<p>I've always lived in a very anti-alcohol environment. My parents drink moderately at best and I've never had a drink in my life. Anyways, i'm thinking about trying alcohol in college (nothing crazy haha) but I am wondering if the consequences of underage drinking are really as bad as parents and law enforcement make them seem? Obviously I know if your really stupid, and drive drunk/drive drunk and hit someone than yeah, your life is screwed, but if your smart about it, can you still get in lots of trouble (i.e. more than like a fine and maybe some classes)?</p>
<p>Generally at most colleges, the cops won’t arrest you unless you’re publicly very drunk or being an ass. </p>
<p>Remember to never drink more than you can handle.</p>
<p>edit: To add on to that, yeah it’s generally a fine and some classes. DO NOT EVER HIT A COP or swear at him or generally be an idiot to him. Suddenly you’ll be looking at a lot more than just a few classes.</p>
<p>Minor brain damage in stunting frontal lobe growth (stops growing between ages of 19-21), but one drink would have a negligible effect. Your college might have some serious penalties (others might not care). As for health, as long as you don’t do a lot of heavy drinking, you’ll be okay. Children used to drink beer because the water was so bad, and many (Western) countries have lower or no drinking age (though kids younger than a certain age would likely be laughed out of the bar). Look at the penalties in your state. But if it’s a big party where a ton of underage drinking is going on, be wary of cops showing up. But anyway, yeah, varies by college. I wouldn’t do it, for health and legal reasons, but you’ll probably be okay in moderation.</p>
<p>Where are you going to school?</p>
<p>Some schools are strict (or in towns that are strict) and you can get in some trouble, while others are a free for all.</p>
<p>My school’s a wet campus. In the freshmen dorms, the ra’s let alcohol slip so long as they know what’s going on. If you bring it too far though (and they let you know the limits), you just have to talk with the residential college director, and possible have to take a short online class). So long as you’re not being an idiot, there really aren’t any consequences.</p>
<p>At another school (one of the schools on the “top 10 parties” list), I have a friend who was kicked out of her dorm and fired from her dorm job because someone claimed she had alcohol in her room… there was no alcohol- the school didn’t check and just took the side of the other girl.
However, the girl was just moved to another dorm. She wasn’t kicked out of reslife, so not too bad in the long run.</p>
<p>Also, I come from a city where there are no public drinking laws (during certain “holidays” I used to drink on the streets, with cops present, and they didn’t care one bit that I was clearly underage, because I wasn’t causing a scene or problems). [Ten points to anyone who can guess my city. It’s not difficult]</p>
<p>Try that in another place? You might get arrested. In other words, know you’re boundaries.</p>
<p>Edit: No one likes the idiot who gets blackout drunk. That’s not kosher.</p>
<p>Look up exactly what the consequences are for your state and your university-- sometimes the university’s consequences are worse than the state ones. You need to look this up for yourself before you make this decision, not rely on a message board.</p>
<p>Depends on what your major is. I know if you’re any kind of education major, and you get caught drinking underage, even if you don’t get arrested, it goes on record and you can’t get your teaching certification. If you’re another major, though, you usually don’t have much to worry about.</p>
<p>Two true stories–student applying to graduate school had to list on application that he had a previous misdemeanor for possession of alcohol by a minor…caused him and his family lots of stress worrying it would keep him out of the program.</p>
<p>Also, years ago, a friend had to appear before the State Bar Character and Fitness Board to explain a citation for contributing to the deliquency of a minor before he was permitted to sit for the Bar Exam. (He was a senior in college and some of his friends with him were underage and in possession of alcohol).</p>
<p>Everything worked out for both these individuals but it caused a great deal of stress and anxiety.</p>
<p>Also consider the probably lesser but still worth considering consequences if your parents find out, depending on what you really mean by an “anti-alcohol” environment. My roommate went to a halloween party and bumped into one of her cousins by surprise, who accidentally let slip to her father that he saw her there. She came back to the dorm sobbing and was not the same the rest of the year, apparently they had some kind of awful fight about it and her parents told her they didn’t respect her anymore.</p>
<p>@Johnson181 Is it either St. Louis or KC in Missouri?</p>
