<p>I am going to be a freshman at an LAC this fall. As of now, I am seriously considering applying for a room in the College's substance-free dormitory.</p>
<p>Can anyone answer the following:
1. Do people still bring beer, pot, etc. into the dorms regardless of policy?
2. Besides the obvious, is there anything that makes a substance-free dorm different than a regular dorm?</p>
<p>Basically, I want to know if I am going to be missing out on the "real" college experience by living in one of those dorms. I like keeping clean, but at the same time, I don't want to feel like an outcast...</p>
<p>Am I over-thinking this? Any thoughts appreciated</p>
<p>
[quote]
1. Do people still bring beer, pot, etc. into the dorms regardless of policy?
[/quote]
Yes.
[quote]
2. Besides the obvious, is there anything that makes a substance-free dorm different than a regular dorm?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes. It's worse. The RA's are going to be bigger jerks than usual and you'll probably be under more supervision. You'll be surrounded by people who's overprotective parents made them live in substance-free housing and we all know THOSE guys.</p>
<p>Word to the cheeseburger analogy. Besides, most hopping parties don't take place in the dorms. At most there will be 20 person parties (which tend to be busted for noise) and people pre-gaming (with their doors closed, lest their party be ended before it even gets going). You'll meet plenty of people in a regular dorm who don't want to smoke it up every day. And you might change your mind about staying completely clean. Also, some great stories will develop from the antics of your drunken hall mates.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if LAC does the same thing, but my school offers substance-free floors as an alternative to substance-free dorms sometimes... if you have that option, it might be a worthwhile compromise, if that's what you're looking for. dunno if that helps at all : </p>
<p>I lived in a substance-free dorm freshman year--not my choice, but I dealt with it. Personally, I never drank in my building--I'd go hang with my friends in the building next door to do that or go to house parties. But I did come home drunk on occasion, and several people on my floor brought alcohol into the building. RAs were a lot more strict and if you were caught drunk in the building you got one warning, if you were seen drinking or they saw alcohol in your room, you were gone no questions asked.</p>
<p>FWIW, two girls on my floor got warnings (from the RA from a different floor) for being drunk, and only 3 kids in the building were kicked out. I got lucky and had a pretty cool RA who was more concerned about helping you to your room and taking care of you if you were drunk than writing you up for being a college student who had a good time Friday night.</p>
<p>Forgot to mention that although there were plenty of drinkers on my floor, there was also a fair number of non-drinkers. Non-drinkers to drinkers was probably about a 2:1 ratio.</p>
<p>My dorm wasn't substance free but there still was very little drinking in the dorms, especially any that you would notice if you didn't go looking for it. Most people in the dorms are still under 21, so drinking is illegal anyway and being in a "substance free" dorm doesn't really mean a whole lot for you then. As far as I know nobody ever did anything more than alcohol (and addy but that's a completely different story) in the dorms themselves, since it'd just be stupid to.</p>