<p>I was recently accepted to Colgate with a good financial package, but I am concerned about the social options for someone who is not interested in partying or drinking. Please don't simply tell me that there is drinking at every school; I am well aware. I'm also considering Boston University and, low and behold, ZooMass Amherst, because they are big enough that I would be able to find plenty of like-minded friends and alternatives. My major concern is that, because Colgate has a smaller population, drinking occupies a greater proportion of the social scene, resulting in a smaller minority of drinkers than exists at bigger schools.</p>
<p>I am most interested in the responses of current students or recent alumni. If you are old enough to have children who attend Colgate, chances are things could have changed since you went there.</p>
<p>ds is there. doing okay there. he’s not the drinking type either. colgate is big enough. many various groups with various interests. you just have to find your group.</p>
<p>If you think Colgate is a party school you have obviously never partied at the college level. I went to a real party school in the big 12 (though there are much more party oriented schools), and I graduated 5th in my class with a degree in Chemical Engineering. I also got blind stumbling snot slinging drunk 3-5 nights a week, and on one occasion I stayed drunk for 5 days straight. On a bet I took my Thermodynamics midterm exam while drunk (got a B-). I also passed fluid dynamics without attending class even once, I just took the exams. I did not use drugs but at least half the student body was at least half baked at least half the time. Of course everybody but me took a little Ex. (coke, acid, and crank were on campus but not in my relatively tame circle of friends) My Fraternity floated 10 kegs of beer and handed out 50 gallons of evrclear punch every Friday and Saturday night, and we went through 25 kegs on four different occasions that I vaguely remeber. That’s 4,000 solo cups of beer for 120 guys in one night! In addition to frat parties twice a week, half the bars in town had a $10 cover charge then all you could drink beer and well drinks every wednesday night. (my record was 25 rum and cokes and a night in jail at coldwater country). Needless to say alcohol poisoning, ER trips, overdoses, brawls involving 200 guys, arrests, public intoxication, DWI’s, and hookups that neither party could remember were commonplace.</p>
<p>I think it’s kind of cute when people say Colgate students “Play Hard” but you cannot even concieve of how hard you party at a real party school. Of course you could go to UMass Amherst and find out.</p>