<p>I know that they are at Wake, but how bad? Pease give feedback only if you have been there a year or so, and have seen with your very own eyes, not an "I heard.....'' type of response. Your honesty would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>I was going to see if anyone else would answer this question because I was in Johnson (the Freshman substance free dorm), and so I think that I was perhaps more removed than most other students. Regarding drugs, if drug use occurs, I think it´s mostly behind closed doors rather than part of the mainstream. Don´t get me wrong, I´m pretty sure that it´s possible to find people using drugs at Wake (as it would be at any school), but it isn´t the norm at all. I think that I know one person who´ll admit to ever having done drugs, and he swears it was in high school and that he doesn´t in college.</p>
<p>Alcohol is a bigger problem. I´ve often heard Wake reffered to as a "Work hard, party hard" school. Even then, though, it´s totally possible to ignore the drinking. Living in Johnson was wonderful for me because it connected me to people who (though they may not abstain entirely) don´t drink at every opportunity. Even outside of Johnson, there are plenty of people who simply don´t drink. If a student wants to be a large part of the party scene, it´s probably going to be harder to avoid alcohol. Really, the largest part of the problem with alcohol is related to our parties (many of which are off campus with shuttles to and from the party). Except on Friday and Saturday nights, I never felt like alcohol use was all that common. While we may party hard when we don´t have work, it´s rare that we don´t have work. I guess, to sum it all up, as an alcohol-free student, I´ve always felt that the drinking was handled in such a way that it never really affected my life on campus.</p>
<p>Drugs are in no way the norm at Wake, just like ginny mentioned. I'm not 100% sure, but I think maybe one person in our hall did marijuana, and that was early on in the semester (lots of fire alarms too, not drug related, though). I think total, if you check the police reports, there have been maybe twenty drug violations, on campus, at the most. I read the OGB and the most you'll see is alcohol violations, maybe once in a blue moon some drug violations. I think that after the first semester, the drug forbidden fruit deal passes, and most of your illegal activity is confined to booze. But yeah, the biggest "concern" if any would be confined to drinking. There have been a couple of drinking and driving violations, and I have been in a couple of the ones that slipped through, but overall you shouldn't be entirely worried. Just doing everything in moderation is the key.</p>
<p>Thanks, emsibdn and ginny. The reason I asked the question in the first place: I read the OBG on-line and clicked on the drug and alcohol section= WOW. I did not expect to see so much! I then looked up other college stats, and found them to be much higher. My niece just graduated from JMU, there is quite a bit of that there. I guess I am getting old! It just seems such a privilege to go to a school like Wake, I would not think drugs are needed to enhance it! Also, we are raising our children in a non-drinking home, so I would not want my son to be overwhelmed. Now, how about crime? Is it relatively safe? I know one must always be careful and aware of one's surroundings, but in general is it safe? Thanks, you guys are so helpful!</p>
<p>College ******* (books based on interviews w/ undergrads on each campus) ranks Wake as one of only 11 schools in the country that get an "A+" on safety and security. As far as privilege and alcohol, the "wettest" campus that I know of would have to be Duke. And I've heard wild tales regarding alcohol abuse at Harvard. Bear in mind that alcohol is a social lubricant for post-adolecent/pre-adults at a time in their lives when social connections are of highest priority and social skills are relatively unrefined. And it may be the case that social skills are less refined the higher up the academic achievement chain you go - that's why top students often need a "buzz" to approach potential partners.</p>
<p>I've never felt unsafe on campus. I mean, you've got to be sensible about things. If I were going somewhere after midnight, I'd always tell my roommate when to start worrying if I wasn't back, but I never ran into any trouble. My roommate went out more than I did, and she was always fine as well. If it was really late, she´d usually crash in a friend´s room, but I think that was more because she was too tired to walk back rather than afraid to walk back. I know that she´d sometimes go for walks at two in the morning and she felt perfectly safe all the time.</p>
<p>As for theft, it's really not an issue. I wouldn´t test this theory, but I´m pretty sure that if I left my computer unattended somewhere, it´d be there when I got back. Again, be sensible. Don´t leave your wallet on a table in the lounge while you go away for four hours. But there´s also no reason to feel uncomfortable leaving your wallet in plain sight on your desk when you leave the room. I never felt like I had to lock up my valuables or anything like that.</p>
<p>it don't matta jus don't drink and do drugz while ur there it doesn't matta how much goes as long as ur not a part of it DUH</p>
<p>I was under the impression that drinking was huge at wake forest, however drugs not so prevalent. This is what I've heard (& read) at least.</p>
<p>Drugs are definitely not prevalent at Wake. As for drinking, I really don't think that it's much more prevalent than at a lot of the southern schools. I'm sure from talking to friends that Duke has just as many problems with drinking as we do.</p>
<p>Do people feel isolated being in those substance free dorms?</p>
<p>Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I was away from my computer for a while. I definitely didn't feel isolated in Johnson, and I don't think that a lot of other people did, either. In fact, at Christmas, there were a lot of people from other dorms who applied to be moved to Johnson (obviously, all the requests couldn't be granted because Johnson was already pretty full and very few people wanted to move out--in fact, I think that most of the spaces in Johnson that were opening up after Christmas were people who, for one reason or another, left Wake). While I don't feel that I was isolated, I should mention that most of my good friends were people who also lived in Johnson, but I kind of feel like that's because that's who I had more in common with rather than because we were isolated from everyone else. All in all, I think that most people were satisfied with living in Johnson and would make the same choices again.</p>