<p>I’m a current freshman at Vandy. Yes, people drink a lot here, but you honestly will find that at any college. I think the main reason Vanderbilt has a reputation for drinking/partying is because we are a top 20 school and are obviously known for academics. Therefore, we’re most frequently compared to Ivies and other prestigious universities, and Vandy students certainly party harder than students at those universities. That being said, there’s definitely a large amount of people here (probably half of my hall for instance) who do not drink so if you’re not into partying/drinking, no one pressures you or judges you. However, the “work hard play hard” mentality at Vanderbilt is the main reason many people, including myself, do choose Vanderbilt, because it’s hard to find such a high caliber university where you can have as much fun as students at Vanderbilt do. Ultimately, you can make your experience here into whatever you want it to be, but the “work hard play hard” mentality here is very prevalent and sets us apart from most other prestigious universities in the US.</p>
<p>An arguement can be made that alcohol at Vanderbilt is less than other universities. UVA’s unofficial mascot is the wahoo. A fish that can drink twice it’s weight. Rice has bars and a beer bike on campus and it’s night of decadence sent 11 students to the emergency department with alcohol poisoning. Have you been to a Notre Dame or Michigan football game? And Duke’s Asian Prime theme party debacle was held by a frat that recently was reinstated after being kicked off campus for alcohol issues.</p>