<p>...and yet one where many of the kids who attend (from what I have read on CC and other college-related websites alone) drink alcohol extremely frequently?</p>
<p>This may sound slightly naive, but I am trying to get a sense of the culture at Dartmouth. In my very good public high school in CT (of approximately 1400 kids), the students who do the best in each respective grade (i.e. top 10% or so - this includes myself) generally don't drink at all, and maybe a few rarely, and I mean rarely, drink alcohol. This may not be the case in other high schools nationwide, but at least in my school, the kids who drink are the ones getting sub-par grades in ordinary classes.</p>
<p>As I have become increasingly aware that Dartmouth (a school that I remain very interested in applying to next year) is a school where the booze flows freely and often, I have come to question how all these 'drinkers' (again, this may sound naive) get into such a good school as Dartmouth. With average SAT scores in the 700s and obviously high GPAs for the admitted students at Dartmouth, I am wondering how all these great students are able to maintain their academic excellence along with their alcoholic competence.</p>
<p>Any replies are welcome. Conversely, if you don't reply, I will neither welcome nor shun you, as how the hell would I know if you didn't reply anyways? :)</p>
<p>there is drinking at every college. high achieving students use alchohol to unwind during the weekends. however, they sober up before classes start on monday.</p>
<p>naive...
you'll find Dartmouthesque behavior at ANY college</p>
<p>you also seem to believe that it is impossible to consume alcohol and be smart....but what about all of the Professors (and other >21) smart people? "Adults" consume are smart, why can't college students?</p>
<p>I think that most of the drinking happens between thursday and saturday (sundays you will find people cracking the books at Baker). During midterms and finals you will see people "living" in baker for days on end.</p>
<p>I aslo belives that some of the drinking does taper off a bit as one gets older because as you stated, at the end of the day, there are those who are not going to sacrifice their gpa to get their drunk on.</p>
<p>Alcohol use and drug consumption don't have a lot to do with how intelligent you are. The smart kids at my school drink and do worse all the time (well, except me; it grosses me out). And.. I don't go to a bad school or anything.. in fact, I go to one of the best high schools in the state (and the largest, but that doesn't really matter). There's a drinking scene at every college. Although Dartmouth has a reputation for those who party hard, the ones that do also work hard. </p>
<p>Using illicit substances is a personal choice and should not be equated with intelligence. This goes either way: just because the people at your school that drink happen to get lower grades, you can't assume that it's a cause-and-effect relationship. Many variables come into play when it comes to doing well in school.</p>
<p>and.. heavy drinking probably does occur on thurs-sat because a lot of prospie trips are sun-wed or mon-wed, hahaha! i'll tell you, though; people definitely party on monday nights.</p>
<p>Many of our most brilliant and prolific authors were alcoholics.</p>
<p>They are living their lives the way they want to, and if that includes drinking themselves to the point that they pass out and soil themselves, I respect their decisions.</p>
<p>As a high school senior who does a fair amount of drinking, and was admitted ED already, I can tell you its really no problem. In HS the drinking is Friday/ Saturday nights (nights you wouldn't be doing hw anyways). This means that if you give yourself time to do your hw, drinking is in your free time and has no effect on schoolwork, with the exception of the failure kids who always come to school hungover. In college I'd imagine you will find much of the same. Although, since you don't always have class Mon-Fri, more nights are freed up for partying.</p>
<p>It is very naive. Almost every college you go to will have a prevalent drinking/drug scene. As a New Jersey resident, I can tell you that Princeton is known for pot.</p>
<p>our number two in high school is a goddamn alcoholic. drinking is a way of college life as well -- some people choose not to drink and are dumb as paris hilton crossed with george bush; other people drink like there's no tomorrow and are smarter than imaginable.</p>
<p>^I think the more interesting question is, are said people the norm, or outliers?</p>
<p>That said, to be fair, Dartmouth students are good students who mostly didn't drink in high school but started in college. We're still nerds relative to the population, and we actually don't really party that hard (relative to the population). Re. ASU, SEC schools, and the like.</p>
<p>It's an Ivy League school. People are still going to care about their academics here. Dartmouth's social scene might revolve around alcohol (which is why we probably have that rep) whereas other schools (like MIT) have a culture that revolves more around pretty psychedelic drugs.</p>
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we actually don't really party that hard (relative to the population). Re. ASU, SEC schools, and the like.
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<p>Actually you'd be surprised...people at most other schools play that worthless Beirut game and that actually doesn't involve that much alcohol. Some of my brothers would go visit other schools school them at their own games, then berate them for being weak.</p>
<p>oh dude i played my first game of beirut AFTER D. people were like "woah dude, chill out on the beers" when i started pouring.
ridiculous. weak.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has the reputation of a hard-charging drinking school. When my DH, the Dartmouth Animal, went to school, it was all male -- and way up in the woods, there wasn't much else to do but get drunk and act stupid. There was no "refining influence" the way Harvard had Radcliffe and Brown had Pembroke.</p>
<p>IMO, nowadays it's no different than any other school. Dartmouth people work hard and party hard, just like kids at other tip-top schools. Lanesra, talk to people from your HS who actually go there and see what they say.</p>