<p>exactly what the title says</p>
<p>i am just curious</p>
<p>does less drinking/partying take place at schools like NYU, BU, Chicago, etc. than at schools like Cornell, Dartmouth, UNC, UVA, Mich because of their urban setting?</p>
<p>Maybe a bit less, but college is college and the drinking culture is ubiquitous. There still is significant partying at colleges in cities.</p>
<p>It’s more about college culture than location. If you put Chicago kids in the middle of no where for two months, they still won’t drink. If you put Cornell kids in NYC for two months, they still would treat drinks like water.</p>
<p>There is a lot of drinking on any college campus. But on city campuses it is not the only thing going on…students don’t feel like drinking is the only thing to do all the time. It’s very easy not to drink on a city campus without feeling bored or like an outcast. My son at school in DC can go to a party and not drink at all and no one thinks to criticize or pressure him–although I know that sometimes he chooses to drink, although not to excess as that’s not his thing.</p>
<p>Studies have shown that certain factors correlate to a higher binge drinking rate. The primary ones are:</p>
<p>– Isolated campus
– Primarily white student body
– Wealthy student body
– High percentage of athletes</p>
<p>Being a student at Penn State (the very rural end of the spectrum) and one that goes to NYU on the weekends twice a month (the very urban end),
I can definitely say that rural kids drink more. Like 5x as much from what I see.</p>
<p>I’ve heard the same thing directly from some (somewhat rural) college kids - not that they were complaining. I went to a state school and thought all colleges were one endless party, where kegs were sitting in the dorm hallways and shower stalls, where kids walked freely around campus with beer cups/bottles. I will say I enjoyed the tailgating atmosphere, but I was one who actually made it in to watch the game, while others chose to just party the day away. To each their own.</p>
<p>While visiting colleges with my kids, I saw the differences or heard about them from students. I think drinking IS available at all schools, even “dry” campuses - but there are definite differences in atmosphere, expectations and alternative choices.</p>
<p>I think there’s quite a bit of drinking at George Washington University.</p>
<p>Both myself and my son went to both rural and urban schools and our experience has been that there is more drinking at the rural schools. I think it’s a matter of not having anything else to do. I also think there is more drug use at rural schools.</p>
<p>Statistically speaking I believe students at rural schools are somewhat more inclined to drink for entertainment. However, the kids at our high school who have gone off to NYU drink as often if not as heavily as any group of alums we have encountered. They are uniformly from fairly well-to-do families, so I would question if they would do as much clubbing if they came from a lower-middle class background.</p>
<p>A few more observations:</p>
<p>Part of it could be the company I keep, part of it could be the culture of my school, part of it could be the beckoning city, but few of my friends, acquaintances, and partygoers drink to excess very regularly. It’s not our primary form of entertainment-- I would say even during my weekly beer pong commitment, it’s not about the alcohol as much as the company and camaraderie. But wouldn’t that be true at almost any party at almost any school? Are frat parties more of a culprit in this regard, as they tend to be larger and more anonymous?</p>
<p>Even my peers who drink often can’t afford to spend an entire day coping with a hangover, so the appeal of binge drinking is diminished. I would imagine that students who have work/study jobs-- particularly early Sunday morning work/study jobs-- would tend to drink less if only because they have more commitments that they can’t sleep their way through.</p>
<p>You might also find that while alcohol use may be lower, drug use (beyond weed) is higher at urban schools as well.</p>