<p>I recently went to visit my sister's college (which is very good and not exactly a partying center) and was surprised to find pretty much everyone on her hall did drugs. Now they can do whatever they want, but this has gotten me a bit concerned, as I don't feel like dealing with that when I am in college. It's not that I think I will succumb to peer pressure or that I don't like people who do drugs, but I would really rather not be involved with any illegal activities. So if you make a friend and it turns out they're a drug dealer... awkward.</p>
<p>Basically: what colleges are the best in terms of lack of drug use? What are colleges to avoid? Thanks in advance. :)</p>
<p>You can request assignment to a substance-free dorm.</p>
<p>If that’s not good enough for you, you’d have to go to a very conservative (usually religious) school before you begin to avoid the problem completely.</p>
<p>Southern schools and rural schools seem to have a relatively high rate of substance abuse (especially alcohol). Selective urban schools with a high percentage of Asian students tend to have a lower rate according to one report I read. A few selective small colleges cultivate a counter-culture vibe that seems to correspond to a higher rate of drug use, but it’s hard to separate reality from perception where illegal drugs are concerned.</p>
<p>Assignment to a substance-free dorm seems good enough. I know the issue is in every college, but hopefully in some isn’t nearly as widespread as what I saw in my sister’s college. (I’m a liberal atheist so a religious school probably wouldn’t be a good idea, haha.)</p>
<p>I think the more selective the college, the less drug use, generally. Drug users are losers and I don’t blame you for wanting to avoid them. Your sister should transfer to a different college. I have a personal dislike for people who do drugs. They are jerks, morons, idiots.</p>
<p>Bear in mind that many parents either urge their students to request a substance-free dorm, or actually complete their student’s housing application themselves. The students themselves may or may not have a personal commitment to remaining substance-free. The substance-free label is a concept, but not always a reality.</p>
<p>@collegehelp: That’s what I thought, but my sister’s school is quite selective, which is why the drug situation surprised me, since I know how widespread drug use is. I feel like now everyone’s doing pot, including people doing to MIT/Harvard/Yale/whatever.</p>
<p>@gadad: That’s too bad. Is there any way I can find out if the substance-free dorms are really substance free?</p>
<p>While gadad is right that some few students may not respect the sub-free policy of their dorms, the overwhelming majority do, at least in S’s experience at his school. And students who flagrantly violate the spirit of agreement will get censored by others either directly or indirectly. </p>
<p>While substance ‘use’ may be widespread, the level of abuse varies by school and is something you can check out. If your rooming situation is undesirable because of a room-mate’s repeated abuse of ‘substances,’ most school housing offices will be sympathetic about helping you make other arrangements.</p>
<p>Not all colleges have substance-free dorms. Technically, every college dorm is supposed to be free of substances anyway besides alcohol and cigarettes because they are all illegal. And my college was a dry campus (no alcohol or any other substance) and yet students still managed to smoke pot and drink alcohol in the residence halls.</p>
<p>In any event, every college will have a crowd that doesn’t do drugs (just like every college will have a crowd that DOES do them). I went to a relatively socially conservative women’s college and there was a pothead crowd there, too. Some schools may have a reputation for more drug use than others; I don’t know how accurate they are, but Princeton Review comes up with lists of the top 20 schools in each area - they have a section for “Reefer Madness”, for example (UC-Santa Cruz tops the list, and other schools represented are Skidmore, Bard, New College of Florida, Colorado College, Hampshire College, Sarah Lawrence, Pitzer, and Wesleyan, among others). The rankings are based upon responses from students.</p>
<p>I don’t know what you imagine the peer pressure to be like but if you don’t make active efforts to get drugs, you will not have any. Even if all of your friends smoked pot and experimented with hallucinogens, they still cost money and are not terribly easy to purchase. I don’t think you need to be scared about the atmosphere in college.</p>
<p>@M’s Mom: That’s a relief to know. :') Thank you for the information. @juillet: Thanks, I’ll check out that list! @belevitt: I’m not concerned about peer pressure, I can’t imagine doing drugs for any reason at all. But having the majority of your peers, especially the ones you are living with, doing it is just something I really don’t want to have to deal with.</p>
<p>@collegehelp , thats not really true
@ OP, people may offer, but no one will force you to do drugs. I’m sure it will be very easy to find friends who do not do drugs/drink. Don’t worry!</p>
<p>College students who use drugs are criminals and should be reported to the police. Students should be outraged by the drug use around them. Don’t tolerate it.</p>
<p>collegehelp, the reason most schools don’t take this approach is that they want to make sure that if a student is engaging in unsafe behaviors, a friend or room-mate can bring this to the attention of someone in a position of responsibility without getting the student expelled or arrested. Schools have discovered that they have a much lower rate of ER incidents, deaths and other tragedies when immaturity and poor judgment aren’t criminalized. Dealing drugs is a different matter, and most schools treat it differently.</p>
Is there any way I can find out if the substance-free dorms are really substance free?</p>