You are probably wondering, “What makes Dr. Fisher think she’s so qualified to tell me if I will have chemistry with some one or not? How can just taking a test tell her who I would be compatible with?” Quite easily actually. The test allows the site to analyze your personality and your likes and dislikes, much like the Meyer’s Briggs Test. When you sign up for the site you are asked a series of questions. There are four parts of the test: self perception, communication dynamics, personal traits and preferences, aspects of identities. You answer the questions based on a scale of a little, quite a bit, very much, and completely. Most of the questions you must select your answer from these scales. In my case, I was generally in the middle for most of the questions. As you progress you then answer questions about your former relationships and the ideal personality of a future partner. This seems standard enough. Most dating services ask you what you see in yourself and what you want in other people to narrow down the search a bit. However, there are a couple unique questions. For example, you are asked to describe the length of your index and ring finger in correlation to the other. Another question they ask is what type of doodle you generally draw. These questions don’t seem to have to do with match making, but I suppose it deals with your personality, although I’m not entirely sure about the finger length. The entire process takes 35-40 minutes. Yes, it is a long sign up process, but by answering everything truthfully, you will get better results.
At the end of this process Chemistry.com will match you up with prospective people who would seem to be an ideal combination. You see, the questions that you answer assign specific traits to you and tells you what your major and minor personality type is. Mine for example is an Explorer as my main and Negotiator as my minor. This means that I’m pretty spontaneous and easy going. By knowing what your major and minor personality trait is, chemistry.com then matches you up with four people who would suit your personality the best. For me, it would seem that either my minor personality trait, Negotiator, was their major personality trait. Another match was my major personality trait, Explorer, was their minor personality trait. I would suppose that people who share similar traits would match better, but I feel like there should be more involved than just what’s based on a test. And of course, chemistry.com has the profile of your prospective matches. There they list their interests, pictures, occupation, and what they are looking for in some one. This is quite typical of most dating sites, so there is not too much surprise there. All of this information you can view for free, that’s right, this part costs absolutely nothing. Other members can even contact you and you can decide, by their picture or interest or personality type, whether you want to keep them active or archive them. And since chemistry.com is connected with match.com , you can also do automatic profile transfers if you have a match.com profile. How convenient is that? There’s also some nice sections that help you on email etiquette and how many emails does it take to get to know some one. Of course, this is all up to you and how comfortable you feel with the person. After all, no matter how many email conversations you may have, there’s no guarantee that you can actually know the person.
Of course you can’t do everything for free. All the other cool little additions you need to pay for. If you subscribe you can access the rest of the site and use the multiple features. A month is subscription is $49.95, 3 month is $33.32/month, and 6 month is $26.65/month. If you are looking to find that perfect some one, you may want to go for the 6 month plan. There are no different levels. As a subscriber you can also search for other matches, email them, and work on your first-match. This allows you to first talk to them via the internet, and eventually meet up with the person, because after all, until you actually meet them in person, there is no way of knowing if you actually have “chemistry.” Before you actually meet the person, you can ask a series of questions with the introduction process and at any time can cancel your communication for any reason, no questions asked. If you do want to meet, chemistry.com has a trademark meeting system called First Meeting. The first meeting allows you to set up a time, location, and follow-up feedback. There’s no pressure if you don’t get along in person, and this helps you to meet without giving out your real email or phone number (to all of you people who are a bit hesitant about stalkers and the like). Your picture and profile is also only searchable for members, so random people on the internet cannot find you, and only your matches can see your profile. A nice added inclusion to make you feel safe in an online world. Besides this, if you don’t find three people who you are compatible with, chemistry.com will give you another three months free to find that right person for the three month program and another six months if you signed up for the six month subscription. These people are serious about helping you find the right person.
So why should you join chemistry.com ? Well, it’s a pretty innovative way of meeting people. The people who have their profiles are fairly up-to-date as the people who join this site are looking for long-term commitments rather than casual flings, like many of the dating sites out there. This is targeted more for well-established people, so from 25+ years of age. It’s fairly easy to navigate, you have people who you are interested in and you can look for people who may match up with you. It’s pretty self-explanatory. The menu interface is intuitive, all you have to do is click the appropriate section. There’s also a nice guide that explains how to use the site as well, so if you do have problems, go there first. There is also a help line that you can call, yes you can talk to a live person. As far as success rate, there are testimonials on the First-Meeting section where people talk about their experiences. Not everyone finds the right person the first time, but of course meeting the right match requires time and a bit of perseverance. It’s about a 75% success rate, and most people are pretty happy about people who they have been matched up with and who they have met. You can even leave feedback, which chemistry.com encourages, describing your meeting with the person and whether you had chemistry or not. Each meeting and each input increases your chances of finding the right person. As it started a little over a year ago, there are still not too many members (in the thousands) but as it is also affiliated with match.com there are literally millions of possibilities.
So don’t be shy, internet dating is the new hot thing now, and with the privacy and step-by-step process in getting to know some one and setting up a time and location to meet, chemistry.com is definitely worth a shot. Of course, you’ll have to see for yourself if you actually do have chemistry with a person, and as Angela from San Diego stated in her experience of First Meeting ““Here’s how I explain the First-Meeting™ to my friends: It’s like a test drive. You go out for a short time and see how it goes – no commitment required.” But do remember that this is for people looking for a long-term relationship, possibly marriage. Don’t apply if you’re just looking for a one-night stand.