I’m not an expert in relationships. The relationships I’ve had didn’t last long, and I never really knew why. You always wonder why the guy broke up with you, and you go through all of the sob phases: the crying, the blaming, the “he’s the problem”… But this time, I researched what EXACTLY I did wrong.

Some questions like what do girls do that make guys want to break up with them, how do girls figure out what makes guys at Bingham tick, and what are some things that girls do that guys don’t really care about, but girls believe are a big deal, should be answered. Well, I made it my priority to share what I’ve found out about our guys here at the school.

There are a lot of things you can try to do to keep a relationship going; Mike Spencer, a senior here at Bingham who’s been dating for a year says that we should send romantic text messages, schedule regular date nights, try something new together, etc. But this article isn’t about what we should do; it’s about what we shouldn’t do.

I will admit that I didn’t take the same route as Kate Hudson’s Andie Andersen in How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, where she actually dated a guy and tried to lose him (spoiler alert), but I did survey many guys to get an estimate on what they dislike. Sadly, I didn’t get to kiss my own Matthew McConaughey…

I interviewed over 25 boys at Bingham High. The top things girls do that are deal-breakers to guys are: Not making time for them, not appreciating them, not allowing them to speak with other girls, having bad hygiene, and not allowing them to hang out with other guys.

These facts are not all I’ve found out about guys. Girls believe there are many things a guy will break up with them over, for example, crying in front of them. That couldn’t be further from the truth: out of over 25 guys, only one said he would break up with a girl if she cried too much. Things like having opposite political views and stalking him on social media, surprisingly, are not deal breakers.

Other things like having different religious beliefs, having no sense of fashion, using your phone all the time, controlling his social media, never returning his texts, and avoiding physical contact got a half and half result; so it really depends on what kind of guy you’re dating.

I learned that there were many things wrong with the way I was going about my relationships. I’m a little bit of a control freak, and apparently, a lot of guys don’t like that. I can either change myself or wait for the right guy to come around and accept me the way I am. Either way, now I know some things to watch out for when dating… and hopefully, this helped you too.