1. Lack of drinking experience/information about alcohol
Sometimes people don't understand their limits. They have not learned how quickly they can become intoxicated and they drink way too much and way too fast, and by the time they realize things are not going well, it is too late.

2. Misperception that drinking to excess is normal
If your campus has collected data on drinking behavior on campus and/or conducted a social norms campaign that details behavior, share information with the group.

Often people abandon their own personal limits because they think, mistakenly, that everyone else is drinking at a much higher level than they are, and they feel like they should match those levels. People notice when someone drinks to excess and they pay attention to that. When someone has just one or two drinks, the behavior doesn't stand out. People will tell stories about wild nights of excessive drinking. People are less likely to tell stories about just having a few drinks and talking or dancing, etc. Nationally, student research tells us that the majority of students drink moderately and responsibly.

3. Too much alcohol too fast
Most cases of alcohol poisoning come down to simple math. A person drinks more alcohol than his/her body can handle. The liver can only process about one drink per hour. If a person ingests more alcohol than the body can safely process, it can lead to intoxication or, if excessive alcohol is consumed, to alcohol poisoning.

4. Playing drinking games. (quarters, beer pong, etc.) It is not uncommon for a person playing a drinking game to drink the equivalent of 8-10 drinks in an hour.

5. Shots. Friends sometimes buy birthday or celebratory multiple shots. It goes without saying that the body cannot handle a high volume of shots, especially if they are consumed in a short period of time.

6. Pre-party or front-loading alcohol before going out. What makes this dangerous is not only do people get drunk before they leave for a party, bar or club, but they usually continue to drink once they get there.

7. Pressure to drink to excess Sometimes a person has no intention of drinking to excess, but that decision is counteracted by pressure from someone else to drink a lot. This can happen because of a lack of assertiveness, or when the drinker gets enough alcohol in their system to affect their judgment about the situation.