At the University of Massachusetts, or perhaps the more aptly named ‘ZooMass’ as it has come to be known by some of its students, an association with heavy partying has long held hands with the University’s reputation.

The students of professor Ekra Miezan’s 497xx communications class thought so too when they chose to conduct a survey-based study on the factors that affect UMass students’ academic performance, in the form of grade point average (GPA).

Surveying 248 students across the campus, the class asked them about attendance habits, studying habits, credit load, whether or not they worked to pay for college, the type of work they do, sleeping habits, what kind of extracurricular activities they are a part of, their soci-economic background, the type and location of their high schools, how much free time they have, love relationships and drug and alcohol use.

‘ At the end of the survey, the students participating included their GPA, and the class measured which factors correlated positively and negatively to them.

The result, which came as a surprise to some of the class, was that rather than alcohol and drug use, class attendance and attending class on time were the two greatest factors in how high of a GPA the students surveyed had.

Their data revealed that students who answered the survey as ‘Barely Attending’ class had an average GPA of 2.77, while those who answered as ‘Regularly Attending’ had an average GPA of 3.25. Similarly, the students who answered as arriving ‘Late to Class’ had an average GPA of 2.76, while those who answered as arriving ‘Regularly on time to Class’ had an average GPA of 3.21.

However, alcohol and drug use did not have as high an influence on the participating students’ GPA’s, although it did affect them slightly. Students who answered as ‘Barely Drinking’ had an average GPA of 3.24, and students who responded as drinking ‘Frequently’ had a slightly lower GPA of 3.17.

Students surveyed about drug use who responded as using drugs ‘Not at all’ had an average GPA of 3.23, those who responded as using drugs ‘Sometimes’ had an average GPA of 3.15 and those who responded as ‘Definitely using’ drugs had an average GPA of 2.99.

On the results of the survey, the students in Miezan’s class who conducted the survey had several reactions.

‘ ‘I was surprised at the results, because of the effects that drugs have on the brain,’ said Shane McEwen, of the lack of effect that drug and alcohol use had on student’s GPAs.

Stacey Burgess, another member of the class, suggested that the age of the students surveyed may have also played a role in alcohol and drug users’ lack of influence on their GPA.

‘We had a lot of seniors in the survey’hellip;about half of the people surveyed were juniors and seniors, and they may be more grown up and more mature [about drug and alcohol use], rather than freshman and sophomores who come to UMass thinking of it as a party school,’ explained Burgess. ‘ ‘

While some of Miezan’s students were surprised at the results, many of them agreed that it makes sense that actual classroom habits do play the largest role, attributing the largest factor of academic success as the ability to balance one’s schedule between studying and leisure time.

‘I feel like coming to UMass, you want to do well but you want to balance the two. The school is known for its drinking and behaviors,’ said John Daniels, another student in the class.

‘It’s all about self control. You have the choice to say yes or no,’ added Andrew Moore, another student in Miezan’s class.

Indeed, of the students surveyed, about 82 percent of students indicated that they ‘frequently or almost always’ attend class, while about 18 percent of students surveyed indicated that they ‘barely attend.’ ‘ ‘

‘From some of the classes I go to, I thought it [the amount of students who don’t attend] would be higher. Especially the larger lectures, they are easier to skip because the teacher doesn’t know your face,’ said Daniels.

‘It also goes along with general education courses,’ said Jamie Zelen, another student in the class. ‘They have nothing to do with your major, and at the beginning of the semester they start out full, but pretty soon, people stop going and the only time they are full are when its time to take an exam.’

Many of the students in the class suggested that when it comes to large lecture style classes, whatever the professor can to do make students come, they should, such as taking attendance, using PRS or not putting the notes online. But ultimately, it is up to students to come to class and do the work.

‘It’s not the professor’s job to get you to come to class,’ said Daniel
s.

Other correlations that significantly affected GPA included the more free time students had, the lower their GPA, if a student was involved with an extracurricular activity, the higher their GPA, if a student worked and helped to contribute to the payment of their education, their GPA was higher (although fully contributing or not contributing at all to the cost of their education both correlated to lower GPA’s) and the older a student was, the better their GPA. Female students surveyed also tended to have slightly higher GPA’s, while also having much less free time than male students surveyed.

Burgess explained that the class decided to conduct the survey because it could relate to all UMass students, and they hoped that the results would help students to learn how to do well in college.‘ ‘

‘How you do in college has a lot to do with you,’ said Suzie Jozkowski, another member of the class, on the overall results of the survey.

Lisa DeBenedictis can be reached at [email protected].