I didn't drink at all in college because I drank too much one day in high school. My friend's mom was out of town and we decided to raid her liquor cabinet while we were studying for an exam. Needless to say we didn't know our limits. I drank so much I was throwing up bile and had a black out. My friend was about to call the ambulance. I felt so horrible I didn't drink at all for the next 10 years!!!

American has Greek life, but it's pretty low key, and there are tons of students who don't like to party.

Oberlin

I know Emory has no sororities (old by-law that deems any residence with over 3 unrelated females living it it, a brothel).

I don't know if that means there's less of a culture of fraternities, it might.

Its a good school and a beautiful campus with wonderful facilities.

Look at the NSCAC schools: Bates, Colby, Amherst, Williams, etc. Also Oberlin, and perhaps Haverford and Swarthmore.

Anonymous wrote:Are you trying to avoid frats or drinking culture?

Both

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a Jesuit school and that's all we did- drink!

Me too, but no frats.

Yes, Boston College has no frats and is like this. A big party school.

It's an Irish Catholic thing. (I'm Irish Catholic and grew up in that environment.)

I had a fabulous 4 years at BC. Plenty of parties but plenty of other things too. I never drank - just not my scene - but it was never an issue socially. I still went out and just had non-alcoholic drinks.

Anonymous wrote:Goergetown doesn't have them.

School had some of the worst drunks I have ever seen.

And if he chooses to go to a party, he can drink water. No one would know or care. He might find some calm-ish parties he enjoys

Anonymous wrote:I would not avoid automatically schools with fraternities. Your kid should develop work on developing non-drinking friends and pursing other activities. Partying in college is an easy social outlet, but there are always options. I went to a school notorious for its Greek scene, and about 30% of the students were in a fraternity/sorority. If you walked around on a Friday/Saturday night, you would see/hear huge parties so you think everyone is out drinking at fraternity parties. But the reality is that the other 70% of students were not in a fraternity or sorority, and most students did not go to parties, especially after the first few months of school. If you went to the university movie theater, gym, or various school clubs on a Friday night, they would be packed full of people who did not want to go to parties. There is so much to do on a campus if your kid made any effort at all to find these activities. Also, I will tell you that the worst drinking I have seen is at schools without fraternities.

+1

I would not avoid automatically schools with fraternities. Your kid should develop work on developing non-drinking friends and pursing other activities. Partying in college is an easy social outlet, but there are always options. I went to a school notorious for its Greek scene, and about 30% of the students were in a fraternity/sorority. If you walked around on a Friday/Saturday night, you would see/hear huge parties so you think everyone is out drinking at fraternity parties. But the reality is that the other 70% of students were not in a fraternity or sorority, and most students did not go to parties, especially after the first few months of school. If you went to the university movie theater, gym, or various school clubs on a Friday night, they would be packed full of people who did not want to go to parties. There is so much to do on a campus if your kid made any effort at all to find these activities. Also, I will tell you that the worst drinking I have seen is at schools without fraternities.

Goergetown doesn't have them.

Are you trying to avoid frats or drinking culture?

Wait a year and see if he still feels the same way.

I was in your son's position 20+ years ago. Drinking culture made me uncomfortable for a lot of reasons, many of which were related to my own family history. I eventually attended a small residential school without a Greek system, but not before attending Virginia Tech my freshman year.

The lack of a Greek system will not magically remove drinking from the campus. HOWEVER, it's more underground/less public at schools both without football teams and Greek systems. And it always -- anywhere -- comes down to finding the right peer group. Institutional size makes a difference too. A school with fewer 10k students will be a place where he will be more likely to find a group of likeminded students, rather than a sprawling campus with 30k+ students.

And believe it or not, as much as Penn and Dartmouth are maligned here, at least 20 years ago, both schools had ample opportunities outside of the Greek system. As did Columbia.