<p>Hi! First of all, please understand that I am an international student, which means that I have no idea what is going on in campus dorms and all my information is obtained from the internet. I will start my freshman year at Princeton in the fall, and I just wanted to ask you (as people who really live there and know the situation) what you think about substance free housing. I am very outgoing and I can't live without an enormous number of friends, and I like to attend parties (but not to drink though!) :D but I don't drink and don't smoke, and I don't want an excessively drinking roommate to hold drunken parties in the dorm every couple of days... But on the other hand I don't want to live with antisocial nerds who are extremely introverted and are just hiding from the world... Could you please tell me what the real situation is like in Princeton substance free housing? I don't want to end up with antisocial people... Thanks to everybody in advance!</p>
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<li><p>Subfree housing generally consists of a hallway (or a few) in a building that’s non-subfree (correct me if I’m wrong, anyone, this is just based on the few buildings I’ve lived in). This means that even if all the subfree people were totally antisocial, you’d be able to make friends who lived close by!</p></li>
<li><p>Plenty of people go subfree because their parents make them, because they like to sleep and don’t want to risk crazy parties, because they’re religious, because they hate smoke, have asthma…there are tons of reasons. I don’t think it makes people particularly antisocial. Also, at least among sophomore/junior/senior housing I’ve noticed that subfree rooms are sometimes bigger.</p></li>
<li><p>OTOH, people often flout the subfree restrictions. But, it means that a polite knock and a request to quiet down is more likely to be heeded in subfree.</p></li>
<li><p>Princeton, because the Street (eating clubs) is so central to social life, has far fewer dorm room parties than most other schools, I think. So if you don’t go subfree, it probably still won’t be a problem. And I think that this kind of stuff is included in the freshman year roommate questionnaire, so you can specify that you’d like a roommate who doesn’t really drink, probably. (IIRC this is the same questionnaire that asks if you want to go subfree.)</p></li>
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<p>Bottom line: you’re probably fine either way! Also, yay, welcome! :)</p>
<p>If a person were to ask for sub free housing, would they probably get it, or are there limited sub free hallways?</p>
<p>I think you’re almost guaranteed to get it? Not sure, though; that’s a question for the housing office. But, I mean, they can always arbitrarily lengthen a sub-free hallway…</p>
<p>Thank you very much Tiger14!</p>
<p>On your housing application you will need to list things like sub free housing if you want it, along with things like single gender floor etc. Then you list which are most important to you in order of priority. The application is very detailed and they do their best to match you to room mates and a general space that will work well for you. My son had sub free as his top pick and got it. His hall mates are friendly and great people to be around…it was a great choice for him. Some students in his hall do party, they just don’t do it in the dorm.</p>
<p>Whenever I get asked why I lean more towards a sub-free dorm, I say: Because I like parties, I just don’t like living in them.</p>
<p>I don’t know if I’m right, though. What’s it like to live in a substance dorm? Is the difference too dramatic?</p>
Hi all…I’ll be a freshman at Princeton in the Fall. I’m trying to fill out the online housing forms and have to choose between substance free and non-substance free. I’d really appreciate any up to date feedback on peoples thoughts on this. I don’t want to have raging parties in my room, but also might want to have people over occasionally. I’m not a big partier, but don’t want to be surrounded by kids who never go out. Thoughts?
Hey skiers. First, try in the future to create your own thread rather than resurrect one that is two years old. Second, I can help you out. I lived in a sub-free dorm my freshman year. Basically, it means that you will not be allowed to keep alcohol in your room. My RCA never needed to enforce it, but it is enforced, and you will be disciplined if you are caught holding alcohol. It is fine to have a party, but it will have to be a dry party.
There are occasional partiers in sub-free dorms, of course. The guys in my quad went drinking once a month. But if you think there is even a small chance you will want alcohol in your room, sub-free is not for you.