<p>I’m not a huge fan of drinking. It seems llike most college kids are. Were you considered a “party animal” in college? looking back, do you feel a bit embarassed that you cared so much about drinking? I feel like most people that get wildly drunk are around 18-21. once you can legally do it, it kind of loses its appeal or it becomes more classy.</p>
<p>I didn’t drink much in college. I worked in the French Quarter to put myself through school and was around drinking culture all the time, so it didn’t have much appeal for me.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, a lot of those people become alcoholics, and there’s nothing classy about that. I haven’t looked at polls lately, but most of the people I know personally who are hard core alcoholics started during high school. However, our drinking age for a long time was 18, so that may play into it. </p>
<p>I think you have a point though, that people who are heavy drinkers but not alcoholics will eventually lose much of their interest in it. If nothing else, interest in risk-taking behavior diminishes with age.</p>
<p>When I went to college in the mid-70s, the drinking age in my state ¶ was 21 but it was 18 in MD and NJ. Although drinking seemed like a big deal in high school, it wasn’t such a big deal in college, since we could hop over the border and drink legally.</p>
<p>I do admit to having a too many a few times, but I was nowhere near as bad as a lot of kids my age. Also, I’d pretty much stopped drinking by Junior year in college anyway (I worked 20 hrs a week, plus with school work, I just hated that “morning after” feeling. I avoided it at all costs).</p>
<p>I think one thing that influenced me in my decision to avoid drinking at college was the fact I was introduced to both drinking and drugs at a very early age (pre-high school) by my older siblings and cousins. By the time I got to h.s., I’d more or less “seen it all” by my late teens and it didn’t have much appeal to me by the time I got to college.</p>
<p>When I was in college the drinking age for “low beer” (remember that nasty stuff??) was 18. Still…I was not a drinker after my first time getting quite sick and having a hangover the next day. It just wasn’t worth it. I’m still the designated driver for all events, and it’s fine with me. It’s less expensive…and truthfully it’s entertaining being sober and watching those who have had a bit too much!!!</p>
<p>Yes. No. But unlike you crazy americans, 18 is still the legal drinking age in la belle province.</p>
<p>/now in silly Ontario and its “19+, we’ll always card you unless it’s the middle of the week and no pimply kids are around” philosophy</p>
<p>It is pretty odd. I read about a situation recently where the high school teacher was bringing girls from the high school to a motel to have sex with a man. This was perfectly legal, as the adults in that state have decided that 16 is old enough to consent to sex with an adult.</p>
<p>But the teacher is facing criminal charges for giving them alcohol and cigarettes. It just seems very backwards to me.</p>
<p>My friends and I drank and inhaled in college (a very popular Ivy), often to excess. And in graduate and medical school. Most of us still do (altho rarely to excess anymore- we just fall asleep.) All of us are successful in our careers, as measured by our positions and salaries. I am a tenured faculty member (at that same Ivy). My friends are doctors, scientists, lawyers, biznesspeople. All of us are married to our first wives, and have happy and healthy families. </p>
<p>How can this be? I dunno. The 'work hard, play hard" philosophy definitely applied. We busted our butts, graduated with honors, had the grades for professional schools. Partying was for weekends (mostly), a reward for the overtime effort spent during the week. Still is.</p>
<p>Went to bars often for a couple after studying until 11. Also went to see bands and find girls nearly every weekend. Rarely got drunk of high. But not never either.</p>
<p>When and where I went to college the legal drinking age was 19 for everything. I didn’t drink while in college. I was too busy with an engineering workload and working to support myself and had no interest in drinking anyway. Even at that time I thought the whole idea of drinking to get drunk, which is what many college students do, was ridiculous.</p>
<p>Yes. No. Is this a survey?</p>
<p>I was pretty much a 2 beer limit kind of person. So no, not much to look back on and be embarrassed about. However, my younger brother who finished undergrad in 3 years and went to med school was much the party animal. I was on his “list” over Christmas when I mentioned in front of his teenage kids “Remember when you got that DUI in college and I had to bail you out of jail?” His kids would not drop the subject for an hour and my brother was glaring daggers over the dinner table :).</p>
<p>Today, nobody was a drunk back in the day. Nobody was a party animal, a doper, a stupid frat boy, an academic slacker, a calculating exploiter of women, or a bully either. Those things were always done by other people who have now all somehow disappeared. ;-)</p>
