I am cute, not handsome. I am funny, not hysterical. And, from what I hear, I am a good listener. This would make me the nice guy trifecta.

Nice tends to be an adjective that will have most guys cringing inside. Nobody wants to be the nice guy because being the nice guy is associated with being a loser and a pushover. The perfect examples of this are the nerds from the classic 1984 film “Revenge of the Nerds.” They were a group of guys who just could not get any women, and they showed the world just how “nice guys finish last.” This classic cliché phrase is one of the most loaded and least-thought-out sayings.

In what do nice guys finish last? How do they finish last?

“The jerk is the one that tends to score more often,” junior marketing major Nick Rasmussen said.

The sad thing is, instead of outgrowing this immature high school mentality, people – predominantly other men – still use this to measure a man’s worth.

Really, where we finish is relative to what we want. If you want to sleep with a different girl every week and you are successful, then congratulations. You have finished first.

Senior communications major Melissa Lopez said nice guys do not finish last. “They probably finish second or third.”

In a world where men fall into three categories, the nice guy, the jerk, and the in-between gray area, second or third is not much better.

It is true that these types of men tend to be nice guys, but nice guys are not always pushovers.

“(Nice guys) don’t steal the show,” junior business major Jennifer Kassel added about her two nice older brothers.

I agree, some guys do not “steal the show,” but that could mean they lack confidence and may be pushovers.

“If you just want sex right now then don’t be nice,” sophomore English major and self-proclaimed nice guy, Micah Stevenson, said.

Stevenson explained nice guys have higher standards and more morals than someone who would be considered a jerk. Nice guys are going to be the ones who will end up with a partner for life because they are in it for the long run, he said.

I agree, nice guys pursue that which may lead to some sort of future and not just into the bedroom for the night. This is why they must go through a waiting period.

Until about the ages of 25 to 27, most women will date the jerk. This is because bad boys are the complete opposite of nice guys; they are inconsistent. This leaves little room for predictability, which creates a facade of excitement for the unknown. As young adults and college students, we thrive on fun activates.

Around the aforementioned ages, women tend to grow out of the bad boy phase. This is because most have graduated from college and are in the real world. They are now getting to that point of wanting to settle down. If the woman is still dating a bad boy, chances are the relationship will go sour and fall apart if the bad boy does not change to her needs of wanting a reliable man. This is when the attributes of the nice guy become visible.

“Nice guys may finish last, but they finish best,” Stevenson said.

For the most part, this is true. Like those nerds, all you need is a little pride in who you are, and patience to show you’re worth it. Whether it is with relationships or any other aspect of your life, as long as you achieve your goals according to your own standards and no one else’s, then you will always finish first. It will be nothing but the best.

Mikhail Chernyavsky can be reached at [email protected]