# College Alcohol Consumption and Partying Concerns **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2017, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183 "2017-06-30T05:06:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/21 "2017-06-30T17:52:31Z")
Generally speaking, I don’t find 2-3 beers per hour to be excessive, if you keep it up long enough you’ll get plowed but you can keep it up for a while. One year on spring break I drank a pint every 15 min for eight hours or so when I was no longer sober enough to walk to the keg. Then I got up and did it for the next two days until I cashed the keg by myself. I can see drinking 35 beers a night if you’re up until 7 am. Even if you start drinking at 9 PM that only 3 beers an hour and if you’re starting when you wake up about 3 PM then you’re in the 2-3 beers per hour range. When I’m on vacation I typically do that. Of course, if you’re staying loaded every waking hour for months on end you have a problem. I’d suggest cutting down on Friday night and Saturday for that kind of drinking so 5 PM to 7 AM friday-Saturday and 3PM-7AM Saturday-Sunday and then no more than a 6 pack the other 5 nights a week. That’s still partying pretty hard but it should at least be sustainable with a career. It works out to about 100 beers per week. Seriously lay off the Coke nothing good will come there ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/22 "2017-06-30T17:56:35Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > You never said where you get all the money for the hundreds of beers and coke you indulge in week after week. Rich parents? Really. 180 beers a week is 15 twelve-packs. Let’s assume for the sake of discussion, they’re all drinking Budweiser, which is about $11 a twelve-pack. That’s $165 a week, or $660 a month for beer. That’s some serious consumption there. You could probably finance a nice car for about ⅔ of that. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/23 "2017-06-30T18:27:06Z")
Good luck in prison! Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/24 "2017-06-30T18:58:01Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > (snip) That’s $165 a week, or $660 a month for beer. That’s some serious consumption there. You could probably finance a nice car for about ⅔ of that. Dude, do you want those guys driving? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/25 "2017-06-30T19:24:21Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > You never said where you get all the money for the hundreds of beers and coke you indulge in week after week. Rich parents? A thirty pack of beer is about $20. Hamms 30 packs are only $13. But the Coke is also running him $600 a month. So he is easily looking at a grand a month In beer and coke. As to op, yeah drinking 180 drinks a week and only getting 28-35 hours of sleep a week is excessive. It’s your life but you should consider slowing down. Even at my heaviest I drank about 30 drinks a week. And I considered that heavy. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/26 "2017-06-30T22:20:01Z")
How are your grades? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/27 "2017-06-30T22:34:22Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > A thirty pack of beer is about $20. Hamms 30 packs are only $13. But the Coke is also running him $600 a month. So he is easily looking at a grand a month In beer and coke. > > As to op, yeah drinking 180 drinks a week and only getting 28-35 hours of sleep a week is excessive. It’s your life but you should consider slowing down. > > Even at my heaviest I drank about 30 drinks a week. And I considered that heavy. If he is doing an eight ball a week, that’s $1200/month. This is on top of every other expense he has. I’d be surprised if he was employed with this level of partying, so I assume he has someone helping him out. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/28 "2017-06-30T22:39:41Z")
Honestly, I am dubious of anyone having a weekly habit of nearly 200 beers and an 8 ball of coke being even semi-functional as an employee or college student. But maybe I’m just being old. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/29 "2017-06-30T23:00:12Z")
> [@RealTalk](#): > > My friends and I drink/party at a very unhealthy rate. This is the only quote we need for this discussion. If you think the matter is important enough to create a new user account and open a thread about it, it’s problematic. Even if you think you’re stealth bragging with the rest of the details, the fact that you state it’s unhealthy means you need to make adjustments either in your friendships or your consumption of mind/mood manipulating materials. The details aren’t the issue, really. You could have said “We share 16 whole ounces of beer throughout the weekend!” or “I think me and my friends eat too much beef.” and many would have responded with tales of their own excesses in comparison. But if YOU think your group’s consumption is unhealthy then it probably is and if it ‘probably is unhealthy’ then it sounds like you’re ready to make some lifestyle changes, with or without the rest of your group following your lead. Kudos to you for having such insight! Me, I quit the alcohol and drugs because I felt that being out-of-my-mind interfered with my real enjoyment (and memory) of events. That meant I didn’t partake during college, but it also means I can still vividly remember my High School graduation (and, before I made that decision, being able to remember anything about those years wasn’t a foregone conclusion). –G! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/30 "2017-06-30T23:17:51Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Honestly, I am dubious of anyone having a weekly habit of nearly 200 beers and an 8 ball of coke being even semi-functional as an employee or college student. But maybe I’m just being old. 😛 I could do an eight ball of coke a week, along with two cases of beer. For two consecutive weeks, max. They’d be two good weeks! Man, I’m old. ---
**Author:** ![Navigator66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/43a26b/32.png) [@Navigator66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Navigator66)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/31 "2017-07-01T00:01:37Z")
Two questions for the OP: How much do you have out in student loans? What is your GPA? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/32 "2017-07-01T00:13:50Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Honestly, I am dubious of anyone having a weekly habit of nearly 200 beers and an 8 ball of coke being even semi-functional as an employee or college student. But maybe I’m just being old. 😛 And having the time and presence of mind to come here and ask about it. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/33 "2017-07-01T00:15:16Z")
