<p>My daughter is a freshman and so far, two weeks in, she really seems to be enjoying it. However, she has indicated that the school seems to have a zero tolerance, or close to zero tolerance, policy with regard to under age drinking on campus. The result seems to be that kids either head off to other area schools looking for parties (JHU, Towson) or use fake IDs to go to local bars. My daughter is not a big partier, but she isn't going to spend Saturday nights in the library either. What was surprising to me was that we visited the school 3 times (initial tour, accepted students day, and orientation) and I never got the sense that Loyola's alcohol policy was unique or different from most other schools. Now I'm not so sure.</p>
<p>I don't want to make too big a deal of this -- neither she nor I view college as primarily a place to drink. That said, to a certain extent kids will be kids and I'm not thrilled about her leaving campus for late nights out at other schools and/or bars. Anyone have any thoughts or insights on this?</p>
<p>Glad your daughter is enjoying Loyola so far! </p>
<p>I think Loyola’s alcohol policy is pretty clear…but not in a pounded-into-your-head sort of way - more like a soft-spoken parent, who leaves no doubt in your mind about how they feel when they calmly and quietly say “This is how I feel about this.” I think this is pretty common amongst all of the Jesuit schools.</p>
<p>The good news is that when kids <em>do</em> leave campus, they tend to go together in groups. And I think she’ll find, as she develops her circle of friends, that they don’t always go off campus. And when they do go off campus, it’s not always to get trashed - Bourbon Street is quite popular and is a dance club as well as a bar.</p>
<p>I’ve always thought it a good thing that much of Loyola’s drinking appears to happen in bars/clubs, though…it adds another layer of accountability (the bartender cutting someone off) at a time when many teens haven’t had a lot of experience with alcohol.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply – I agree that from what I’ve heard they leave in campus in groups, and so far anyway seem to stick together. Someone told me that in some states an arrest for using a fake ID is a felony. Not sure if that applies to MD, but it would certainly be a potentially huge downside to the bar scene for most underclassmen.</p>
<p>Fake IDs are a felony in MD and the TSA takes a very dim view of them too; since 9/11 it has been a federal offense.</p>
<p>My D is a freshman at Loyola too, and she is telling me most of her suitemates are heavily into the drinking thing. She is not. She says they are just now beginning to realize why they are falling behind in their homework (well college is for learning, right?)</p>
<p>I have told her to wait until the drinking crowd has left for the bars and then cruise the dorm looking for people who have not, and go find something to do with them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the insights. We are looking at Loyola for next year, and my daughter also doesn’t drink, but still likes to go out with friends on the weekends. I’m fearing that no matter where she goes to college she’ll have a hard time finding friends who don’t drink.</p>
<p>My daughters friends that don’t drink say there are plenty of kids that don’t on campus. It’s just the party kids that most are aware of.</p>
<p>It is a great idea to cruze around campus after most have gone off to the bar. She will find many I’m sure that take college a bit more serious. I know many families that had to pull kids out for getting hooked into the party scene and failing 1st year in college.</p>
<p>My daughter will go to MSU, but isn’t interested in the party scene. Her friends already on campus has told her that clubs are what she wants to join. The soroity and frateriteis are where the drinkers and partiers are.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at Loyola, and he says that he does not find the on-campus activities very interesting. He mentioned a recent grilled-cheese sandwich sale as an example (?!) According to him, students go off campus to drink because there is nothing else to do. He is thinking of transferring next year. We had read this about Loyola, and it seems to be absolutely true. I am disappointed that Loyola doesn’t seem to be providing compelling alternatives to the bar scene.</p>
<p>I’m a current freshman at Loyola. I have gone out and tried the bar scene, but when you’re in a group of students without IDs, that’s just about useless. I’ve also gone to Hopkins for parties, and it is true that when we leave campus, it is always in groups. The downside to leaving campus is the cost; I’ve spent up to $20 in one weekend on cabs alone. However, after struggling in September and October to find easier ways to go out, I discovered that staying in is just as fun. I spent all of last weekend on campus, and had more fun than most of the weekends I spent trying to go out, because that’s what it seemed like everyone was doing. But there are PLENTY of students who are not going off campus every Friday and Saturday night. There was recently a trip to Dave&Busters, with transportation provided, through the Options program, which offers alternative weekend plans off campus. There was also a play on campus, and there is always Midnight Breakfast and basketball games to go to. Every single weekend night, I see people in the lobby of the building or the elevator toting bags from Cheesecake Factory, PF Changs, or other Towson Mall or inner harbor restaurants. </p>
<p>Do not cross Loyola off your list based on the bar school reputation or supposed lack of sober students. It WILL take getting used to, as a college campus in a college town is a VERY different environment from high school, but there are great people here, who enjoy good sober fun and always have plans for the weekend.</p>
<p>Nelly, – my freshman daughter at Loyola knows about the Options program – she had signed up for the Halloween weekend event but it got snowed out! But she says they are not holding these things every weekend, only once in a while, and there is not much to do on weekends. She is not into the bar scene and does not drink, and it seems everyone around her is & does. </p>
<p>She does have some friends who are not, and she hangs with them. But I think they are hanging around in the dorm watching TV on weekends.</p>
<p>She says there are loads of lectures and interesting things going on during the week, but she has to do her homework for classes most evenings of the week and hasn’t got the free time for these things then–she wishes the school would schedule more of that kind of thing during the weekends. </p>
<p>She does not have a car & never will while in college, and the Collegetown shuttle is erratic. She has bummed rides to the Towson Mall from friends to get some shopping done and a trip to the Apple store for an emergency computer repair. </p>
<p>We are happy with the academics at the school but I wish they paid more attention to this social issue and scheduled more interesting things on weekends, and we also do not like the dining arrangements, which is a mall-type food court run by Sodexo. If the students do not want to eat those things they have to cook their own meals in the dorms, and when exam time rolls around this makes the time very tight.</p>
<p>I was a freshman at Loyola last year and it is tough to find other things to do on campus. I went out to bars a few times, but that is not my scene at all. It’s fun like a few times, but I don’t get how people do that all the time. You waste so much money on cabs. But students at Loyola have money to blow so oh well. I loved Options. It sucks that they don’t have more activities planned, so maybe someone could tell them to have more things to do. The collegetown shuttle sucks. I hated it. The harbor and towson are fun, but you get sick of them really quickly. I ended up transferring, because I just didn’t feel like Loyola was right for me. I love Baltimore, and the size and professor of Loyola, but the social scene and people did not work out for me. I am going to the University of Oklahoma now and I love it here. I hope your kids or whoever find what they are looking for or find fun things to do at Loyola!</p>