<p>I’m not sure how the drinking at Caltech compares to other techie or Ivy schools, but my impression is that it is far less than at most universities. I have a niece at a large public school who had a very difficult time adjusting, as she was naturally shy and didn’t drink. She seemed to want to discard anyone as a friend who did, as opposed to just hanging out with people when they were sober, which was at least some of the time. She finally found a few friends who didn’t drink or at least not illegally or to excess, but the first two years were pretty lonely for her since she automatically discarded perfectly nice people because they did drink.</p>
<p>As for my son at Caltech, I don’t think drinking is as pervasive. He says he does not feel peer pressure to drink. On the other hand, I called him the other night with a question about one of his financial aid documents on a week night, which I rarely do. His room was very quiet very early in the evening, which seemed odd. He was doing homework in his room, but several other people were in his room, they were just all passed out from drinking. In some ways, I find this more disturbing than some of the larger schools, where the drinking usually doesn’t start until at least Thursday night and goes through the weekend. Of course, drinking to this point of excess is never wise either. I hope the stress of Caltech doesn’t drive this sort of drinking.</p>