Some boarding schools boast about their students’ low usage of drugs and alcohol compared to peer institutions. (I’ve heard dip is a popular substitute among the boys at one of these schools.) Other schools have legendary reputations for drugs that were forged decades ago and may (or may not) apply today.
How does one sort fact from fiction?
Are the differences between schools real … or just a matter of reputation?
(Hard to know if things would be better or worse living at home, too…)
I would argue that some schools definitely have more issues regarding drug and alcohol usage than others. The best way to get information on individual schools is from a good source and not rumors because they can be misleading. There are schools that are notorious for their drug usage and others not so much. The students usage can also change over time, and so can reputations, so it’s better to get info from a source who knows the school and what is happening in current times, and not from an alum who attended the school 20+ years ago.
Slow day, @CaliMex? 
Alcohol and drugs are happening everywhere, public and private. Your chances of getting enough absolute, factual data on non-reported behavior to make any type of reasonable comparisons between schools, IMO, are slim and none. Until boardingschoolreview.com includes drug and alcohol usage as a metric, I don’t see this conversation as any more than rhetorical.
If this question is important to anyone, best ask the schools themselves. Otherwise, all you will get here is anecdotes and conjecture.
I would argue that there is indeed solid, current information out there from both parents and students alike. I suggest tossing out some school names and inviting users to PM you. You might be able to gather some specific information you seek.
I will take your word that “some” boarding schools say this. To which I would respond that “some” boarding schools have their head in the sand, unless the “some” are schools like Valley Forge. For the BSs that are usually mentioned on this site, I do not believe it to be true. Teenagers, being teenagers, will do what teenagers have been wont to do for generations, whether they are at Andover or at East Dubuque High. Allegedly, some parents of BS students were once teenagers themselves and behaved accordingly. (except skimom and skiddad, who, in the model of Diana of Themyscira, were formed as adults from clay 
)
As I have said many times on this site, the plural of anecdote is not data. As mentioned by earlier posters, ask the schools. Whether the answer will be entirely forthright is another question, though.
Having a senior and sophomore currently in college, they report that alcohol is rampant in frats and elsewhere on campus and weed is rampant in the dorms. Seems like weed has made a huge come back. It has to have started in high school or earlier to be so endemic. It didn’t just start in college.
Just dealing with post-application withdrawal… 
I PMed you, @CaliMex.
Sometimes you can read student commentary on drugs/alcohol in the boardingschoolreview.com comments section. Sometimes you can find info in student publications. And sometimes the schools will make available their anonymous survey results if they engage in that sort of self-reflection. I do think drug and alcohol use varies widely among schools, from very little to quite a lot. My son told me that he never saw any on-campus drinking or smoking in his four years at Thacher (and this from a kid who enjoys parties), but that stuff did take place episodically off campus.
I don’t think AOs or any other adults judged on volume of applications received is going to give a forthright answer (or would necessarily know the answer).
Drugs and alcohol might be endemic to teens. But when my kid shadowed at local indep high schools, one school stood out as having kids who were high during class (just two kids in one class… but she didn’t see that elsewhere).
One BS cited an anonymous survey conducted among BS students at several schools.
So I do think there are variations based on whether kids have other healthy outlets for stress, approach to discipline, degree of supervision, access (sometimes made easier if there are lots of day students?)
It is interesting to note that on this thread, everyone is minimizing differences between schools. What I’m hearing via PM and email is quite different.
Who knew you were such a diplomatic bunch?
I would not minimize the differences, I would say that drugs and alcohol are happening everywhere and that the differences in magnitude between most of the coveted schools here is probably minimal. I would expect ALL PMs to give you stories of those behaviors heard and observed at the PMers schools, and I bet there isn’t a parent on this forum who doesn’t have some kind of story to tell. I just wouldn’t bother to PM anyone with my anecdotes because they are just that and I would hope that no one would be making judgements about a school based on such. Meh.
“It is interesting to note that on this thread, everyone is minimizing differences between schools. What I’m hearing via PM and email is quite different.”
How many posters have either first hand or kids at more than one school? Even if someone has a kid at the school their knowledge, or lack thereof, will be based on how honest their child is, how close their kid is to the action.
Drugs and alcohol are everywhere -any differences may be from year to year or impacted somewhat by day verses boarding or % of day. (cars-)
There used to be a poster named @Quenn who had kids at SPS, Exeter, Choate, and SAS, I believe. Perhaps they will stop by and weigh in on this (and other) aspects of BS cultures at different schools…
Thankfully, my kids didn’t party at BS… Don’t get me wrong- they may have but they rowed which put a wet blanket on pretty much everything- even during the summer . When they went off to College… all three went wild during their FirstYear. I mean W.I.L.D. And it was so unexpected every time. Well, we’re not completely stupid… by the third kid we finally caught on to a trend developing ( LOL )… and braced ourselves but he was the worst!! He made his sibs look like perfect angels! (((WTH)))) You have no idea!!
