<p>Drinking and drug use (most commonly weed, coke, prescription meds) are very much an essential part of the average weekend night at Trinity. Well, I should clarify that most people drink, and people who use drugs are generally in a different group than those who only drink alcohol, and they are not the majority. In my experience, you’re going to find this social scene at lots of schools. Howeer, I honestly think that Trinity students drink quite a bit, maybe even more than at other colleges. People party hard, but they also work hard. </p>
<p>The weekend is Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, although Fridays tend to be more low key. There’s usually official campus activities on weekend nights (concerts, movies, etc) but they tend to end around 10-11PM. Most people drink in their dorm rooms, then go out as a group to the frats on Vernon around 12-2AM to drink more, meet up with friends, dance, hook up. The Fred is the ‘alternative’ to the frats, and they hold different events at night. But really, there’s drinking there, too. It’s just less dirty and loud. There really isn’t much to do off campus at night, unless you are 21 and you can go to bars downtown or in the suburbs.</p>
<p>Basically, it is hard not to be a drinker at Trinity. It’s not impossible - I knew some people freshman year who didn’t drink - but they still hung out with people who did, and they either didn’t mind or had to deal with it. Your son might find a few non-drinkers, but it’s not common, and drinking is such a big part of the social life here that it could be harder to make friends. Although I’m a drinker, I was bored of the social scene after my freshman year. That’s partially why I spent three semester studying abroad.</p>