1. Self sufficient
2. Gainfully employed
3. Well-educated
4. Intellectually curious
5. Pleasant disposition (no anger problems/need to always have the last word)
6. Tallish (sorry, I know that's not fair, but I'm 5'9 and I just can't with a short dude)
7. Considerate
These are just the bare minimum standards that a guy has to have just to walk in the door... we haven't even gotten to the question of compatibility yet. But these are the baseline standards that if a guy doesn't meet, I'm not interested in getting to know him further.
A take or leave that I would prefer be included is that he be in decent shape. I'm not into overweight guys or dreadfully skinny guys either, for that matter. I would prefer an athletic build
The thing that's most important for me in a compatible mate is someone that I can talk to. I have millions and millions of things going around in my head, and I can't date someone that I can't share my thoughts with. I'd like to believe that a guy in a good career who is well educated will be the same type of pensive, excited-about-life type of person that I am, but I've found this isn't always the case... guys in serious career fields tend to bore the everloving f8ck out of me.
I will NOT work with a man who:
has kids
has no serious career prospects/chronically unemployed
does not live independently
those are my non-negotiables that will get a guy eliminated with no further discussion. I also wouldn't date a smoker but I tend not to think about that because so far it's never come up.