Finding a college where the drinking culture is acceptable.

[chaosakita]

I don't know why a Christian school is automatically a bad environment. I think there are a lot of people who are accepting there who will share the same non-drinking stance that your kid does.

[jaylynn]

I just think any kid can find their own way at school, regardless of its party atmosphere. And, not to condone drinking, but.... I went to school very uptight, rigid and narrow-minded about drinking (I was a super goody two shoes in high school, which in my definition is someone who doesn't party and furthermore is very self-righteous about it. I'm NOT saying your kids are this way. I was.) Well-- I went to school-- and discovered beer. And I've loved it ever since. Not in an alcoholic kind of way.

Not to be flippant, but I guess what I'm saying is that some kids loosen up a little and may either drink or can find a way to go to parties without drinking and still have fun. There is a middle ground out there.

p.s. My school was the Univ of Wisconsin. And my love of beer and Badgers endures.

[Marsian]

I can certainly sympathize with the OP. My spouse and I never drank, and our children don't want to be around drinkers in college. My suggestions are:

1. Look at Christian universities that have no-alcohol policies. Not all are like Liberty and Bob Jones (which I wouldn't even let my children attend). Some may be more conservative than you'd want, but many are not. Unfortunately, the less conservative ones tend to be less strict on alcohol. For those of us who are moderate to liberal Christians, that poses a problem.

2. Investigate colleges with substance-free housing. Most of the students I know who've gone that route chose that housing themselves. They weren't pressured to by their parents, nor are they recovering alcoholics. Moreover, the rules are much more strict in those dorms. If you violate the substance-free policy, they will usually kick you out, period.

3. Investigate other types of residence hall learning communities that attract students who are less likely to be interested in partying. Several employees of college housing departments have told me that limited visitation (for the opposite gender) dorms or learning communities with a heavy service component are good options. Limited visitation dorms tend to attract Muslim students as well as Christian students. Service learning communities get students who want to spend weekends helping in a soup kitchen or tutoring underprivileged students, not drinking themselves into oblivion.

4. Get a compatible roommate. This should be #1 on my list. Unfortunately, colleges won't match students up by whether or not they drink. However, there are college roommate matching websites out there, and some students are meeting potential roommates on "accepted student" websites run by the college or on the college's Facebook pages. Lots of students are eager to find non-drinking roommates.

Good luck.

[Hunt]

The responses I like best are that it exists if you want it, but there is a lot to do if you choose not to partake in it.

Every tour guide at every college will say this. Make sure you ask people who aren't tour guides.

[wis75]

For some "Christian" schools would be horrendous. Only look at those if you believe in or can handle their religious beliefs- choose them for reasons other than trying to avoid an alcohol culture since some will be as bad or worse than regular colleges. As others have pointed out, substance free housing isn't always such because of parental pressures or students. HS students change a lot in college and won't be able to give their college self description prior to being there. UW stopped doing roommate matching since they discovered it was no more successful than random matching. Choosing a learning community or other specialized dorm situation may be the only good choice on the list above. You don't have to be friends with your roommate, you just have to get along. It may be useful to not only find out school and dorm drinking policies, but enforcement of rules. Dorms can't do anything about off campus alcohol but can be strict about in dorm rules and disruptive behavior. Second, not first, semester is the time to see how students behave- after the initial rush of freedom from home rules and experimenting with different acrivites.

Also the caliber of the academics and students matters. Those where more is expected academically need to study even if some do party on weekends. Concentrate on much more than just the pervasiveness of alcohol. You give up too much if that is your number one concern. A school that is a good fit will have like minded students, despite any who drink. Large schools will have room for minority opinions and less chance of being cut off socially if a student won't follow the crowd.

[born2dance94]

Every tour guide at every college will say this. Make sure you ask people who aren't tour guides.

True, but I never ask tour guides or those super-involved perfect students. Pick a range of students to discuss the atmosphere with.

[Marsian]

wis75 -- I totally agree with your second paragraph. My daughter is in a large public university, as was I, and I think they have a lot to offer. One of the best parts of a large public school is that you can always find people who share your values.

As for religious schools, the OP asked how to avoid an alcohol culture, and I was making a suggestion. I admitted that there would be students who wouldn't feel comfortable in a religious school, and I said that even some of those are less strict on alcohol. I certainly wouldn't want one of my children going to a religiously-affiliated college ONLY to avoid alcohol.

As for roommate matching, there is no way I would want one of my children to take potluck on roommates, and it's not just because of drinking. The students I know now (or knew way back when I was in college) who were miserably unhappy with their roommates were the ones who have ended up with a smoker, a drinker, or someone whose boy/girlfriend slept over. No, you don't have to be friends. You don't even have to get along that well. I'm not going to worry if my child and his/her roommate aren't buddy-buddy and even have their disagreements. That's life. However, everyone should have the right not to live with someone who is poisoning their lungs, vomiting on the floor, or having sex in the next bed.

Students searching for roommates can prescreen potential roommates on those issues. Yes, some students will change and some will lie. However, you might be surprised (I have been) at how many college seniors freely discuss, on very public Internet forums, their plans to drink and have boy/girlfriends sleep over in college. A rising college freshman who wants to avoid problem roommates might as well at least check those pages to screen some potential roommates right out of consideration!

[quilll]

Most colleges seem to have plenty of drinking, but at some there is really nothing else, which can isolate those who don't participate. Staying overnight is a good barometer, but hard to do for everyplace you look at. Schools with residential honors dorms seem to have more sense of community based on something other than alcohol, although there is plenty of alcohol available there too, it seems. You might look, at state schools, at the living/learning communities that are formed around an interest.

[Hunt]

I think there are more people who made lifelong friends from random freshman roommates than those who had problems, but that's just my impression.

[keabie18]

Look at these two lists: http://www.princetonreview.com/schoo...?type=r&id=745 and http://www.princetonreview.com/schoo...?type=r&id=708

Though, half of those schools are religious/military

[jaylynn]

That was my experience, Hunt. My freshman friends from my dorm (men and women, completely random in 1979) are still my best friends ever.

[jym626]

agree with this

btw- the title sounds opposite to the intention of the starting post.

That said, some have indicated that schools that are in remote areas, where there is little to do off campus, thend to have more drinking on campus. It may be an overgeneralization, but its been repeated several times and makes sense.