I was assigned to substance free housing this year due too a mix up on my housing application and I’m worried about what that means for my first year experience. I’m personally not crazy about drugs or alcohol but I have no problem at all with that lifestyle and no real desire to escape it. Living on a substance free floor, I feel like I’ll end up surrounded by people who are very against it, and the kind of people that I don’t typically get along with very well. I want to be friends with the people on my floor as part of the freshman experience but I’m not sure I’ll really get that from the substance free floor.
Are my fears likely to come true, or is substance free living usually a better experience, even for someone who isn’t against the party lifestyle?
I’ll be going to Simmons College, by the way, which is a small women’s LAC in Boston. The forum for my school is dead so that’s why I’m posting this here.
I’m about to go into my fourth year of substance-free housing (albeit at a different school), and I think most of your fears are unfounded. For one thing, it’s not even that rigidly enforced; I could name at least three occasions in which people have violated it. And plenty more people just party outside of their dorms and come back when they’re sober (we’re technically not allowed to be “visibly drunk” when we’re in the dorms, but again that’s hard to enforce).
On that note, I don’t know anyone who is in substance-free housing who is rigidly, morally against it. I can’t really criticize you for saying that you worry about how well you’ll get along with non-drinkers because I was thinking the exact opposite when I came to college. Anyway, I chose to be in it because I found drinking and drugs to be frightening–but when I first tried alcohol after I turned 21, a switch flipped and lo and behold, it turns out I have an addictive personality. So in light of that, I think it’s a good thing that I’ll have much more restricted access to it next year. (I also have another close friend who lives in substance-free housing because she struggled with addiction in high school.)
So overall, it’s probably not going to be as bad as you think. And I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that you can still go to parties, just as long as you’re not in your dorm. Plus, chances are you’ll appreciate living in a hall that’s way quieter and smells way better–because trust me, as soon as you enter a regular dorm you’ll notice the difference.
@Philpsych Your response made me feel 100x better. I don’t mind substance free housing at all as long as it’s not incredibly strict/overbearing, as I feared that it would be. I also didn’t mean that I dislike people who are against drugs and drinking - I just don’t get along with people who tend to try and force those ideals onto others, and judge people for their lifestyle choices. My school isn’t a party school by any means anyways so I hope that substance free housing won’t be much different from regular housing. Hopefully my experience with it will be similar to yours. Thanks for the reply!
Oh yeah, I totally know what you mean about people pushing their morals onto you; I can name very few people I know who have done that. That being said, my school is also not a party school and there is still a significant difference between the two types of dorms.
Either way, best of luck! I think you’ll like it. Feel free to message me if you have any more questions!