Princeton Alumna Susan Patton Urges Women to Snag Husband on Campus Before Graduating

Princeton University alumna Susan Patton, who is a member of the class of 1977, is sharing some wisdom with female students, but not everyone is taking kindly to it.

"Here's what nobody is telling you: Find a husband on campus before you graduate," Patton wrote in an open letter to the Daily Princetonian that has since gone viral.

ABC News

Patton was one of the first women to graduate from the Ivy League School, which her son currently attends, but her open letter has drawn scathing headlines, including one: "Princeton Grad Warns Undergraduates to Find Their Husbands Now, Because the Rest of the World Is Too Dumb."

"It was just intended to suggest to these women who are on campus today, again, keep an open mind. Look around you. These are the best guys," Patton said. "If the women's movement has done what it has supposed to do, it should enable all women to make whatever choices are appropriate for them, even if their choices are seemingly retrogressive."

In the letter, Patton also says although "men regularly marry women who are younger and less intelligent…ultimately it will frustrate you to be with a man who just isn't as smart as you."

ABC News

The letter was met with mixed reactions by students, some of whom felt Patton did have a point.

"I don't think her entire point is completely wrong. Girls do want to date guys who are as smart or smarter than them, but in practicality, we are all way too young to be getting married now," one female student told ABC News.

Although the advice may sound like something mothers told their daughters in past generations, Karin Ruskin, a marriage and family therapist, said Patton may be on to something.

"If you have similar value systems and you both are intellectuals, is it going to increase the chance that you'll have a successful relationship? she said. "Of course. That's a given."