<p>Post 5:
“A school will tend to have less alcohol usage if it is non-residential (i.e., many students live with their parents, there is relatively little campus-centered social life, and students do their drinking elsewhere), if the student body is less affluent (which means, almost all the time, a lower average level of SAT scores),” </p>
<p>Dbwes: You’re correct. I misread the quote. What the quote is actually saying, is that you’ll have less drinking at less selective schools. MMMH, interesting perspective.</p>
<p>I agree that there will be plenty of drinking at virtually all schools. What differs, I think, is how much fun stuff to do there is that *doesn’t *revolve around drinking. That’s what you need to find out. This is why I tend to agree with JHS that at a huge state university, there is probably plenty of non-alcohol-related stuff going on. This is also true at many urban schools. For rural and suburban schools, though, I think it varies a lot. One clue is how dominant the Greek scene is, but that’s not dispositive, either.</p>
<p>D101parent - while some Ivy schools tend to have a heavier party scene going on, others (such as Columbua) don’t. It is assumed that schools located in large cities involve less alcohol and parties, simply because the city (such as NYC) has so much to offer. Also, a lot of the drinking takes place off campus (bars), which also impacts the amounts of alcohol consumed on campus.</p>
<p>^^^ I know nothing about columbia. Is it more artsy? My gut feeling is the artsier schools may have less drinking going on…based on nothing but a gut reaction.</p>
<p>I agree that drinking may happen off campus more at some colleges. My fault…I thought the argument had more to do with the student body and their willingness/desire to imbibe than the Location of where “partying” was taking place.</p>
<p>If the artsy schools have less drinking going on, it’s because they have a wider range of intoxicants being used on a regular basis. They may not have as many keggers, but they have way more heroin.</p>
<p>At my kids’ college, the arty types were also the party types, especially among the non-frat population.</p>
<p>DD went to many alcohol heavy frat parties at Columbia. I certainly wouldn’t say it was more than any place else, but I’m not sure it’s that much less.</p>