Yes, only in the UK would it be considered acceptable for someone who wanted to be PM to boast that “Between the ages of 15 and 21 he drank 14 pints a day” https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/aug/09/thatcher.williamhague
Amusingly, the pushback in this article is not that this is a bad idea, but that “The idea of him sinking 14 pints is laughable” and “you don’t look at him and see a 14-pint man”.
The good thing is that because drinking is legal, it’s not hidden away in dorm rooms - a lot of drinking (perhaps even the majority) is done in college bars, pubs and clubs. Also remember that a UK pint is 20 fl oz, not 16 fl oz…
Advice that I got on the parents facebook page that I’m sharing here.
I asked about flights home for Christmas. I’m dimly recalling my college time, and I remember that often you’re finished with exams well before the end of exam period but you won’t know until you start classes. Flights are much cheaper midweek than on weekends. So if kiddo can come home on a Wednesday or Thursday it would save us a lot of money, but we won’t know if that’s possible until classes are assigned and he gets the syllabus.
One person recommended booking your first flight out to college for the kid as a one way. Once you learn when their exams are over, book the return flight home and then back to Scotland in January as a round trip. For some reason, round trips originating in the UK are often cheaper than round trips originating in the US.
“One person recommended booking your first flight out to college for the kid as a one way…For some reason, round trips originating in the UK are often cheaper than round trips originating in the US.”
Yes flights from the UK are usually cheaper, but a one way flight is typically very expensive. There are two ways round that, flying using miles or picking an airline that offers one way pricing. One of the few airlines that does that is Norwegian, though you would have to connect through London Gatwick.
Drinking is in the open in the UK. If you don’t want to drink its fine, you go to the pub and drink lemonade or any soft drink and nobody will bat an eyelid. If you go to a house party there will be soft drinks or bring your own, as for punch I doubt you will ever see it, its not a UK thing, why would it be? Excessive drinking is usually linked with sports teams after games, Rugby and men’s field hockey the usual suspects.
Norwegian also has very cheap flights to Dublin which can be booked one way and flights one way to EDI from Dublin are also super cheap. Look on Esky.
@elguapo1 all those things but at St. Andrews I would add academic family events.
I would advise Freshers who do not want to get absolutely wasted or sick during Raisin to screen prospective parents. Let them know that you are not a heavy drinker and feel them out to see how important alcohol is going to be in that family. Some start at 5 am on Sunday and keep pushing alcohol all the way through Monday morning. Others mix in real food and water and other activities.
@elguapo1, it wasn’t random that I mentioned punch- I didn’t think of it, either- until my UK collegekid encountered it! I agree that there is no problem for people who choose not to drink- but I know (first hand) that many students who don’t think that they will drink do- and preparing them is sensible.
And of course, what’s ‘excessive’ is really in the eye of the beholder. I agree the extreme rowdy stuff is associated with matches. But I have spent a lot of time in recent years on UK college campuses, and being ‘ordinary’ levels of drunk is not linked to anything in particular. Every first year I know knows the basics of helping a drunk friend home: get them into bed, leave both water and a trash can by the bed and send them a message (that they won’t see until the next morning) telling them to message when they wake up so that you can update them on the night (which ensures that as soon as they wake up they contact you & you know they are ok). (one of the nicest parts of the UK system is how much students do watch out for each other).
All sensible stuff… Bottom line is nobody is going to force you to drink if you don’t want to, but going to the pub and the union, people will be drinking. House parties people will be drinking and if there is punch it will have alcohol in it; people will be getting the worse for wear. Halls of residence wont be checking your room for alcohol unless there is a religious affiliation or specific hall rule so don’t be unfazed if your freshman roommate unpacks a bottle of wine or liquor. For US parents don’t get unduly worried, just have a sit down with your child ahead of time and tell them what to expect. The worry is once unfettered, kids who are not used to alcohol go hog wild. All kids will be different and I understand your concerns, but believe me the drinking culture will be already established among college age kids in Europe but it is not a hazing thing, your child is not going to be forced to do it.