> [@Navigator66](#): > > Two questions for the OP: > > How much do you have out in student loans? > > What is your GPA? GPA is an abbreviation (shortening) of grade point average. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/34 "2017-07-01T01:12:22Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > GPA is an abbreviation (shortening) of grade point average. Surely you already knew that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/35 "2017-07-01T01:42:48Z")
To put this into perspective, the usual standard for a healthy, moderate amount of drinking is about seven per week (whether one a day, or more concentrated on the weekends). Now, this will vary from person to person: There are some people for whom any consumption of alcohol at all is unhealthy, and there are others for whom two a day is no big deal. But we’re talking about _26 times that rate_, plus the 8balls. That’s absolutely not normal. Which I’m pretty sure you already knew, especially since the first adjective you used to describe your own drinking is “unhealthy”. The question you really wanted to ask, I think, is what you should do about it. Admitting you have a problem, like you have here, is a good first step. But it’s only a start. And there’s a limit to how much help we random people on the Internet can give. Your school probably has one or more programs for helping students deal with drug and alcohol problems. Find those programs. Ask them for their advice. And then, and this is the important part, actually take that advice. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/36 "2017-07-01T01:53:50Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Surely you already knew that. > > 🙂 Don’t call him Shirley. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/37 "2017-07-01T04:22:26Z")
Are you attending Dartmouth? ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/38 "2017-07-01T11:25:21Z")
> [@RealTalk](#): > > My friends and I drink/party at a very unhealthy rate. I want to know > if we are 1) normal, or 2) idiots/insane. (probably #2) I drink probably on the high end of normal for Americans (6-7 on one night a week, maybe 2-3 on one or two other nights throughout the week, so about 11-14 units total per week), and I think a lot of people exaggerate the dangers of alcohol (which exist, but should be put into perspective). That being said, you are _way above_ any safe, reasonable or healthy level of alcohol consumption. I don’t believe that you really consume 140-180 units per week per person (and if you don’t have an accurate sense of your consumption, that’s a problem in itself). More importantly though if you “need 8-10 drinks to feel something”, then that’s a big problem right there, because it suggests that your consumption is so high that your tolerance is way out of whack for a normal person. You should probably consider cutting back to around 20 units per person per week for right now, and if you can’t do that, get some medical help. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/39 "2017-07-01T17:45:38Z")
> [@RealTalk](#): > > My friends and I drink/party at a very unhealthy rate. I want to know > if we are 1) normal … A serious answer - Obviously the circumstance described would be abnormal and we can actually easily provide some [real context](https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics)of how abnormal such circumstance would be. Heavy alcohol use is defined as binge drinking on 5 or more days in the past month. Binge drinking is defined “as 5 or more alcoholic drinks for males or 4 or more alcoholic drinks for females on the same occasion (i.e., at the same time or within a couple of hours of each other) on at least 1 day in the past month.” Obviously by that definition what is described is much more than simple “heavy alcohol use.” Using those definitions: > [@](#): > > 12.5 percent of college students ages 18–22 reported heavy alcohol use in the past month compared with 8.5 percent of other persons of the same age. So 87.5% of college students are not heavy drinkers. In fact 62.1% of them do not report a single bout of “binge drinking” in the past month. This in no way implies that the numbers who do is not of concern, but binge drinking regularly is not “normal” in college; it is more the exception. Heavy drinking, as defined above, a _much_ lower bar than the circumstance described as the op’s reality, is something the vast majority do not do. More of the same age group do in college than otherwise but it is still the exception. **Hector\_St\_Clare** ’s level is indeed quite on the high side for Americans. [Average](https://qz.com/171191/south-koreans-drink-twice-as-much-liquor-as-russians-and-more-than-four-times-as-much-as-americans/) for Americans is 3.3 shots/week. Russians get to the 6.3 and South Koreans … dang … 13.3 shots/week on average. So he’d find no shortage good drinking buddies there … the op’s described circumstance? Not common anywhere on the world and not normal for American college campuses. Maybe for a subset of rock stars or old time Wall Street wolves and few Hollywood types before we post threads mourning their losses. Yes such a circumstance would be insane. And that is just considering the alcohol use. This [rum fruit cake recipe](http://www.food.com/recipe/nans-best-dark-fruitcake-3962) sounds delish but the ones I’ve used call for continuing to baste daily with rum for weeks. ---
**Author:** ![RealTalk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ec8ea/32.png) [@RealTalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealTalk)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183/40 "2017-07-02T08:07:03Z")
Once again, thank yall for the replies. I know we have a problem and once again what I have been saying is true. I earned a Double Major of Business Finance and my GPA is average. (Shouldnt matter which college) Not speaking about my source of income, other than that it is different than what you think. I have a job but and currently doing this on a weekend basis. \*This scenario was 3 weeks ago, I wanted to speak of it earlier, but posted it later on. Read of other peoples response and I am just discussing my experiences. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-alcohol-consumption-and-partying-concerns/790183.md?page=3)