It’s that time of the semester. Midterms are approaching, the leaves are changing and the money from that summer job is drying up. The balance between the meal card and the M&T card has shifted in Sodexo’s favor and unless Scoreboard starts accepting the BUC$, you’re in trouble.

A round-trip from campus to State Street is at least $6 in a cab, cover charges will total around $10 and a sandwich or slice of pizza is another $5. That’s about $20 a night and doesn’t include the alcohol. The cabs and the cover charges aren’t negotiable, and unless you want to pack a lunch, neither is the food. That leaves one variable, the drinks.

Pre-gaming is so familiar to BU students that it might as well have been taught at orientation. But once you’re in the bars, you’re going to want more bang for your buck.

The fastest way to a forgotten weekend and an embarrassing call log is to drink straight liquor like shots, a vodka gimlet or a whiskey neat. But if that doesn’t mesh with your taste buds, there are other ways to get the same results.

To get a stronger buzz from a mixed drink, changing the mixer can do wonders. According to a study at Australia’s Royal Adelaide Hospital, Dr. Chris Rayner found that tests on drinks with sugar-free mixers can boost blood alcohol content up to 66 percent more than those with sugar.

Drinks containing sugar have more calories, therefore spend more time in the digestive system than their diet counterparts. Artificially sweetened drinks get rapidly absorbed, which quickly affects the brain.

To take advantage of this research, you may want to go for a rum and Diet Coke instead of the Classic. Lemonade, iced tea, cola and most juices come in artificially sweetened versions, and every bar has a diet cola on tap.

If a quick buzz isn’t your goal, one BU student suggests sitting back with a tall pitcher.

‘I like pitchers, they’re a cool way to hang out with your friends at the bar and pregame,’ said Ryan Blauer, a senior majoring in pre-dental math. ‘It’s not high-quality beer, but it isn’t bad. You’ll usually get something like Bush or Miller High Life on tap.’

His other advice is to watch for drink specials (See sidebar).

‘I work at the Rat and they’re only $3 every Tuesday,’ Blauer said.

Good financial decisions at the bar should be second nature by junior year, but get into the habit early by not tipping the cute bartender more than you paid for the drink, fighting off happy pockets (not paying for a whole round) and making your drinks count.

These helpful hints should keep your M&T account in the black at least until winter break when you can collect a few more paychecks to do it all over again.