Every year starts with resolutions, celebrations and promises. Students may make the challenging pledge to devote their time to getting good grades or finding a high-paying job.

However, pledging to party harder and more frequently is one of few resolutions that students have no problems upholding.

Partying can be great, but requires limits. Too much partying can lead to hangovers, missed classes or more permanent dangers like liver cirrhosis, hypertension, stroke, certain cancers, DUIs and jail time.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), nearly 110,000 people die every year from alcohol-related causes.

For students to find a good job in this economic climate, priorities must be set straight sooner rather than later. Decisions that are made during college will determine what job one ends up with or what graduate school one is accepted to. Developing a party lifestyle could significantly hinder one’s future prospects.

Prospective employers may look for an Ivy League candidate or simply the person who stands out, even with an education from a public university.

The University of South Florida ranked 183 overall in the 2010 U.S News & World Report list of top national colleges and universities. This means that there are students from 182 institutions who may have an upper hand in the search for a job.

USF also currently holds a six-year graduation rate of 49 percent compared to a 55 percent national average.

Though USF is among the best in research grants, faculty scholarship and freshman retention, the below average graduation rate was noted as a major weakness by provost Ralph Wilcox during a Board of Trustees meeting, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

USF students have to work past this potentially negative shadow on their education, which means they have little room to stray from a solid academic path and even less time to devote to excessive drinking and partying.

It is up to the individual student to prove their worth to a prospective employer, and refraining from excessive partying will only help one’s rise to success in a career.

Now is the time for students to get to work and start thinking in the interest of their long-term goals. Though one may reap more immediate pleasure from spending time and money on college parties, celebrating a new job or promotion will be worth the wait.

Zahira Babwani is a senior majoring in biomedical science.