<p>Sign me up as one whose kid did not drink in HS, expressed contempt for the drinkers in HS, hated the very idea of frats and so on to the point that he refused to apply to Princeton because of the eating clubs and to Cornell because he saw frat houses when we were driving around…then, of all the choices he had, he decided to go to Dartmouth!</p>
<p>Where he decided to pledge a frat. </p>
<p>Now, frats at D are much more open than frats elsewhere, and people pledge there who would never consider it elsewhere, and he pledged one that was rather counter-cultural and not associated with an athletic team or I-banker-wannabees, but still…</p>
<p>OP, your question is legitimate, but all of the Ivies are diverse enough that your S could find “his people,” and frankly you never know in which directions he will develop.</p>
<p>BTW, S served as social chair of his house several times, rush chair, and so on. It was genuinely a growth experience for my intellectual introvert, albeit one that he eventually outgrew. I, on the other hand, didn’t have that kind of experience until after I graduated. I think he did better, in many ways.</p>
<p>Choose a large school in a city. At a small school, particularly with a wet campus, drinking culture will be more difficult to escape. The schools we visited with the worst drinking culture and the most undesirable environment from my child’s perspective were small, did not have Greek life, and had wet campuses.</p>
<p>^My D. was in sorority, one of her best experience at college, still in close contact with her sisters and was very happy to be assigned as “big” buddy to one of them who just started her first year at D’s Med. School. This girl is even from a different UG, but sorority sisterhood is a strong bond and they will always recognize and support each other. My D. had no intention of being part of Greek when she started at college. She is very happy that she did, I am also very happy that she choose to have in her life. It has been very positive experience…in addition to great opportunities of further developing leadership skills, including going to National convention - definitely one of the life long memories…I imagine that drinking was some part of sorority social events, I have not heard that it presented any problems though. I also imagine, that if somebody would not touch alcohol at these events, then other girls and guests would respect this.</p>
<p>I could have written Consolation’s post about my own son’s high school views and experience at Dartmouth, except his frat was one of those i-banking ones I think. Anyway, he was a serious student who I doubt drank a lot. He often worked his part time job early on Sat. and Sun. mornings–a job that required physical fitness–so it would have been really tough to do it hungover. He was in the Hanover area for business recently and stopped in to see people at the frat. It was a positive in his life for the most part, except for the legal messes caused by a few jerks whose acceptance as pledges he voted against.</p>
<p>When he chose Dartmouth, it didn’t seem to make much sense given his non-partying ways. But based on campus visits, he felt that compared to his other school choices, there was more variety on the social life spectrum at Dartmouth. At other other schools he felt the student body was divided into non-partiers on one hand and the crazies that get wasted every weekend on the other. His “problem” was that he liked hanging with the more social kids, but didn’t want to drink excessively. Dartmouth and the system of open frats seemed to work for him.</p>