I may be the only parent in the world who would like their kid to have a beer. “Please have a beer, you need to lighten up, stop taking yourself and life so seriously, open yourself up to new people, new places and new experiences. You cannot control everything in life, break a few rules.” It’s a lesson that my freshman dearly needs to learn, God love her! That being said she is having no real problems finding ways to spend her time not drinking or a even finding a few folks to hang out with at her tailgate loving, HUGE SEC school.
I would agree with the folks who say to trust your gut - we had a similar feeling about one of D’s schools and after visiting overnight it was confirmed - Upstate NY, small city + lots of frats = nothing to do on a weekend night but drink. Not for her. She ended up in a rural Big Ten where there’s tons of drinking but also tons of other activities. Any school will have alcohol and most schools will have frats, the issue is finding schools where your D feels comfortable that he won’t be totally on the social outskirts if he chooses not to drink,
Again, thanks so much for your opinions. As far as “wanting” a kid to have a beer, I think because we have alcoholism in our family, both my kids are just not interested. I like the suggestion of really delving into what campuses have a lot of activities and opportunities that don’t include drinking. Also going with gut intuition, which makes me happy we visited campuses at various times and my son got a real feel for them - not just the tour.
It’s difficult to avoid this issue on any campus, so the question I would want an answer to is whether the majority of kids are going out TO drink or are they going out AND drinking. Alcohol should be an accessory to a social outing. When it becomes the point of the social outing, priorities may need to be adjusted. So at Bucknell, is drinking the icing or is it the cake?
In general, I think the data shows that the following factors increase the likelihood and prevalence of a binge drinking culture at a particular college:
– small
– rural area
– residential (i.e., most students live on campus in dorms)
– relatively affluent student body
– secular
– strong, popular fraternity system
There’s nothing wrong with any of those things in and of themselves, and lots of them are also associated with selective liberal arts colleges that have well-deserved reputations for high quality education and great outcomes. But if you are asking whether there is a strong binge-drinking culture at a college, and it’s a selective, private LAC in a rural area where an affluent (and often high-performing) student body generally lives on campus, with popular fraternities, then it’s pretty likely there is going to be a lot of binge-drinking too.
And . . . that’s Bucknell. Not uniquely, of course, but what would be really unique would be having all those qualities and not having a fair amount of binge drinking. Also, just because a college has a drinking culture does not mean that everyone at the college participates in it. Some students are happy as clams as teetotalers (or very light drinkers) at heavy-drinking colleges. You just have to know (or guess) whether you are that kind of person.
I have 3 family members that graduated from Bucknell. None were partiers in high school, and two were not especially social. They all went Greek at BU. It is a big part of campus life because, as mentioned, the school is located in such a small rural town. They have all conveyed that they joined to make friends. Did they party? Yes, but, I think people have this idea that all frats/sororities are like Animal House, which isn’t true. For a very long time, I never understood the allure of Greek life, but having listened to those that participated, or are currently participating, I’ve changed my tune a bit. Being a part of something made a big difference (positively) for the late bloomers in my family. Just make sure to pick a frat/sorority that fits your personality because they are not all cut from the same cloth.
@JHS I was thinking about that list, and I think @ucbalumnus posts the opposite sort of list a lot, the list of college features associated with LESS drinking are the negative of your list, plus being an HBCU. College drinking culture appears to be a white thing, in the main. And I don’t think the traditionally black fraternities put as much emphasis on alcohol either.
Re: #24 and #26
Yes, the list of characteristics associated with higher or lower college drinking are the same (but in opposite directions for higher versus lower). https://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/media/Journal/082-Presley.pdf describes them.
Also, generally, black (and Asian) people tend to drink alcohol less than white people, so it is not a surprise that historically black schools tend to have less college drinking. Note that Bucknell is 74% white, 4% black, and 5% Asian. Also, women tend to drink alcohol less than men, so women’s colleges tend to have less college drinking.
@labegg I hear you on what you are saying. Drinking can be handled with experience and moderation. One doesn’t learn that overnight. My D19 really hasn’t been in the party scene in HS. Actually my wife and I try to get her out of the house at times. I am not sure if she is ready for all the freedom that comes with college. Other countries have much younger drinking age limits and I would be willing to bet that binge drinking at university is much less of a problem.
I always say I drank more in HS than college.
As a parent I am the most concerned with what kind of drinking is allowed. I know students do not like it when drinking at greek life, tailgates, or other social activities is limited to beer or boxed wine by the school. I think it is much safer than the schools that allow ‘punch.’ With punch how can you know what you are drinking and reasonably limit your intake?
@MaterS my daughter goes to Saint Andrews and I agree with a lot of what you’re saying. Most of the drinking is taking place at the Student Union or pubs with the drinks being served by a bar so you know exactly how much alcohol is in them. Also everyone is walking afterwards there’s absolutely no chance of driving.
Bucknell’s numbers are NOT good from a national standpoint, and they reflect all the risk factors @JHS and @ucbalumnus bring up.
What I get concerned about as a parent depends a lot on what the circumstances of the drinking are. For example: If no one is driving, the school is a relatively contained and safe place, and a student has at least one friend or roommate to definitely go back to the dorm with, then 4 or 5 drinks over the course of a night might not be a problem. (Though 7 or 8 would.) If any of those things weren’t true, then 2 or 3 drinks could be a problem. The other factor is how responsible the kid is. If you think your child might commonly have 7 or 8 drinks, or stumble home at 2 AM by themselves, then any environment would be a concern.
Even if I think my child will drink in careful moderation, I don’t want a sloppy mess around him or her. A school where lots of people get hammered all the time is a school where everyone else has to deal with vomit, vandalism, noise, etc. A culture of alcohol abuse is a culture that tolerates noxious behavior.
In addition, drunkenness increases the persons likelihood of exercising poor judgement, resulting in increased risk of becoming a crime victim, or sometimes a suspect (e.g. sex while drunk leading to questions about consent, etc.).
Yes, that’s also true. A huge percentage of my students who are in trouble for illegal behavior in college (property crimes, fighting, public sex, etc.) were drunk at the time. The alcohol abuse is bad for them and bad for the students around them.
If I’m not mistaken Princeton Review ranked Bucknell as one of the top 5 party schools. Like others have mentioned, it’s rural location leaves students with limited off campus activities. It’s a beautiful campus with great academics. If he finds a club or activity that interests him he should be fine.
My freshman living on campus (not at Bucknell) reports that dorm life is very strict about drinking. As he is approaching the end of the first semester he reports that many, many students who were not pot smokers at the start of the year are now. He says its because it is easier to get than beer, quiet so RA doesn’t write them up and they can’t get into or have parties so they now sit around and smoke pot. My son drinks beer and is watching his new friends turn into pot heads. This is what our legalize pot and shut down the party scene has created.
So I guess it depends how you define party. It seems that our culture only considers drinking in groups to be parties.
The kids I know have gone there because they wanted that kind of environment. They liked that it had a reputation for a top party school. I don’t understand why someone who really finds that distasteful would choose it, hoping to find a way to deal with it when there are other options. Fwiw, this one came off my kid’s list. (And I am guessing he had some experience with alcohol in high school.) A very social friend (who definitely had drinking experience) is there now and loving it. And thriving.
Here are your top party schools. They come in all shapes and sizes.
https://kluv.radio.com/blogs/blake-powers/princeton-review-names-top-party-schools-nation