UVA - drinking culture?

[Anonymous]

There is a drinking culture at virtually every college out there.
The exception is probably some of the religious colleges but I suspect you could find some college students to have a drink with there.

A community college in which students are living at home with Mom and Dad will have less of a drinking culture but even those students will get together for a drink.

[Anonymous]

to OP - Does your son have current students at UVA to talk to? My DS fourth year son is here at home. I could have him talk to your son (he's only a social drinker on weekends and is anti-greek) about how he found friends (use the UVA Class of 2024 Facebook page) and avoided the Greek scene. Post a way for us to reach out to you.

[Anonymous]

Aren’t wahoos fish that can drink several times their own weight?

[Anonymous]

Binge drinking is NOT equally popular at all schools.

Not drinking is NOT equally tolerated at all schools.

I think people who drank a lot in college or who have kids who drank in high school tell themselves that.

There is actual science which attests to the fact that there is more drinking at school with a dominant greek culture. Look it up.

If you think they are all the same, look at how kids respond to some of the survey questions about alcohol norms on campus. They vary widely. Those kids are actually embedded in the current culture on campus, you are not.

[Anonymous]

UVA has a reputation of having a very dominant Greek culture. And fraternities do have 'hazing' rituals with alcohol. Things probably have improved from the past but alcohol is still big (an if anything replaced other, more physical, hazing rituals)

But that depends a lot on which frat, and you can always join a frat that doesn't haze as much. But the social life does rotate around frat culture, no one is forced to join.

Every school has students that drink a lot but not every school has a Greek culture that dominates social life. That's the reality of UVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can easily find your crowd of teetotaling nerds at UVA.

This is true but it sounds like OP’s son is maybe interested in joining a fraternity? I think that’s where it gets tricky, because heavy drinking generally goes hand-in-hand with Greek life, or at least it did when I was at UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teach him how to fake drinking.

Also he should know how to make himself throw up before he goes.

What’s fake drinking?

You pour it out when you go to the bathroom. You only fill up 1/2 at the keg. You set your Bush light down and walk away act like your getting another because you finished yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Binge drinking is NOT equally popular at all schools.

Not drinking is NOT equally tolerated at all schools.

I think people who drank a lot in college or who have kids who drank in high school tell themselves that.

There is actual science which attests to the fact that there is more drinking at school with a dominant greek culture. Look it up.

If you think they are all the same, look at how kids respond to some of the survey questions about alcohol norms on campus. They vary widely. Those kids are actually embedded in the current culture on campus, you are not.

Yes, all of this.
OP why doesn't he go, avoid Frats and if he feels under pressure in a way that makes it impossible to stay, apply out for sophomore year to somewhere far more civilized, like W&M?

[Anonymous]

Yes major party school.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the responses. My son definitely plans to join lots of other clubs - I appreciate the suggestion that he look at those options too. I don't think he is a prude or unrealistic about drinking in college but the stories about hazing and forced drinking are just making him nervous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA has a reputation of having a very dominant Greek culture. And fraternities do have 'hazing' rituals with alcohol. Things probably have improved from the past but alcohol is still big (an if anything replaced other, more physical, hazing rituals)

But that depends a lot on which frat, and you can always join a frat that doesn't haze as much. But the social life does rotate around frat culture, no one is forced to join.

Every school has students that drink a lot but not every school has a Greek culture that dominates social life. That's the reality of UVA

How do you figure out which fraternities don't haze as much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can easily find your crowd of teetotaling nerds at UVA.

Point made. AT some schools, kids who choose to follow the law and refrain from drinking until they are 21, will be called "nerds."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can easily find your crowd of teetotaling nerds at UVA.

This is unironically the reason OP's son is worried.
At drinking-heavy universities, anyone that doesn't drink is considered a nerd, loser, etc. Schools have different culture, to say every school has a drinking culture is reductive and untrue, doesn't account for how bad the drinking culture is, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has a reputation of having a very dominant Greek culture. And fraternities do have 'hazing' rituals with alcohol. Things probably have improved from the past but alcohol is still big (an if anything replaced other, more physical, hazing rituals)

But that depends a lot on which frat, and you can always join a frat that doesn't haze as much. But the social life does rotate around frat culture, no one is forced to join.

Every school has students that drink a lot but not every school has a Greek culture that dominates social life. That's the reality of UVA

How do you figure out which fraternities don't haze as much?

By word of mouth, really. Some frats have reputation (and self-perpetuate the reputation) of 'partying hard', others have reputation of doing a lot of drugs, etc. But there are also frats that have reputation of being 'good kids', etc.

[Anonymous]

Make sure your kid takes classes that meet on Fridays. That cuts out Thursday binge drinking. The school should not allow so much blackout drinking at football games. Also, girls need to travel in groups of at least 4. UVA really does have some hot spots like football games and fraternities that you should only attend with a group of like minded friends. The school does nothing to reign it in.