<p>I went to a womens college that was academically rigorous. We studied very hard during the week and binge drank every single weekend. I can’t believe the way we behaved, and I would kill my kids if they behaved in the stupid way that we did. We drank until we could hardly walk, and then get behind the wheel. By the grace of God nothing happenned to any of us and none of us are alcoholics, but it was an immature phase that could have had disastrous consequences. At one point I remember driving with Princeton boys on thetop of my car. When I tell H these stories he can’t believe that I’m the same person. It’s incomprehensible, really.</p>
<p>Au contraire, Coureur! I do remember quite well the students who lived stoned, dealt drugs, drank too much, etc. I just didn’t have any use for them, so I don’t know what became of them. Maybe they are all prominent business types today. </p>
<p>I was a very nerdy, goody-two-shoes in H.S. and in college. I knew by the time I was 12 that I wanted a career in music - which I have - and I was very focused on my grades and practicing. You have probably correctly inferred by now that I was not exactly a popular kid:) .</p>
<p>I did not drink in college and am still a teetotaler today. I did occasionally inhale with my future husband. That was very short lived; just a few times as a freshman. As soon as my future H graduated at the end of my freshman year, we stopped. I’m one of those weird people who can honestly say she’s never been drunk - not even a little tipsy! Alcohol just never had any appeal to me. That’s probably a good thing since I am hypoglycemic. I have read that people with that problem have a much greater than average chance of becoming problem drinkers.</p>
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One, two, three for sure, uhh…maybe four…4/6. What do I win? 
I like to be historically accurate.</p>
<p>I never could drink much. To this day, half a beer is around my limit. I am extremely alcohol sensitive, and I simply fall asleep.However, I liked my drugs, all kinds! (well, there were a couple, the amphetamines, that didn’t do much for me.) They loosened me up greatly, and my grades soared!</p>
<p>I had an alcoholic roommate who was murdered at 25, and I know of at least 5 members of my class (of 300 or so) who died of alcohol-related disorders (cirrhosis, liver cancer, etc.) during their 40s, one of whom had become a bank pres, and two others of whom went to professional schools. We also used to lose at least 1 or 2 a year who would drive their cars off cliffs while under the influence.</p>
<p>But, from what I can tell, alcohol use levels were far lower at my school then than they are today.</p>
<h2>“I do remember quite well the students who lived stoned, dealt drugs, drank too much, etc. I just didn’t have any use for them, so I don’t know what became of them. Maybe they are all prominent business types today.”</h2>
<p>lol! I’d have to say this is true. House pusher at my husband’s frat (and one of our groomsmen) is running a company today I believe.</p>
<p>I ‘participated’ (I guess this is a good word) in the party scene in college. Since my dh, then boyfriend, was one of those frat boys and the frat scene was pretty extreme, I was pretty much there by default. But house parties always seemed to involve beer which is not a favorite of mine. So, for me, drinking involved actually going out where one could buy a good margarita. Never really felt the need to drink until drunk and puking though. That never seemed really smart to me.</p>
<p>“Did you DRINK in college? were you a party animal?”</p>
<p>No. </p>
<p>I did know a guy in high school who blew his brains out while playing Russian Roulette. He lost.</p>
<p>Society won. He was a p****.</p>
<p>I guess this doesn’t really qualify since he wasn’t college material. :)</p>
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Yes and no. I drank – it was legal at 18, if that means anything. But nobody would have called me a party animal. Went out most weekends, but usually not for more than a few drinks or to share a pitcher at a table. Did Junior Year abroad in England and drank more regularly, but less at one sitting – fond memories of meeting at the pub in the residence hall most nights for a one-drink nightcap with friends. Over 4 years I can count the number of times I over-imbibed without having to use my toes. </p>
<p>So I guess put me in the camp that doesn’t have a big anti-drinking bias, BUT I’m also of the opinion that drink till you puke is NOT a necessary part of college. Even at a large state school with a huge party reputation. Geaux Tigers!</p>
<p>Like several other on this thread, when I went to college (late 70’s - early 80’s)the legal drinking age was 18, and by the time it was raised, I was old enough that it didn’t have any impact on me. While I went to my share of keg parties, for the most part, I would lay off after the second beer or drink. So, no, I didn’t qualify for party animal status.</p>