Serious question: Do you think that’s a pitfall or curse for ( some ) kids coming out of formal/ strict BS environments- even athletic/ street smart/ mature kids?
I’ve compared notes with many other former BS parents, and just when I thought our kids were the worst … someone would raise their hand and say that we got off easy. Every Single Time. And, compared to what their families went through- we did! OMG- the stories… thankfully most had happy endings but still- Holy Crap!
FWIW- All Photokids have their act together now ( Thank God ) but K2 really gave us a run for our money.
Anyone else care to let their hair down or weigh in on the question above? I’d love to hear what parents think, if it’s okay with the OP !
Pretty much the same for ChoatieKid, @PhotographerMom, but my juiciest story about undeveloped frontal lobes at BS concerned the rowing team. Oh wait, I just said upthread that I wouldn’t be sharing those anecdotes. Given that my kid is at a service academy, he will have to wait to go wild until he graduates. Then, look out. He’ll probably show up to his first duty station with improperly creased trousers, poorly polished shoes, or some other atrocity.
(Actually, prior to this past Thanksgiving break at West Point, two seniors who were unhappy with their branch assignments, got drunk and discharged firearms in one of the barracks. WP determined that of the cadets had intent to target some people. He has been separated and WP is treating the incident as an aborted mass shooting. No place is safe.)
I’m not a BS parent yet (but hopeful!), but I did go to an all girls BS back in the day. I can attest to the fact that I went crazy the first year of college with the limited oversight and easy access to drugs and alcohol. Probably more so than my public school graduate friends who had more freedom during high school years.
My BS was 50/50 boarding and day, and the day students provided the majority of the access to alcohol and drugs. Due to the strict on-campus environment, most of it took place off campus. It was common for boarders to spend weekend time at homes of day students & lots can happen when parents are sleeping.
During the 1970’s the drinking age was 18 where I was — I don’t recall the type of intense parties or binge drinking that you hear about today. I can only share what my experience was as a college athlete - also have had interesting conversations with women who played golf in college and are now parents of college-aged kids…We have had similar reflections…we were basically working full-time jobs in college as a serious athlete. We knew this going in and were excited to play our sport. There may be differences on the experience depending on the sport. We had classes (sometimes at night) and traveled for sports. Did not feel really connected to majority of student body. Very strict rules @ behavior and I felt like maybe as young women we were more isolated as a team back then. But, no nonsense.
After graduation, it hit me hard - like I didn’t have the same “college” experience as most people. Felt very sad after graduation. I gained experience in other areas during college - maturity, professionalism - but college wasn’t the same type of social experience as it was for most kids. Perhaps, that is why I went to graduate school and decided it was there that I would make up for lost time? I actually had more fun in grad school and more of a social life (by then you were also of legal age).
I recall that at our school, at one point an outside counselor conducted a survey of the kids as to how many were doing what (drugs and alcohol ) . The survey included questions about how many of your classmates did these things as well as how you thought your school compared to others.
Let’s just say that the kids vastly missed on their perceptions of what was going on around them. Most overestimated use. (Bragging about what they had done perhaps?) Which is to say that as a parent, you are reporting as a parent with very filtered info from a not so accurate source. If your kid doesn’t see it, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Or if they are worried about it, it’s unlikely that everyone is doing it.
If a school has heavy handed punishments but nobody gets punished, I would guess that few kids get caught, not that they are squeaky clean. And when kids are asked to leave, parents know because their kids tell them, but kids only tell what they know and it is very rarely the whole story. Call me cynical, but I don’t put a lot of faith into reports from parents and I think students, who have a better sense, are also affected by their own perceptions.
I think that your kid may have the best shot at getting a read during a visit, but that too will depend on who they meet.
Every BS has drugs and alcohol available to students who want to partake. As the parent of two BS kids who both chose sobriety during school what was most important to us as a family was the overall culture. Would Chimneykids find plenty of like minded friends who were happy to spend Sat night with them watching Netflixs? Could you be a cool kid while staying sober? Both girls avoided parties like the plague as freshman and sophomores (fear of expulsion is also a great motivator) and eventually grew to have friends in both camps and (as far as I know) were never pressured to partake.
I have to say though that a trip to the Harvard Yale game this year was an eye opener. Out of control drinking for as far as the eye could see, a line of men 15 deep peeing on the gym wall, a steady stream of EMT golf carts whizzing by with wasted students. I was honestly pretty schocked, (and I am a wild child of the 70s and 80s who is far less restrained than my kids)
the kids with abuse issues tend to get caught and have to leave