<p>summerdude- nope. Both of those have public drinking laws, I believe (it was weird to move to St. Louis for school and not be able to walk outside with a drink).</p>
<p>I go the the #1 party school, the University of Texas at Austin.</p>
<p>Yeah. There isn’t any. I had vodka and beer in my room as a freshman, nobody cared. We have a neighborhood of student apartment and fraternity houses west of campus (called West Campus) and there are hundreds and hundreds of students there partying every weekend (and during the week), walking around with alcohol, etc. Nobody cares. Really.</p>
<p>I once walked through campus totally ****faced at 10:30pm on a Sunday. My three friends were behind me recording my walking and talking (more like yelling) for their own amusement. I yelled at benches and shouted responses to my friends’ (very ■■■■■■■■) questions. It was a riot to watch the recording. Anyway, at one point I walked straight past a cop, like 5 feet away at most, in opposite directions on a sidewalk. We were all clearly freshmen, and I was clearly publicly intoxicated. He looked at me and made eye contact (at least, I think he did) but nothing happened. He didn’t say a word or make a gesture.</p>
<p>It’s great, man.</p>
<p>Unless you do something so stupid that it screws the rest of your life up (killing someone, or getting caught doing a felony), the consequences are pretty minimal.</p>
<p>I suppose it’s different in each state, but I got one when I was 16 and it was only a Summary Offense (a charge less than a misdemeanor, like a speeding ticket). I’ve gone through the process of government security clearance and it wasn’t an issue at all. I just said, “I got an underage drinking when I was 16”, they said, “Thanks, is that all?”</p>
<p>I use to work in law enforcement, and about 50% of the new cops I new being hired had underage citations. As long as they informed their background investigator, it wasn’t a big deal at all.</p>
<p>It really only becomes a major legal issue or an issue with your school if you get repeated charges, so you could end up having a suspended license and pay some fines.</p>
<p>I remember when I was a teenager we thought an underage was the biggest thing in the world, we go to school and gosssip about, “Did you hear so and so got an underage?” LOL, It’s kinda funny looking back.</p>
<p>Personally, I was more worried about my dad than I was the the police (I at least have rights when with the police).</p>
<p>There are rare occassions when you hear about some young person drinking so much they ended dying, but that is usually some obscene amount - like a small 100 lbs female taking 21 shots of Vodka on her 21st birthday.</p>
<p>Speaking from experience, being on both sides of the issue - if you ever get caught, don’t BS the cop. If you are drunk and he asks if you’ve been drinking, just say yes and how much you’ve had. You don’t have to say you are totally wasted, just tell them that you’ve been drinking beer for a couple of hours at your friends house and you aren’t driving. There’s a good chance they will just let you go and instead arrest the drunk dude who isn’t wearing a shirt and fighting with his girlfriend.</p>
<p>The only immediate consequence is a hangover, which most people don’t seem to start getting until there mid 20’s.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to drink don’t, but if you want to try it, no real harm in that either. Just don’t ever drive, because that can lead to very severe consequences.</p>
<p>When you do it for the first time, do it with people you trust and do it at your house/apartment or somewhere else you feel safe.</p>
<p>I just want to give that advice one more time to people.</p>
<p>Don’t BS the cop - I’ve been on the other side and that just makes law enforcement officers angry.</p>
<p>Just admit that you’ve had some to drink, and if the cop asks how much, just be honest. Be polite, be respectful and don’t try to out smart them. Trust me, they would much rather let you walk away and not have to deal with the paperwork and other hassles. So don’t give them a reason.</p>
<p>Some cops will ticket you regardless, but many are pretty reasonable about it.</p>
<p>They will appreciate your honesty and the fact that you are trying to make their life easier.</p>
<p>BSing them will just get you written up/arrested. Trust me, you aren’t the first nor the best BSer they’ve dealt with!</p>
<p>It all depends on the college. At some, cops/RAs are very strict, especially the Christian colleges, and others aren’t strict at all. At my old school, one of my friends actually asked a cop to hold his beer for him while he tied his shoe, and the officer did so. He was really cool about it, and he said that he really didn’t care as long as you weren’t doing something really stupid or had your car keys handy (like you were about to drive).</p>
<p>So it really all depends. Ask around. Either way, though, ALWAYS be respectful to the authorities, even if they’re being jerks. It’ll go a long way.</p>