A Woman's Honest Review of Matchmaking Agencies

Based on the story of a client of mine who works at a major corporation,

here's a real matchmaking agency review for women, as told to me by my clients.

First, the basic specs: a woman in her early 30s who did her bachelor's and master's at a university in Seoul and currently works at a major corporation.

Looks-wise, not strikingly glamorous, but certainly not someone who'd ever be called unattractive either,

and a solid family background. Her parents are reasonably set for retirement, and she's never wanted for anything.

To get straight to the conclusion: unless 'marriage' itself is urgently, desperately what you need, most reviews said they wouldn't recommend an agency.

Now let's dig into why, one point at a time.

Somewhere Between Self-Awareness and Getting Lowballed

Even though my client has specs that are far from bad,

the moment you sit down for an agency consultation, the managers start by lowballing you.

'Ms. XX, you'd be fine with someone quite a bit older, right~?'

'Someone at this level would honestly be way above your range, Ms. XX~'

It's an opening line designed to talk down your value and make you feel you should be grateful for any man at that level.

Of course, getting an objective read on where you stand at an agency is extremely important.

If you go a long time without dating, or if you only ever hear the opinions of other women in a female-dominated circle,

at some point your ability to gauge your own value in the marriage market drops to 'zero'.

With the complacent thought that 'I'm doing fine',

you keep waiting for men above your level, miss the right marriageable window,

and end up unable to meet even the caliber of men who used to line up for you, let alone the marriage you wanted. This happens quite a lot.

It's especially common among women at major corporations or with high specs.

So the most important things are:

1. Getting an accurate, objective read on where you stand at a marriageable age
2. Getting introduced to as many men at that level as possible and finding the one who fits you

That said, the lowballing you get at an agency can't all be trusted. They're a business with their own interests, so they can only be satisfied if the client walks away feeling, 'I met a man way above my specs here'. That's why the 'lowball first' tactic gets used so often. You need to build the ability to gauge your own position in the marriage market ahead of time, so that you don't get taken for a ride when you walk into an agency. If you genuinely can't figure out where you stand in this market,

it's free, so make sure you get diagnosed by an expert. The caliber of men you get matched with. First, let's talk about the conditions, since that's what you're most curious about. They're said to be satisfactory. The agency recommends men with specs and conditions that would be hard to come across in your everyday circle. (Though since my client has good specs herself, that's partly why she was matched with men like that.) In other words, you get the chance to be introduced to men who are professionals or work at major corporations. There are, however, a few catches.

1. You get matched with men who are 7 to 9 years older.
2. The man who shows up is a different person from the profile photo, about 10 kg heavier.

In short, there's a very high chance you'll be introduced to someone with significantly lacking physical assets, or someone with a big age gap. In the end, my client didn't meet the one at the agency, and her verdict was that unless you're going to marry on conditions alone, she wouldn't recommend it. Why is that? Conditions, of course, are something you absolutely should look at when it comes to marriage. But this is the person you'll spend your whole life with. Conditions matter, but so do personality, looks, hobbies and so many other crucial things. An agency doesn't take those finer details into account. So even when a match is made, it very often falls apart at the actual date. Since you're meeting without any consideration of personality or temperament in the first place, that's only to be expected, in a way. Nobody wants to meet someone they'll end up divorcing, right? When choosing a marriage partner, with nothing more than an accurate analysis of both yourself and the other person, not just the conditions, you can anticipate and prepare in advance for what kind of temperaments these two people have and whether they can fill what the other wants, what conflicts might come up while planning the wedding, and what you need to watch out for after marriage versus what simply needs to be met to keep cheating or divorce off the table, and build a stable relationship. Want to meet the person you'll spend your life with? Submitting a diagnosis questionnaire is free, so submit one and get an expert analysis. Today we looked at a woman's honest review of matchmaking agencies. I'm rooting for you to know yourself, know the other person well, and meet someone you can go all the way to a stable marriage with.