Cosmo searches for next hot bachelor

As graduation approaches, Cosmopolitan magazine searches for one eligible bachelor to represent each state in its November issue dedicated to America's 50 hottest men who aren't celebrities. At last count, Cosmo only received five nominees from Indiana. The magazine is looking for more candidates with its May 15 application deadline fast approaching.\nTo be considered to represent Indiana, men must be nominated by someone other than themselves and be between the ages of 18 and 35. Nominators must send head shots and full-length photographs of their favorite bachelor, but the winners are not chosen based on looks alone.\n"Looks are part of it," said Molly Catlin Triffin, an editorial assistant at Cosmo. "But we consider anyone who we think would be a good guy, a good potential boyfriend."\nTriffin said the paragraph describing why the bachelor is so amazing makes or breaks the bachelors' applications. Cosmo conducts interviews with the candidates to make sure the bachelor is as wonderful as advertised and to get to know his true personality. Then a four-member committee reviews the applicants. They look through the applications separately to avoid being influenced by each other's opinions. Triffin said she usually eliminates the obvious bad choices right off the bat.\nAfter everyone on the committee has a chance to review the applicants separately, the group meets in June to debate each nominee's merits and select the winners.\nWhile the magazine does its best to pick "hot" bachelors, the readers sometimes don't agree with their choices.\n"You can always tell which states were mad about their bachelor because the next year we get a huge number of submissions for that state," Triffin said. \nLaw student Anna Tooman said she was disappointed in last year's Indiana pick, a 24-year-old loan officer from Sheridan named Rory Beall.\n"It was kind of hard to tell because the picture was so far away, but I wasn't that impressed," Tooman said.\nSophomore Kristin King also said she was unimpressed with last year's Indiana pick. \n"He was attractive, but he was kind of like not the standard hot guy," King said. "He looked like more of a country attractive."\nKing said she was excited when she discovered the 2002 Illinois bachelor was a student at Indiana University. She ended up running into him. \n"I kind of assumed that he would be a jerk because his picture was in the magazine and he was so good looking, but he was very kind and polite and understanding," King said. "He was my favorite one in Cosmo so it was fun to have him go to IU."\nSome Indiana University women said they were not only interested in looks when choosing a boyfriend and were glad that Cosmo looked at other criteria.\n"Good looks don't matter if they don't have a personality to match," said senior Melissa Harrold.\nSome women said they found a good sense of humor attractive in a mate.\n"I like a guy who doesn't take himself too seriously," said graduate student Sarah Sutter. She said she doesn't like it when a guy is vain. "A guy should never take longer than me to get ready."\nSenior Kerry Ashton said she prefers men who don't know they are good looking.\n"Anyone who considers himself the hottest bachelor is probably not the hottest bachelor," Ashton said.\nTriffin said when the men are informed that they have won, many of them act very surprised. Some of the men are nominated by friends without their consent so the call comes as a real shock. \nIUPUI medical student Lorianne McCallister said she didn't think a friend winning the spot as Indiana's hottest bachelor would change how she saw him.\n"My personality is not to be that interested in 'the hottest guy' unless I had some social interaction with him beforehand," McCallister said. "The label 'hottest guy' wouldn't change the way I really saw the guy."\nAfter the selection process is complete, Cosmo invites the winning bachelors to two photo shoots. Bachelors are required to attend at least one photo shoot to receive a full-page picture in the magazine. All of the winners have portions of their interviews posted next to their photos in Cosmo. \nKing said she enjoyed the interview portions and preferred the guys who seemed smarter.\n"They need to have something more to their personalities," King said. "I like to hear more than just 'I like to spend my days on the beach.'"\nIn October, shortly before the bachelor issue comes out, Cosmo flies the winners out to New York City for a release party and a variety of media events. Last year, some of the bachelors appeared on "Good Morning America" and "Entertainment Tonight." The star treatment does not end with the media entourage. Cosmo assigns each bachelor with an email address so that he can receive fan mail and potentially meet the women who are interested in him. Triffin said last year one of the bachelors dated one of the girls who contacted him.\nFor more information on Cosmo's competition for the hottest eligible bachelor in each state, visit its Web site at www.cosmopolitan.com and click on the "Stud Search" link. Submissions, including the required photo portion of the application, can be made online.\n-- Contact staff writer Jessica Dalsing at jdalsing@indiana.edu.