When senior music performance major Chris Lawrence decided to sign up for a dating site he was skeptical. It was “unknown” to him. He decided to give online dating a try anyways.

“Why not, let’s try something new,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence struck success on the online dating site OkCupid. Not only did he strike success, but he found a match with someone in his area. He met his girlfriend, Sarah Long, on the site a few months ago and they have been dating for a couple of weeks.

Not only is his girlfriend local, but she is from the same city as Lawrence, Villa Hills, Ky. She is a freshman fine arts student at the University of Cincinnati.

Lawrence said it took him a few months to meet someone on the site. Over those months he said had a few “hit and misses.”

According to Lawrence, the site having no cost was one of the main factors that led to him using the site. He also tried the site because he had friends who had used the site. Lawrence said he was surprised at the large following the website had.

Lawrence said he believes dating sites can get a bad rap.

“I feel like a lot people look at them as a last ditch effort,” said Lawrence.

Check out some of The Northerner’s top dating apps below.

1. Tinder – According to Tinder’s site, a Facebook account is required for this app to match up users with people who have similar interests and common friends. Users swipe through possible matches and “like” the users that interest them. If the user receives a “like” back, then a match is created and a user can chat with the match. The app is no charge to users.

2. DateMySchool – This app is specifically geared toward college students. The app requires the user to register a school email address. Users create a profile, answer some dating questions that can be viewed by other users and chat with other users. The app is free, but in order to access some features, such as sending and receiving personal messages, you must upgrade to a paid account. According to their site, the plans vary in prices; with a monthly fee of $19.99 per month, a six month plan for $9 a month and a twelve month plan for $3 per month. DateMySchool currently has 736,297 users and 1,200 active users from NKU.

3. OkCupid – According to their site, OkCupid uses a math-based matching system to pair up their users. The site’s users answer a list of questions which are then compared to the answers of other users. The users are then given a list of other users, which are determined mathematically by a percentage of the other users’ profile similarities. OkCupid is a free dating app.

4. Badoo – Badoo claims to be “the best app for chatting and meeting new people.” Users connect with their Facebook, add three photos and pick interests. If you anonymously chat with a user, their photo is not revealed until after two minutes. The app is free, but users can pay for premium features such as “Rise Up” which makes the users profile appear higher in searches. Badoo currently has 201,550,480 users.

5. Let’s Date – This site uses Facebook to create a “Dater Card” for users. According to their site, Facebook accounts have to be up for a year and must have 50 friends to be used for Let’s Date. The users can choose to add more information if they choose. If you find a potential match, users can then press the “Let’s Date” button on app to send a notification to someone they’re interested in. You remain anonymous to the potential match unless they hit the “Let’s Date” button also. The app is free, but users can choose to purchase some in app features.