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I got into 'The League' — the Tinder for elites — here's what it was like

Molly Mulshine

2015-12-18T17:02:00Z

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The League is a dating app people love to hate.

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It's billed as Tinder for elites — a "curated" community of single people who aspire to become one half of a power couple.

Founded by a Stanford grad, it's super exclusive and reportedly has a waiting list of more than 158,000 people who are eager to meet Ivy League-educated, successful, and attractive prospects.

Thanks to a friend who earned VIP status on the app, a few weeks ago I got in and took a look around — but it didn't really live up to the hype.

Keep reading to see what it was like.

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First, I had my friend send me a link to join The League.

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The link took me to the App Store, where I downloaded the app.

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This was my first look at the exclusive app.

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The next screen made a lot of promises. I'm not really sure how the threat of voyeurs plays into online dating, but okay.

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The League links to Facebook, so I had to give it permission to access my info.

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The app also goes through LinkedIn. It's cool that they prevent people from your current company from seeing you. Nobody wants to run into a coworker on a dating site.

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Now for the fun part: filling out the profile.

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Followed by the REALLY fun part: Dictating exactly what I want in a match. The height-obsessed users of Tinder would love this.

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Now for the moment of truth ... am I good enough for The League?

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Nope, not quite. Or at least not yet. I was going to have to wait. But at least my friend's VIP status on the app meant I was bumped to the top of the list.

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While waiting to get in, I was able to play around with my profile. I wish I could take "Tinder Booster" off since I only follow that account for work, but I can't.

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Thankfully, I CAN take away the photo of me and my ex that auto-populated the app, though. I know from an interview with an online-dating expert that ex photos can be a deal breaker.

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Click here to read more about why you shouldn't post photos with your ex on dating sites.

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A few hours after joining the waitlist, I got in!

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They like me, they really like me! Reading the rules, I find it interesting that I only get to pick from a few guys per day. I guess that makes each match more special, but it doesn't sound as fun as Tinder.

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A cute but fake "concierge" sent me the ground rules.

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There are a lot of ground rules. Also, I'm pretty wary of anyone who uses the word "classy" unironically.

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Okay, can I see some guys already? It took a few minutes to load.

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When they finally appeared, I didn't end up liking that many of them. It felt cold and clinical to analyze people based on stats like their alma mater, height, and occupation. Tinder feels like a cocktail party where you're constantly flirting with people you like. The League feels like sorting through potential hires' résumés.

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And once I did "like" someone, if he hadn't liked me back, he stayed on the screen instead of disappearing as unfulfilled matches do on Tinder. This gave me some light feelings of rejection that I never experience while using Tinder.

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Once you do match with someone, you have 21 days to message each other. My matches look good on paper — they're mostly Ivy League grads who work in finance. But no one is messaging me! Is it because I went to state school or what?

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You can sort your matches by a few options including "Least Flaky," which seems weird to me. Doesn't "Least Flaky" just mean these are the guys who are talking to and taking out the most girls? That's not exactly a selling point for me.

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After trying it out, I don't think my future soul mate is on The League. Analyzing potential boyfriends based on their résumés really doesn't do it for me. And anyone who takes himself seriously enough to join a dating app for "elites" probably isn't my type anyway.

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Plus, I've always wondered: If everyone on The League is so great, why are they still single? If you're Ivy-educated, good-looking, and successful and none of the other million dating sites have worked for you yet, I don't see why this one would.

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