Liberal Arts Colleges + Alcohol = ?

<p>Yes, it is a fact of life that probably around 99% of US College campuses contain alcohol! I admit that and I can deal with that. However, recently I have heard about some liberal arts colleges like Williams where someone said that "binge drinking is basically your social life, and williams weakest point" I also know that Claremont Mckenna (even though i love it) has a surplus of alcohol on campus. SO! My question is, although Liberal Arts Colleges do have alcohol on campus (i'm fine with that), does it ever control the social life on campus or get out of control?!</p>

<p>If possible I'd like specific names of colleges which do/don't meet this stereotype...and is it more/less than a typical state university?</p>

<p>While it is true that there is drinking on virtually all college campuses, there are significant differences in the amount of heavy drinking and the pervasiveness of drinking in the social scene.</p>

<p>Two empirical measures that you could look at would be the surveyed "binge drinking rates". This is information that all colleges monitor through the Harvard School of Public Health and other student surveys. As a prospective student, you could get this information from the deans office if you really want it.</p>

<p>Another would be to look at the number of students hospitalized with alcohol poisoning in a typical year.</p>

<p>You can get a feel by searching recent years of student newspaper articles with keywords like "alcohol poisoning", "alcohol arrests", etc. If the school perceives a serious problem, you will usually find references to special committees, trustees meetings, and so forth addressing the issue.</p>

<p>Nationally, if you want a lower presence of alcohol on campus, look for:</p>

<p>suburban/urban instead of rural
outside of the northeast
a smaller role for varsity athletics
a smaller presence of fraternities
more ethnic diversity rather than more white students
more low income students rather than wealthier
all women versus co-ed</p>

<p>It is true that Williams has been wrestling with a particularly overheated drinking culture in recent years -- measured binge drinking rates, alcohol poisonings, and level of concern by the administration and trustees. </p>

<p>Of the east coast LACs similar to Williams, those with lower rates of binge drinking and a less omnipresent heavy drinking scene, look at Wellesley, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Vasser, Barnard, Swarthmore, Haverford, Oberlin, etc. I certainly don't mean to suggest that these schools are alcohol-free, but their surveyed binge drinking rates are as much as half that of Williams (30% versus 50+%).</p>

<p>To answer the other part of your question, I don't think there's any firm correlation with school size.</p>

<p>There are plenty of large state universities with low binge drinking rates and some with very high rates (Penn State, above 60%).</p>

<p>Likewise, you can find mid-size private universities with high rates of binge drinking (Dartmouth, for example) and others where alcohol plays a much smaller role (Harvard and Stanford would probably be examples). And, there are LACs with very heavy drinking cultures (W&L, Williams) and others where the impact of drinking on campus culture is much smaller (Smith, Swarthmore, Pomona).</p>

<p>It's more a function of other characteristics, although the prevalence of LACs in high risk rural northeast locations may tend to push the overall LAC drinking rates higher.</p>

<p>Again, don't think I'm describing convents. There is certainly plenty of opportunity for heavy drinking at low-binge drinking rate schools like Stanford or Swarthmore. But, on a percentage basis, fewer students are drinking to excess in an average month, which in turn makes the campus more welcoming to someone who prefers not to get blotto as routine entertainment.</p>

<p>well think about it, if you are in the middle of nowhere you don't have much else to do besides get drunk. if you are in a city or within reasonable distance of a city, there will be concerts, plays, and a bunch of things to do that don't involve alcohol.</p>

<p>I think that's right. Plus, it's magnified a bit by the type of students who choose to have ready access to city life.</p>

<p>The other rough rule of thumb that seems to emerge is that the stronger the "white, wealthy, male" culture of the school (both current and historical), the greater the likelihood of a heavy drinking scene. The historically all-women or historically co-ed liberal arts colleges (as a group) tend to have lower binge drinking rates than the historically all-male schools -- even in cases where the formerly all-male schools now have significant diversity. There seems to be a "campus culture" component to the role of drinking. This may partially explain the regional differences as schools outside of New England tended to be historically coed, while most of the top New England schools were all-male until very recently.</p>

<p>The role of diversity is fairly straightforward. African American and Asian American students binge drink at about half the rate of white students. Hispanics fall somewhere in the middle.</p>

<p>washington and lee's only real negative, in my opinion, is the amount of drinking that goes on there, interestedad. also, i don't think williams and W&L are really as bad as theyre made out to be. its "drinking school" rep has been enhanced/ exaggerated by the princeton review, etc.</p>

<p>The drinking issue has been a topic of major concern in recent years at both Williams and W&L -- prominent in the number of campus newspaper articles, President's committee studies, Board of Trustees attention, consultants, revised alcohol policies, closing of campus health centers at night, and so forth.</p>

<p>W&L is the whitest top-tier LAC in the country, with one of the lowest percentages of financial aid students, combined with the highest fraternity membership. I don't think that the role of drinking in the campus culture is exaggerated by the guidebooks.</p>

<p>Williams has much more diversity. However, it has the highest percentage of students on varsity sports teams of any college or university in the country -- a factor that, combined with its all-male traditions and rural NE location, tends to predict high drinking rates.</p>

<p>Step 1: Matriculate
Step 2: Alcohol
Step 3: ?????
Step 4: Profit!</p>

<p>You forgot step 2.5-- "take out life insurance policy on heavy drinkers"</p>

<p>Alcohol is a big presence in Claremont. Not drinking has definitely left my social life a bit movie-night heavy. There are ways to get around it and the consortium is very helpful in that. Also, the different colleges tend to have pretty different parties so you learn whose you like and still go out. CMC's tend to revolve pretty solely around drinking. Depends on what you're looking for, but you can find a pretty good variety of options...you just might have to go off-campus for some (Scripps students basically have to go off-campus if they want alcohol, I've heard other students complain that they have to go off-campus if they want to get away from it...to each his own). I do know multiple people who have transferred away from CMC b/c of the heavy drinking and I wouldn't call them uptight or especially conservative people. My tour guide's attitude toward on-campus parties was a big factor in my not applying. </p>

<p>I only specify because you mentioned CMC in your original post. It's an amazing school, Claremont is great, there definitely ARE non-drinkers and sub-free events. If it's an atmosphere that you might find bothersome, I would strongly recommend a weekend stay. </p>

<p>I've definitely seen studies on college binge drinking and lists on where it's most and least prevalent. The Princeton Review lists, for one, usually include rankings of most/least alcohol (the lists aren't LAC specific, but you can see what you find).</p>