Making Good College Decisions

By Sakshi Bruta with Sara Freund

“Youth” is often referred to as boyhood, girlhood, adolescence or the teenage years. It also is considered as a state or quality of being young often associated with bloom, freshness, enthusiasm, and frequently “a state of immaturity.” Teenagers, friends and poor decisions can be part of this time of life. I say this as someone who has been there and survived this stage of life. Peer influence is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can have some negative consequences.

“Binge drinking” is often the result of peer influence. It is generally referred to as consumption of five or more alcoholic beverages in a two-hour period for men and four or more such drinks for women, though many students today are involved in competitive drinking of up to 15 drinks in a short period. Binge drinking is very common on college campuses with many college students seeing drinking as an integral part of higher education.

A good number of students come to college with established drinking habits, in spite of it being illegal to drink under age 21. Others find that once on a campus, away from home and parents, that they drink to greater excess. Much has been in the news this past year in Virginia and across the country about the dangers and consequences of alcohol and binge drinking on college campuses – alcohol poisoning, sexual assault, injury, and even death.

However, studies show that students significantly overestimate how often their fellow students use alcohol. In fact, there are plenty of college students who stay away from alcohol and drugs, involving themselves in organizations and other ways to occupy their free time. And that’s a good thing. Those who abuse alcohol in college risk not only their health and safety (and might face legal consequences), but they also put their academic career at risk. An estimated 25 percent of students report academic consequences of drinking, including missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, receiving lower grades and even expulsion.

Students (and their parents) need to be prepared before entering this new stage of life and talk about it and think about how they will make good choices and stay away from negative consequences. One good way to start this conversation is to attend The Perils of the College Drinking Culture program by the Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County that will take place Wednesday, May 20 at 7 p.m. at Northern Virginia Community College’s Annandale campus in the Ernst Community Cultural Center.

The program, also held April 14 at Madison High School, features Haze, an award-winning film about the college drinking culture and the death of a college freshman due to alcohol poisoning. The film is followed by a panel discussion about binge drinking with experts speaking from their various perspectives – a college wellness director, an emergency room doctor, a police officer, a county prosecutor, a college student and a father who lost his son after a night drinking at a college party. They talk about what personal responsibility as students we owe to each other and to ourselves.

Parents also are reminded that their young adult children still need and value their parents’ guidance. Research suggests that teens who talked with their parents about alcohol avoidance strategies before they began their first year of college were more likely to not use alcohol or to limit its use. So have those conversations.

It was well said by of one of the Perils panelists that “one of the things alcohol gives you is regret,” so let’s not regret and let a wrong decision derail a future.

Jeff Levy, the panelist who lost his son because of drinking at a college party, ended by saying, “If you are underage, then it’s the first drink that is more important, not the 10th drink.” Let’s not grab that first drink and be alcohol and drug free!

Parents, also check out this great new resource from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) called “Talking with Your College-Bound Young Adult about Alcohol” and also a new SAMHSA video “The Sound of Your Voice.”

Sakshi Bruta is a graduate student at George Mason University and will receive her master’s degree in public health in May. She has a dental degree from her native India. She has interned this semester with the Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County (UPC). Sara Freund is the executive director of UPC and oversees the Perils forum.

The Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County is a nonprofit organization with more than 60 community partners working together to keep youth and young adults safe and drug-free. Visit www.unifiedpreventioncoalition.org and www.facebook.com/unifiedpreventioncoalition. Follow the group on Twitter at www.twitter.com/keepyouthsafe.