News & Notes: UCLA study finds freshmen spending more time studying

An article in The Daily Pennsylvanian pointed out that between 2009 and 2011, the number of freshmen nationwide who reported studying for six or more hours a week increased from 37.3 percent to 39.5 percent. The number of students who took five or more Advanced Placement classes in high school increased from 15.5 percent to 18.9 percent.

Survey data indicated that between 2010 and 2011, the number of students who reported “frequently” or “occasionally” drinking beer declined from 38.4 percent to 35.4 percent. The number of freshmen who reported that they had never partied increased from 31.9 percent to 34.7 percent.

According to the survey, the main reason why students choose to attend college is the improved job prospects, continuing a trend since 2009.

Though the differences in these figures over the two years may seem small, researchers at UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institution, which conducted the survey, noted that the large sample size made the findings significant.

The survey included responses from over 200,000 students nationwide, including students from Penn and Brown. Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth and Cornell did not participate in the survey.