The future of our generation isn’t a lost cause! A recent Whatsgoodly poll showed that 50% of university guys and 65% of girls would quit drinking in exchange for a 4.0 GPA.
If you’re in college, chances are you’ve faced the overwhelming choice of going out or staying in to study. Everyone’s been there – sitting in the library, watching helplessly as other students slowly file out as they go home to get ready for a night of fun.
But there you are, stuck to your chair, memorizing facts or writing a paper. As you guzzle down coffee, you try to remind yourself of how hard you’ve worked this semester, how expensive your education is, and how good you’ll feel after the test tomorrow. Then you remember how much fun everyone else will be having in just a few hours while your face is plastered to your book, and the agony continues.
Would you endure this every night for a 4.0? A recent Whatsgoodly poll blasted out to 128 different colleges and universities shows that most college kids actually would.
Public school students would take the grades
When most people think of college, their minds render images of disgusting frat parties featuring shitty alcohol. But the alternative to constant studying in the stacks is hardly more appealing. You have to admit; it’s more than a bit weird that so many students would voluntarily give up their Vitali-induced drunk fests for good grades.
At most colleges and universities that accept between 30 and 70% of applicants, the results were fairly constant: guys were generally split 50/50 on whether they would give up booze for a 4.0, and most girls would rather boast a high GPA than blood-alcohol level.
It should be noted that the question didn’t specify whether or not a 4.0 would simply be awarded to any student who didn’t drink or if they would have to work for it, so that could’ve affected different people’s answers. One user also commented: “as long as you can still do other drugs,” so maybe that’s how some rationalized the “yes” vote.
For example, the University of Texas has a 40% acceptance rate. There, 51% of boys would rather have a perfect GPA than drink, compared to 65% of girls. Other average universities show this trend, including the University of Washington, Santa Clara University in California, and Emerson College in Massachusetts.
Ivy League Students Prefer the Booze
You would think that, as a rule of thumb, students at more selective and prestigious colleges and universities would be way more willing to give up drinking for a 4.0. However, this wasn’t the case.
Many of the schools that accepted under 30% of applicants were actually split fairly evenly or leaned more towards preferring the drink.
Nearly 60% of boys at Stanford would not give up alcohol for a perfect GPA. This is a school with a 5-6% acceptance rate and $45,000 a year tuition rate, plus room and board. Other competitive universities, such as Duke, University of Virginia, UC Berkeley, and Cornell University, yielded similar results.
Perhaps students at these universities imagine that their future degrees will be enough to land them a nice job once they graduate. Or maybe they already have close to a 4.0. It’s also possible that they value the time they dedicate to partying as necessary to their academic success – it could serve as a method of balancing out their studies or as a reward for the time spent in the library. Or they’re just really good at time management. In any case, I’m jealous.
The Outliers
There were also a few exceptions to the general trend that boys at more challenging universities would choose booze over books. At the University of California at Los Angeles, 62% of guys said they would rather have a 4.0 than drink. At the University of California at Santa Barbara, the number was 68%.
On the other hand, guys at larger, public universities, particularly in the South, revealed that they would hands-down take the booze – for example, 64% of boys at the University of Georgia and 83% at the University of Arkansas. One user commented: “already got a 3.7 with plenty of alcohol.”
College girls prefer the high GPA
One odd aspect of this poll was that girls primarily stated “yes” (they would rather have a 4.0 than drink alcohol) more often than males, no matter the type, acceptance rate, or location of their university. For example, while only 46% of boys at the University of Wisconsin said they’d rather have a 4.0 than drink, 60% of girls said they’d rather hit the books than the bars. And at Northwestern University, the statistic was 70% of girls compared to 52% of guys.
Why is this? Perhaps this signals a distinct difference in the socializing of girls and guys. Or, perhaps girls are more academically-minded across the board. Let us know what you think in the comments.
It’s important to note that the poll didn’t break down whether users were involved in Greek letter organizations. One user pointed this out with the comment: “no – every sorority girl ever.” It could be that girls in sororities answered differently than girls not in Greek life.
Would you give up alcohol for a 4.0?
So, now we throw the question to you. What would you prefer? Is a high GPA more valuable than drinking? Does your school fit the profile, or is it an outlier? Let us know in the comments.
