Don't try and act like you're friends with the freshman class, or that you look down on those who make generic negative remarks about freshman. I may or may not have heard you specifically say, "I hate freshman" (although I'm fairly certain I have). I do however know that I have heard you mutter, "Stupid freshman!" as well as use other derogatory terms toward them and even use the word freshman itself as an insult, such as -Those people are being stupid and immature. They're acting like freshman.
First, on the subject of fashion, I wouldn't say most everyone is walking around in hoodies in this weather. There are plenty of upper-classmen females who dress in shorts and t-shirts to escape the heat. The fact that a portion of freshman wear less clothing than you are used to is due to the changing trends in fashion for people in that age group. The fact that older college students dress differently is because many of the 'fashionable' ones realize they don't need college for their life plans, and many others get married and "tame down" a bit.
Your strict "no freshman" rule came about because you hadn't had any luck dating freshman in the past, and you thought your luck would improve if you restricted your dating field. There are exceptions. Let's face it, if a smart, mature girl who played the cello and looked like Alexis Bledel was interested in you, you would date her. Period. Pause for effect.
What's the big deal with the age 18? Laws have to be made somewhere, so the age 18 was determined to be an adult. 17 dating 16? fine. 20 dating 19? fine. 18 dating 17? ... I'm not so sure about that. Perhaps they should break up until the 17 year old has a birthday and everything is acceptable again.
It's slightly different for each person, but by around age 18 you have developed most of your personality traits and your brain is physically capable of allowing you to be a responsible, mature human being. I don't feel much different than I did at age 18. We still worry about social interactions with females, try too hard to be cool (although our definition of cool may have changed), make fun of those different than us ("Man, that guy's a tool. Look at him on his long board"), and try to mooch stuff from our parents.
I don't think that one year in college rewires us to be unrecognizable from the person we became the first 18 years of our life. If two people love each other and are happy together, having over a 2 year difference in ages shouldn't automatically subject one of them to being called a dirtbag. Yes, there are dirtbags out there who prey on younger girls. But there are also people who simply connect with someone that wasn't born at the same time as them. If you love someone, don't let small age differences keep you apart. In 5 years you'll be 26 and 23 and few people will care, and in 55 years you'll be 76 and 73, and no one will care.
If you want to go on to be a sophomore or higher, you start as a freshman. Freshman in general may have some differences with respect to older college students, but they are still humans, still our classmates, and still our peers. Since we share more similarities than differences with freshman, they are allowed to be our friends, and if you choose to, they can be your dates as well.
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