Demographics of the College Student

It may be obvious enough, but my target audience is college students.

Fortunately for me, there are about 21,000 students enrolled at Ohio University, including undergraduates and grad students, and they mainly range from 18-24 year olds. However, after doing some research, I found out that my app will apply to a wider range of people (and maybe even more so people over the age of 25).

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “In recent years, the percentage increase in the number of students age 25 and over has been larger than the percentage increase in the number of younger students…”

Contrary to my initial beliefs, my app may be able to get a larger audience than I had originally expected, especially based on these findings (and if I consider grad students as well).

Not to mention, my app will be useful for all ethnicities, races, etc. As the college enrollment of international students increases, my app will become universal to all types of people, who can introduce this app to their other family, friends, etc. in the U.S.

Finally, another interesting point I’ve considered is the number of out-of-state students enrolled at Ohio University. According to College Express, 9% of students enrolled at OU are out-of-state students. This may not seem like a lot, but an advantage of this would be having these students bring back their “OU Culture” to their homes, which could easily include this app (especially if this app can be used in any state).

Sneezers & Hives

As far as my sneezers and hives, I’ve come to the conclusion that my targeted audience will be men and women between 18 and 25 years old and, more specifically, college students.

And I say this with good reason, especially when considering the question: What do college students do on weekends? Sure, some students study and some stay in, but as far as a campus like Ohio University (with our notorious bars), the bars are wall-to-wall packed on the weekends.

Another reason for my belief that college students will utilize this app is because, oftentimes, college bars tend to have cheaper drinks/ drink specials in order to accommodate a lower-income crowd.

According to a study I found, “…’drink specials’ and other alcohol discounts and promotions remain a common feature of college bars.”

Not to mention, the proximity of bars on college campuses would make them an ideal location for students on the weekends, or week days in many circumstances. A student in another article on drinking claimed, “The proximity and number of bars influence college drinking patterns.” Clearly, the proximity of bars also contributes to the crowds that gather there on the weekends.

I think these are the main factors that will draw my bar-going crowd of 18-25 year olds (we all know the freshman sneak into the bars, hence the 18-year-old minimum age). My app will easily draw in this targeted audience, especially at Ohio University, where drinking at the bars on every night of the week (Pawpurr’s has $.50 drafts on Tuesday… who could refuse?) is more common than texting during class.