<p>I am a current high school senior and American is one of my top choices for next year. I have been looking into substance free housing at various schools, and I found the “Health & Wellness Living Learning Community” at AU, but I can’t seem to find any student experiences from that community. I am someone who does not like to go to parties or be around alcohol/smoking, and the “typical” dorm life makes me quite nervous. I wish to live in a dorm that is relatively quiet. I don’t feel pressured to participate in partying/drinking, but I’m not sure I can function in an environment surrounded by those that do. Does anyone have/know a student who lived in this community? If so, how was the experience? Do you know of any other dorms at AU that are traditionally quieter/attract studious students?</p>
<p>All I can offer is that AU is a dry campus, there’s no smoking allowed indoors, and of course drugs are not legal there or anywhere else, so in theory all the dorms are substance free (at least as substance free as any “official” dorm would likely be). Note also that there are no Greek houses on campus, so your classic drunken frat house party will be held off campus and can be easily avoided. </p>
<p>My son attended two colleges–one urban campus where from Thursday through Sunday ambulances carrying students who had OD’d on alcohol or drugs were a regular sight, and a suburban LAC where beer cans littered the halls on Monday mornings and on one occasion so much damage was done to the dorms by drunk kids that every student, including those who didn’t drink a drop, got hit with the cost of repairs. I’ve never heard my D tell one tale like that regarding AU. She and her friends are not big partiers and have never felt out of place or lacking a social life.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. I knew of AU being a dry campus and was looking in to that, and some students said that AU being a dry campus only influenced people to drink more, so I wanted to see if anyone else had input on that.</p>
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<p>My daughter had some of these same concerns and has been really happy in Hughes.</p>
<p>Hughes is the home of the honors program, but I’m not sure whether being in the honors program necessarily means the students are quieter or more studious.</p>
<p>The VP in charge of residence life, Chris Moody, suggests that dorms that have fewer residents per floor (because of architecture) are quieter, because he believes people travel “horizontally” when they are looking for someone to interact with late at night. The usual freshman dorms like Letts have few floors, but each floor is very big (long corridors), so they can always find someone up, and therefore, there is always some noise/interaction happening. On a smaller floor…they might give up and go to bed! He says that explains the North side/South side difference. The North side dorms have a smaller footprint/fewer residents per floor.</p>
<p>My daughter is not a drinker either and lived in Hughes last year. If you are admitted to the Honors program, I think you will be happy in Hughes. Agree with DeskPotato that the northside is quieter in general. </p>
<p>Although AU is a dry campus, there are many students who do drink in their dorms. I think it is important to choose a roommate who has the same values and lifestyle that you do, regardless of the school you ultimately attend.</p>
<p>My son is an AU senior.</p>
<p>There is drinking in the dorms at AU—this is true at almost anyU.S. campus. And sometimes things do get a bit loud or wild.</p>
<p>But I think that AU maybe has a little bit less of the completely crazy behavior that is common on other campuses because of the nature of the student body it attracts. The students at AU are often more focused and ambitious–right from the beginning–than students at some other schools. So many students have internships that require them to get up in the morning–and quickly learn they can’t party or stay up late the night before. Also, committing a good amount of time to an off campus internship means that the time on campus is heavy with class and study commitments.</p>
<p>This isn’t to say that AU students are superior to students elsewhere…I just think they are a bit more balanced in their lifestyle. They love to have fun–and yes, my son does drink and sometimes I am sure more than he should–but I think that drinking does not dominate the campus life like it does at some schools.</p>
<p>You should be able to be happy on this campus. You will be able to find a peer group.</p>
<p>volz519 --</p>
<p>I used to live in the LLCs and they’re exactly what you’d expect. Even in other dorms you won’t be pressured to do anything you don’t want to do. Roper/Clark Halls are both very quiet, secluded, and are centrally located on campus. All I can say about Roper/Clark is that you don’t get the traditional “college experience” because it is so quiet and people don’t really talk to each other as if it’s a community. Any other questions you can just message me!</p>