Once you get to be about 30, you are much more in tune with what your goals and interests are, so it is easier to date someone quite a bit older, even 10 or 20 years older, But when you are younger than 30, it is likely that you are still experimenting with your interests and education and life goals. Of course this is not true in every case, some people mature faster than others, but in general people 30 and under are not “established” in their goals and desires.
I think the most important things to have for a successful relationship with anybody are: common interests, and more importantly, common life goals. The common life goals are things like whether or not you want to get married, or have children, or move to another city, whether to buy a house, whether you want to spend lots or little time with family and friends, whether you need religion, whether both of you will need/want to work etc.
Right now, it sounds like you are still working on your education, and because of that, you are not likely to be in the “same place” as someone 10 years older, although because of sexual attraction people, people end up hooking up anyway, but I’m just saying that those types of relationships are not as likely to succeed. Along with the sexual attraction, you still need to have the common interests and common life goals. Hope this helps.