<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>