<p>Thank you Mezzomom. I have spoken to her parents. Only her dad is with her and mom is home with the 14 year old. The mom has MS (cannot walk) and it is harder for her to get around. Anyway, my niece is still hospitalized but is feeling better and the doctors say she is improving and hope she can leave on Thursday and go home (their college is on spring break). I even spoke to my niece who called me to thank me for the flowers and she sounded pretty good but I still worry as she is not out of the woods entirely. </p>
<p>BOCO went well and we even saw their musical production. Anyway, great feeling to be done this 8 college audition tour all winter! Of course I am on the road and air again tomorrow but with a different "mom" hat. </p>
<p>Heavy drinking more common on campus than off, study shows
By Reuters | March 7, 2005</p>
<p>CHICAGO -- College students drink more alcohol and are more likely to binge drink than young adults who are not in college, but the nonstudents are more likely to be dependent on alcohol, a study said Monday.</p>
<p>Other studies have found that college students are more likely to take part in heavy or binge drinking than peers in the same age group who do not attend college.
The 2001 survey of 6,300 people aged 19 to 21 found 18 percent of college students reported alcohol-related problems compared to 15 percent of those not in college.</p>
<p>But nonstudents were more likely than students to drink daily -- a sign of alcohol dependency.</p>
<p>"The results of this study provide a more encouraging message about the consequences of college drinking than many of the recent reports," wrote study author Wendy Slutske of the University of Missouri at Columbia.</p>
<p>"Although college students suffer from some clinically significant consequences of their heavy-handed drinking, they do not appear to be at greater risk than their noncollege attending peers for the more pervasive syndrome of problems that is characteristic of alcohol dependence," she wrote.</p>
<p>Alcohol is involved in about 1,400 student deaths, 500,000 injuries, 600,000 assaults, and 70,000 sexual assaults each year on U.S. college campuses, said the report published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. REUTERS</p>
<p>SoozieVT - I am glad you updated about your neice - and I understand the concerns about being out of the woods - I wish her and her family well.</p>
<p>I wish you a great trip to Idaho also - my daughter is there also - arrived very early sunday morning - I wish I could be there to see her - but alas I am not able to - but next year I sure will be - it will be on the east coast. Cheer them all on and wish them all well!! and safe traveling to you.</p>
<p>Soozietv - I hope your niece is doing well. BTW - this may not apply to your niece, but anyone can get pancreatitis, even if they don't drink at all. Gallstones are a common cause. Less common causes include drugs, mumps, trauma. Pancreatitis related to alcohol usually involves heavy drinking over a period of 6 or 7 years.</p>
<p>Texax137, thanks for that information. It is hard to tell the reason she got it. However, she does drink but clearly not for 6 or 7 years as she is 18 years old. I did speak to her today and she is doing better and I just hope there are no other complications but she is still in the hospital. So much for her spring break. </p>
<p>JeepMom, oh yes, I forgot your D is out in Idaho as well. Mine JUST called and the first words she said were "this is so awesome!" as she has never skied out in the western US but has always wanted to. She has skied one day in summer on a glacier at Whistler but said this is different. </p>
<p>I don't know which day your D's event is but am wishing her well. I don't even know her college! My D is in the Giant Slalom on Wednesday. I know yours is a snowboarder. </p>
<p>Susan - my DD said the exact same thing lol - they landed very early sunday am and headed to Sun Valley for the day - and all she could say was ''this is just incredible''!! She has never been out west either - so this is very exciting for her too.</p>
<p>She boards for East Carolina Univ in NC -she is the only girl out there for the ECU team :( - and her events are GS on Wed - Slopestyle on TH - and boardercross on Sat - the last 2 she has never done - so should be interesting for her - she is a bit nervous she said also - but she is getting some coaching on the last 2 lol.</p>
<p>And thanx for the rooting - will be appreciated!!! Have a great trip - wish I was there also.</p>
<p>This thread is 5 1/2 years old. It is chilling for me to even read my own posts, because just six days after I posted I was heading to Idaho to see D1 in an event (and I did), on my way back East, my other kid was in a car crash and landed in ICU.</p>
<p>Both my daughter and my best friends son attended schools where Greek life had no presence but the drinking and partying were constant. When selecting schools parents are often concerned with the big schools and partying reputations but what should really concern them are the smaller to medium size size schools on these compact campus’. These schools often little else for students to do on the weekends other than to go to parties where there is alot of alcohol. My dear friends son is now very happy attending a larger school where there are many parties but he has the option of some great on campus activities as well as a college town. He and his friends frequent the cafes and restaurants and there are so many more people like him that do not drink. It was a great move for him.</p>
<p>I’d basically sum it up as: Greek life breaks down barriers and allows you opportunities to try new things. However, those things can either be good or bad, and with the group mentality, it’s all amplified.</p>
<p>Difference is: if your study habits get a boost due to Greek life, it’s attributed to the individual. If you get wasted and end up in a hospital, it’s due to the fraternity.</p>
<p>^ This is the most close minded and ignorant comment seen on CC</p>
