New Study Suggest Alcohol Consumption Correlates with GPA Student Performance

Kristina Bell- Daily Beast

A study presented this week found that, next to time spent studying outside the classroom, time spent drinking was the most reliable predictor of a student’s grade point average. Todd Wyatt, a doctoral candidate at George Mason University, looked at how today’s busy college students allocate their time between different activities. The research surveyed about 13,900 incoming freshman at 167 schools, and found that certain activities could reliably predict academic success.

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.

 But the researchers did see some differences when drinking was complemented by other activities. For instance, students who drank but also volunteered or did some other kind of extracurricular activity showed fewer negative consequences like skipping class, blowing off work, or failing assignments than classmates who spent time drinking but didn’t participate in other outside activities.