through as you are choosing to see either students at your school, or people who are going to the same party or bar as you.
Q: Do you think it’s having a positive impact on college dating in general, the use of an app to meet people?
I do think it can have a positive impact on college dating. At college, one of the biggest barriers to someone dating another person they are interested in, is the fear that they will be rejected by that person. Whether or not that person was already a friend, this problem of rejection still presents itself. Due to this issue, many people may never even get a chance at potential dates that they are interested in. Therefore, it can be extremely helpful if people were able to project their feelings for another person, without having to worry about getting rejected.
Q: How did you come with the name “Scrush”?
The name Scrush, which stands for secret crush, was actually developed by one of my co-founders. We liked the fact that secret crush personifies what our app is about. We also felt like it was really catchy and easily takes on multiple forms (“I have a new scrush”, “She scrushed me and I scrushed her back”, etc) so we decided to use it.
Q: What campuses are currently using it?
The campuses which currently have a considerable amount of Scrush users are here at UW-Madison, Haverford College, and Syracuse University. We do have users at about 500-600 other campuses. However, we have not formally marketed Scrush in the form of a Scrush event/party at any of those other schools. We are working on events at a number of those other schools but they have not been fully planned out yet.
Give your Scrush game a kickstart and download the app from the iTunes store before your crush is scrushed by someone else!
So you can go from this…
….to the fierce feline who can put her cheesy pickup lines to rest: