When it comes to dating, this generation of college students is writing its own rules, and often deleting them as quickly as they are written. Bulldozed by social media, buffeted by changing attitudes, today’s dating landscape can be a baffling place, and BU is in some ways more confusing than most.

According to a survey conducted last winter by the daily news site BU Today and answered by more than 4,000 students, it’s not always clear that a date is a date, it’s hard to know when a relationship is a relationship, and the best clue to the true nature of an invitation is often the time of day (or night) that it’s issued. (Male and female students agree that any suggestion to get together that arrives after midnight can be construed as a “booty call.” Students of other gender identities put the demarcation at 10 p.m.)

The nonscientific survey, which asked about such things as what constitutes a date and the usefulness of social media, tells us much about the dating preferences of students on the Charles River Campus. Looks are less important than personality, a group date is not a real date, and online dating sites are creepy.