<p>“If you get wasted and end up in a hospital, it’s due to the fraternity.” </p>
<p>Are in in a fraternity? What would you base such a statement on? My God son’s school was a Jesuit school which had a very condenced campus…nothing much to do there other than attend parties. The drinking never stopped from Wed through Sunday. The winter semester consisted of parties every night. There was no where to go and nothing to do. That is the biggest problem on many campus’…students are bored when the books are closed and this leads to alot of partying. </p>
<p>When looking at prospective schools especially when they are not top schools…the size and the location of the school should be a major consideration. Many kids think they want a smallish campus however these are the schools where the drinking is really done in excess. The students get bored and have very few options for other more interesting things to do with their time.</p>
<p>I think you misread excelblue’s comment–he’s saying that the fraternity gets blamed for the bad but gets no credit for the good.</p>
<p>I certainly think that there is plenty of drinking at campuses with little Greek presence, and there are Greek organizations at many campuses that provide an overall positive experience. That being said, the Greek apologists protest a bit too much about this–at many campuses, the fraternities are the center of binge-drinking culture.</p>
<p>I am sorry if I misunderstood. The fraternities getting blamed for the majority of drinking on campus’ is such a joke. </p>
<p>All anyone needs to do is visit a campus without a Greek system and see what goes on. I had the experience of visiting my Godson on several weekend nights when parents are never visiting and the sights we saw were eye opening. These kids must have been so bored to just party hop all night in total drunkenness and than go to sleep and do it all over again the next day. This went on all the time and yet there was not even a cafe or restaurant worth a students time, to get together with friends. It was by far a very depressed little town. I know another kid from my town who is attending the same school, and is also transferring out at the end of this year. These small to mid size schools in the middle of depressed towns with no college town will lead to nothing but drinking. The fraternity bashing is just plain nonsense when compared to other reasons why drinking at parties is the only source of entertainment.</p>
<p>I concur with Texas and was going to post the same thing! Please do not assume that anyone who gets pancreatitis got it because of alcohol abuse. We had to call an ambulance for my father-in-law once because of chest pain in the middle of the night. When we got to the hospital, I begged the ER doc to run an amylase and lipase on him because he had been sitting bolt-upright in bed complaining that the pain was radiating to his back. Sure enough, these lab values were sky-high, indicating pancreatitis. He said that after we all finished fussing over him and left the hospital for the night, the doctor came in to ask him whether he was just saying he had one beer a week because we were all there - did he secretly drink?! He adamantly denied this, and sure enough, had obstructive gallstones that were causing the pancreatitis. He recovered and went on to have gallbladder surgery.
On the other hand, this is one more thing to warn our kids about regarding heavy alcohol use. Hugs to your niece as she recovers - and if this is alcohol-related, I hope that she seeks help.</p>
<p>dke, at the school I attended, “DKE” was synonymous with heavy binge drinking, and the chapter just got into trouble for having its pledges shout misogynistic and sexual stuff outside the campus women’s center.</p>
<p>But yeah, I’ve heard that there is a lot of drinking at Williams, and it probably has a lot to do with the isolated location.</p>
<p>Levirm, this thread is 5 1/2 years old. My niece was a freshman at a large state university at the time that has a heavy drinking culture. She is now in her third year out of college (age 24). But at the time, alcohol was a contributing factor in the pancreatitis.</p>
<p>*Both my daughter and my best friends son attended schools **where Greek life had no presence **but the drinking and partying were constant. When selecting schools parents are often concerned with the big schools and partying reputations but what should really concern them are the smaller to medium size size schools on these compact campus’. These schools often **little else for students to do on the weekends **other than to go to parties where there is alot of alcohol. My dear friends son is now very happy attending a larger school where there are many parties but he has the option of some great on campus activities as well as a college town. He and his friends frequent the cafes and restaurants and there are so many more people like him that do not drink. It was a great move for him. *</p>
<p>I completely agree. It’s unfortunate that many people (parents and students) immediately dismiss a school because it has Greeks and/or big sports because they automatically assume that it’s a drinking school and they (or their child) can’t possibly get a good education there. Their natural (and wrong-headed) conclusion is that to avoid drinking and partying, they must choose some ultra-academic school or some quiet little campus in the middle of nowhere. They believe that those schools are going to be alcohol-lites. Some even really believe it when a campus claims to be “dry.” LOL Wrong. </p>
<p>As mentioned above, there are kids at nearly every school who are engaging in drinking and partying. In some of these more remotely-located schools, the only evening/weekend fun is hanging out at some off-campus bar or playing drinking games in a dorm room. </p>
<p>And…for those who think partying doesn’t happen at elites…a little birdie told me some students in the Boston area flock to MIT on weekends because supposedly some of the best parties are there.</p>