As most people would guess; people who tend to go out and drink alcohol on the weekends tend to have lower GPAs then those who did not. Yes, there are external factors to this like there are with all studies but there is a very strong correlation between alcohol consumption and GPAs of students. Is there data to support this? Yes; a survey showed that time spent drinking was one of the leading causes of lower student GPAs. This survey was done by Todd Wyatt and surveyed a total of 13,900 students from 167 different schools. The conclusion of this survey was; “Wyatt found that, after time spent studying, the amount of time a student spent drinking was the strongest predictor of that student’s GPA – even more so than time spent in the classroom. “The more time spent partying with alcohol, there’s a significant decrease in GPA,” said Wyatt.” Another part of this study showed that not only did the alcohol effect normal college kids but it affected college kids at “Elite Schools” with above-average GPAs. The results of this were that even though these students had high GPAs, their GPAs could’ve been higher if they did not participate in drinking.

I’ve always figured that alcohol drinking on people’s spare time obviously had negative effects but I’ve always wanted to know the specifics behind it. The study done at the University of Portland listed a few reasons that this could happen;

“Alcohol use can contribute to:

• Skipping class
• Missing deadlines
• Bombing a test or project because of the aftereffects of drinking
• Impairing the ability to think abstractly for up to 30 days, limiting the ability to relate textbook reading to in-class discussion

Taken together, all of these factors can result in lower grades as a result of increased alcohol use. A nationwide CORE Alcohol and Drug survey found the following trend:  Impairing the brain’s ability to form new memories, thus making it difficult to study.” Drinking alcohol can lead to many different factors that would bring down GPA.

There are statistics that show that the amount of alcohol consumed can also have a direct effect on certain GPAs. Dr. Bruce Friesen gave a survey out to his students and asked them to answer questions inorder to find out their regular drinking habits. The study led to statistical conclusions about the relationship between the amount of alcohol consumed and the average GPA of these students. The data showed, ” that the amount of alcohol consumed negatively affects a student’s grade point average. This is supported by the fact that the majority of students surveyed who drink at least four alcoholic beverages at a time (62.3%) had less than a 3.0, while those who drank three or less earned a 3.1 or higher (52.3%). In both cases, the relative amount of alcohol consumed reflected on the grades of the students, wherein the students who drank less alcohol simply earned better grades and vice versa.”

Based on the results of each of these studies; I concluded it would be beneficial for consumers of alcohol to stop/cut down if they are worried about their academic progress. Whether or not you chose to drink in college you should be aware that there are detrimental effects to your academic success. There are many other factors that could lead a student to have a lower GPA separate from or in addition to consuming alcohol but these studies definitely show a correlation.