The Applied Math Club discovered that the average Hillsdale student drinks 1.7 caffeinated beverages daily, with caffeine intake increasing among older students and those with heavier courseloads.

“There’s kind of a correlation between how many credit hours you’re taking and how much caffeine you’re consuming,” said junior Christopher Dickinson, vice president of the Applied Math Club. 

The Applied Math Club conducted the survey earlier this semester and found that the junior class is the most caffeinated on campus. The study showed that seniors take an average of 15.5 credit hours and drink 1.8 caffeinated beverages, including coffee, tea, pop, and energy drinks, per day. 

“The most interesting thing is that it steadily increases until junior year, both credits and caffeine consumption going up, but then the caffeine stays high for senior year, even when credits drop,” Dickinson said. 

The study also showed that a large part of campus doesn’t drink coffee, which came as a surprise to Elanor Dickinson, even though she herself doesn’t drink coffee.

“There was a large majority that didn’t drink coffee, really,” Elanor Dickinson said. “It was surprising because there was definitely a significant group of people that drank one to two cups of coffee every day, but a lot of people put zero, which was really surprising to me.”

The club collected its data through a survey posted around campus, according to senior and club president Elanor Dickinson.

“I got 180 responses, which is more than one-tenth of the campus,” Elanor Dickinson said. “And then looking at the data itself, we have about equal parts from each class.”

The average freshman at Hillsdale takes 14.4 credit hours and drinks 1.5 caffeinated drinks per day. This rate increases to 16.6 credit hours and 1.9 caffeinated beverages per day by junior year. 

“It seems like junior year is when people really start drinking caffeine,” Christopher Dickinson said. “I’d say going into my junior year, this is the most caffeine I’ve drank so far. So, I’ve hit probably about par for the course, and everyone else as well.” 

The idea for the study came from curiosity as to whether all of campus consumed caffeine like the people closest to her, according to Elanor Dickinson.

“I know a lot of friends that drink a lot of caffeine, and I was kind of curious how consistent that was with the rest of campus,” Elanor Dickinson said. “I thought that Applied Math Club was the perfect venue to make a survey and then look at the data.”

The club used the survey to see if caffeine habits had any connection to the activities and interests of students, according to Kevin Gerstle, associate professor of mathematics. 

“The club was interested in looking at various correlations, like do people who drink more caffeine share other similarities,” Gerstle said. “For instance, do certain majors have more of a culture based around drinking coffee and such?” 

According to the study, coffee is the most popular caffeinated drink among students on Hillsdale’s campus. 

“People drink coffee more than anything else, so that’s a good sign for all the coffee shops in town,” Christopher Dickinson said.