<p>I don't drink and, while I don't care if my roomate does, I would greatly prefer it if she didn't use substances in the room. I haven't been able to find sub-free housing at Yale. If it isn't a housing option, do any of you know why not? Do people party in their rooms a lot?</p>
<p>I’m not quite sure, but have you tried emailing for information regarding this?</p>
<p>No, there is no substance free housing on campus… you will fill out a form asking about your drinking and smoking habits and then it’s up to your dean to assign roommates. Deans assign housing in different ways, so I cannot be sure what to tell you will happen after that. My dean did a great job (for the most part) putting rooms together, but there were different combinations relating to substances. Yale’s housing philosophy focuses on bringing a diverse group of kids together rather than segregating them by habits, majors, or cultures. You really will love the system once you get there in the fall. And if you do have a roommate or suitemate who uses substances, talk to them. Most Yalies will respect your wishes, but you also have to be open-minded yourself. To answer your last question, some rooms have more parties than others and it’s pretty much up to the group of students who reside in the room. Again, you will be able to talk to your suitemates and I’m sure everyone will be content.</p>
<p>I made this post assuming you already got in, but not sure if that’s true when I look up at your post again.</p>
<p>No, I’m applying to schools next fall. I like the idea of bringing different cultures and majors together, but I’m not so sure about drinking habits. I’ll have to think about it. Do you get the idea they try to match suitmates with similar habits together if it’s requested?</p>
<p>kml: drinking and partying habits aren’t on the questionnaire. If you get in, you can have a reasonable conversation with whom you’re matched. Not drinking in the bed room seems to be a reasonable request. Plus, counselors and deans are on hand to help smooth out communication bumps. you’ll be an adult. You’ll be matched with an adult.</p>
<p>I believe they ask things such as how neat you consider yourself, how much of a night owl you might be. I don’t know if they still ask tobacco habits – I would think so.</p>
<p>You aren’t asked exactly about drinking habits, but you are asked how social you want your room to be, the top being the most social and the bottom being a quiet place to study. There were 4 or 5 levels total. If you pick the most social then your suite will probably be more people who party, but if you go down a bit on how social you want your room to be you will most likely have suitemates who don’t drink as much or would rather drink outside the suite. And you can always talk to your suitemates about drinking in the suite. </p>
<p>They do ask you about smoking habits</p>
<p>i would suggest making your preferences explicitly clear on the extra info/special notes part of your housing form, if you do get in. It’s definitely not necessary to drink to have fun. But even in a small suite (say, 4), you’re likely to have at least one person who does drink fairly regularly. But that will be out of the suite most of the time anyway, unless your suite becomes a party suite (and you can clearly designate that you don’t want that on your housing form).</p>
<p>yes, people party in suites a lot, but it doesn’t have to be <em>your</em> suite.</p>
<p>kml234, I will also be applying to Yale in the fall and I don’t plan on drinking at Yale (that is, if I get in)
I think there will be a mix of people and you will just have to communicate with whoever is your roommate. It seems like respect is pretty important at Yale, and not drinking in the room is a reasonable request.</p>
<p>Two things:</p>
<p>Firstly, its always a reasonable request to ban substance consumption in the bedrooms.</p>
<p>Secondly, even if you don’t intend to drink when coming to college, there is a 50-75% chance your mind will change once you get there.</p>
<p>Most people who don’t have religious/health (ie, alcoholism in the family) reasons for not drinking end up drinking. I would advise making a big issue out of it unless one of the above reasons applies to you, in which case you have a strong chance of getting the dean to give you a single/ensure that you have a non-drinking roommate. </p>
<p>Otherwise, deans generally know better – I personally know of several students who came to college swearing up and down that they would not touch a drop until they were 21, and 3 months later were doing a keg stand at DKE. So unless you have strong religious/health-related reasons for asking, don’t bother. </p>
<p>Just set ground rules at the beginning of the year, and remember to be flexible on your end too. I had suitemates who got angry when some of us would bring friends to hang out in the common room on Friday nights since they wanted to study/sleep. Insisting on no loud parties/no drinking in the bedroom is fair; insisting on no bottles of wine in the common room is probably not.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to indicate “quiet place to study” on the social question. Even then, you may get a roommate forced by his parents to mark that, and then who becomes a total party animal at college. But still, this will probably give you good results.</p>
<p>kml234–To answer your question about partying in the dorm rooms:</p>
<p>Most dormitory arrangements will be in the form of a suite of rooms attached to a common room. The actual bedrooms are way too small for any kind of partying (although I’m sure there can be creative solutions) and if, as others have mentioned, you check “place to study” as your view of your room, you will be assigned a roommate who also checked that box. Partying generally takes place in the common rooms, and most suites work out agreeable systems in advance regarding guests, parties, cleanup, etc. </p>
<p>Just to be reassuring: drinking is not a requirement for college attendance. There are actually kids who don’t drink much on campus, and no one really pays much attention if you drink or not. Most Yalies are totally accepting of your life style choices and will respect your preferences.</p>
<p>Also, house masters, deans and freshman counselors all work hard to offer non drinking alternative activities (like movie nights, games night, etc.) for the occasions when big parties are happening on campus.</p>
<p>As stated above, your freshman housing is arranged by your dean based on preferences you state on your housing form. Some of these work out amazingly, some don’t. Be honest on your form and you’ll get better results. </p>
<p>Freshman year you may or may not get paired with suitemates with the same recreational (read: hobbies & party-wise) habits as you, but it seems as though each dean has an atmosphere in mind for each room, because it generally tends to work out. Some rooms are full of people who host parties every other weekend, some rooms are full of people who all go out every weekend. Some are full of people who are really into the arts scene, or some may have a number of varsity and club athletes. Your Dean decides the atmosphere of your room, and it may be completely diverse or pretty homogenous depending on his/her philosophy.</p>
<p>Personally, I was in a quad freshman year. Within the four of us, two never went to one party and two went out regularly, but with different crowds. There was never a party in our common room, because we decided it was a quiet area for studying. While the four of us never really hung out together, we lived as good roommates (read: room sharers) and could count on each other when we were stressed/sick. That’s all you really need out of your room. You can make friends with other people.</p>
<p>I would say that generally most Yalies are very understanding. Unless you were the only “quiet” one placed in a room full of “partiers” (and even so), I doubt that compromises can’t be reached. I was a walk-on to a varsity program, where many of my teammates partied while off season, but required quiet hours during the season. They all worked it out with their suitemates.</p>
<p>Sophomore year, I will be living with five of my close friends. Even though we’re really tight, our weekend and night habits do vary. We made sure that roommates could get along, designated one common room (we got two adjoining triples) as a hangout/party room and one as a study/quiet room, and let the three quieter ones live near the study room. Compromises can be reached.</p>