@elguapo1 I disagree. In some families the pressure to drink rises to the level of hazing. Particularly during raisin.
Punch? Mine drinks cider, gin and tonic, rose, prosecco and the ubiquitous Pablos.
Did see an article about a kid that died at Newcastle https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/22/newcastle-student-died-after-initiation-bar-crawl-inquest-told…very similar to the boy that died at Penn State. I am strongly encouraging my D to choose her academic family very carefully because the whole raisin weekend almost kept her from choosing St. Andrews. Additionally the university really whitewashes it along with the academic families “tradition”…all about mentoring and foam fights and no mention of the excessive drinking that goes along with it. I’m hoping she will find “parents” who like to have fun but don’t treat it like a fraternity initiation.
@vpa2019 choosing a good mom and dad (or two moms or 2 dads is also ok) is very important. My daughter had a lovely mum who designed super fun games for Raisn and kept them fed and hydrated and just a bit tipsy all day. She is going in to third year and she and her academic sister plan to adopt together and do similar. And since her mum is a 5 year masters student they will have a grandmum too.
Kiddo finished signing up for accommodation last night. He wants catered with a roommate so we shall see what the random number generator gives him. We talked about choosing your academic family wisely. He already has experience with being the sober person in a crowd of high school students. I hadn’t realized that raisin weekend could be a boozefest but now that I think about it, it’s all there in between the lines when they talk about it.
Forewarned is forearmed. I’m coming to like the UK drinking age. Kids that age want to be able to drink and blow off steam, if they can’t do it legally they’ll do it illegally. If it’s legal, they will be more likely to get medical help when they need it or invite adults to participate in parties.
I like the idea of making sure that the kid knows what alcohol feels like in his body before we go overseas.
Item number 33584 on the list of ‘things that feel unreal about being a parent’ - scheming to get my kid drunk under parental supervision so that he doesn’t get into trouble with it later on.
(I remember clearly that item 2500 was hearing the words ‘please don’t put peanut butter on the cat’ coming out of my mouth. This is all way too soon)
@VickiSoCal your D sounds like a great young lady! Your posts about your D’s experiences at St. As have been super helpful ?
@ninakatarina completely agree about being able to drink legally and planning a little educational drinking before we venture across the pond. ?
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lololol - fab ‘please don’t eat the daisies’ story (in hindsight anyway…)
I’ve been sent this link by several different people. St. Andrews pulls ahead of Oxford in UK university rankings. Watch out, Cambridge!
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jun/07/st-andrews-beats-oxford-to-take-second-place-in-guardian-university-rankings
It is a nice recognition but the league tables seem to be really varied. I have literally never heard of the number 4 university.
God yes, the punch. Stay away from the punch. They may never encounter any, but trust me, do share that word of wisdom just in case.
Be prepared for every one drinking. Not just rugby players and rowers. I contend they have nothing on musicians!
I have heard of Loughborough (No. 4 this year and last year in the Guardian guide). It’s a good university in the UK. I think academically it has a lot of engineering majors and related. But its also well-known for being one of the strongest universities for sports. I think it might have been (or is?) a UK Olympics Training Centre, so there are a lot of serious athletes and I think Lougborough teams win a lots of BUCS championships. Anyway, it’s sports training programs are very strong. Like Univ of St Andrews, it rates high in student satisfaction. I think its like 60% male students.
Oxford has been boycotting the National Student Survey for a while, and both Cambridge and Oxford dislike rankings in newspapers based on student satisfaction that can be seen as mostly promotional for the universities involved, and often don’t participate. Loughborough is a respected university in the UK, but mainly known for technical subjects and achievement in sport, and certainly not really equivalent to Oxford and Cambridge. Although I’m sure many students are perfectly happy, and that is all these newspaper rankings are really saying ( although there are rumors that in some universities students are being pressured to participate, so that high rankings can subsequently be used to promote the university to potential applicants).
They can be pressured to participate but they can’t control what they say in the survey. Sounds a bit like sour grapes on the part of Oxbridge. The general populace loves rankings ?