<p>Does anybody have any information about partying at Madison?</p>
<p>Madison certainly holds the reputation of a “party school” due to various publications like Princeton Review and Playboy rating them highly in that respect. </p>
<p>In my experience you can certainly find parties quite easily and lots of people partake in them. However, it’s not like everyone in Madison does drink and get plastered every weekend. There are so many students around campus that, should you by intimidated by the title for one reason or another, you can find like-minded folks.</p>
<p>At SOAR they made a point of advising parents that in a recent survey, 23% of the students said they didn’t drink at all. Of the remaining students that did drink, I think about 50% did so in moderation and the other 50% were what you would consider the binge drinking / dangerous drinkers. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if the question by Twins127 was a legit question.</p>
<p>Being a freshman usually means testing the freedoms of being away from home and parental rules for the first time. For some/many this means drinking even if it is not legal for this generation of college students. Using the above numbers it seems as though more than half, ie a majority, do not get into the drinking culture. This implies you can find a party easily if you want to but can just as easily live without them. I wonder what the survey would show in October versus, say March- ie after many will have tried and abandoned a lifestyle.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that the only thing to do at Madison is party. And when I visited I definently could see how that would be true.</p>
<p>What nonsense. There are 50 restaurants and nearly as many coffee houses within walking distance. Music clubs, Overture Center, concerts and other activities on campus. Hoofers sailing and outings, various sports both varsity and club (700 clubs on campus). Only losers who don’t last party that much. Whatever that means.</p>
<p>wis75 - At SOAR, the UW-PD also presented some stats about alcohol related incidents and there definitely were higher numbers in the fall for freshmen which they attributed to them trying to figure out how to deal with complete freedom and the increased availability of alcohol if interested. (The football game-day experience probably doesn’t help the fall stats either.) Number of incidents went down for freshmen in the winter and spring. Smarter? Lessons learned? Need for improved grades in second semester?</p>
<p>I agree with Barrons - there’s a lot to do in Madison that doesn’t have to involve drinking. But, if you want it, it’s there. It’s all about making choices. As a student, you’re not just learning from a book or professor. You’re learning from living your life. You are learning who you are and how to make your own path - instead of just following the crowd.</p>
<p>Im going to be a freshman at UW this fall and I can say that people there do drink and it will be a party atmosphere in Witte and Sellery.</p>
<p>As far as other things to do, it’s a school of 40,000. That means a lot of freshman doing things that freshman do - experiment. Whether that means with drinking, drugs, or the opposite sex.</p>
<p>And barrons, I think you are being just as unfair as other people when you say they are losers if they party a lot.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on how you define a lot. I think getting drunk or high much Sunday night through Wednesday night is too much and makes you a probable looser as there is no way to stay up with classes and have good grades as well as actually getting something out of the class. Thursday is up for grabs. I think getting in a few hours of studying and then going out is OK if you don’t have class early Friday. Friday and Saturday are wide open. But I think it’s very important to discover other things to do such as films, concerts, recreational sports, going out to restaurants with friends etc too. Making drinking the centerpiece of life is sad and Yes, a loser way of life. It makes for a very boring person with the how drunk I was stories. It’s no achievement and most grow out of it pretty fast.</p>
<p>AZS…- how can you know what it is like before you begin college? You have no experience living in the dorms during the school year- at most you probably had people showing you a good time while on a weekend visit. I doubt there is constant partying every day of the week. Likewise for your visit, Twins. It is easy to notice the partiers and miss those doing other activities. You need to see the dorms on Sundays and other nights before classes.</p>
<p>I do agree with barrons regarding those who party a lot being losers. There are only so many hours in a week- if too many are spent socializing instead of attending classes and doing the required work grades will suffer- to the point of failure. They also lose out on myriads of other experiences if their only activity is partying.</p>