Information for First-Year Students
Welcome and the Excitement of the First Year
Non-Drinker?
Surviving the Vanderbilt Social Scene
When a Friend Lets You Down Due to Drinking
What's Normal
Help!
Links
Welcome and the Excitement of the First Year
Welcome to Vanderbilt and some of the most exciting times of your life! The thrill can last the whole first year (or longer) or a few weeks or a few hours; it's up to you to balance the exhilaration with good decisions, stress management and plenty of rest!
During the first 3 or 4 weeks, your focus may be on making new friends and having a good time, but this time is the most important time of your college years. It sets the pattern for friendships, studying, prioritizing, even health. You have been successful in your skills at decision-making and prioritizing (or else you wouldn't be here at Vanderbilt), so don't let the fun times lead to regret or embarrassment. Stay true to your values and priorities; take care of scheduling those and let the fun time fit into what is left over.
Some students come to college with plenty of expectations: freedom with no boundaries; lots of alcohol and sex; permission, if not encouragement, to be irresponsible for everything (except maybe grades); endless opportunities for new friends; thinking that they don't have to study, that they can just pull an all nighter and still make A's.
College isn't "Animal House," " Road Trip" or "Girls Gone Wild." The imagines that these types of media project aren't reality. Remember reality doesn't sell; fantasy sells. Don't base your decisions on these expectations.
College is a great time for trying out new things: friendships with different types of people; a new sport or physical challenge (Vanderbilt has a great Outdoor Recreation program); new fields of study or research; new living arrangements. There is great fun in trying out new things but there is the risk of adding also stress.
Stress during your first year of college is to be expected. How you deal with stress is a reflection of how well you have prepared for this time in your life. If you have handled great stress earlier in you life with great aplomb then you have a foundation base for success in dealing with whatever life throws at you. If you need a little guidance or advice, feel free to use campus resources such as the Psychological and Counseling Center or the Chaplain's Office. Also, use your resident advisor, any Student Life staff or faculty member with whom you feel comfortable talking.
Non-Drinker?
OK, not all students are expecting crazy all-night binge fests; many students at Vanderbilt don't drink at all. According to the 2002 Quality of Life Survey, 33.7% of first year students at Vanderbilt don't drink at all; 27.1% drink only on special occasions. That adds to a pretty impressive total of students who aren't in that binge fest scene. Believe it or not, there is a lot of support for the non-drinker on this campus. There are tons of activities, both late night and not, where alcohol is not allowed. And there is room for more; develop your ideas for alcohol-free events, write a proposal and bring it by the Office. We just may have the right support to help you organize it!
The Office of Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drug Prevention also sponsors a "Support the Non-Drinker Week" with the help of CHEERS and GAMMA, two student groups that are not anti-alcohol, but anti-stupid educational groups. This past year, students re-named the week, KOALA Week. (Koala in the aborigines language means "No Drink." Koalas never drink; they get their fluids from the leaves they eat). Yellow ribbon campaign, discussion groups, essays in the Hustler, poster competition all make up the activities of Koala Week, but we need your input. Please share your ideas or thoughts!
Surviving the Vanderbilt Social Scene
Coming to college may have been one of the first times you had to make friends . . . you may have been going through school with the same friends you had in first gradeŠor may be you went to boarding school and had really close ties to those friends. Coming to Vanderbilt may have tested your people skills for the first time. Starting over is challenging, no matter what age.
Do you remember the first time you went out after arriving here? Going to your first party? Remember the social anxiety you felt when first walking into the party? The stress response? Nature designed us this way for a purposeŠŠwhat would that purpose or benefit be? What is the first thing you do when you walk into a party or any new social setting? You scan! Looking for people you know, and when you see people you know, you relax and go over to them and start talking. Most folks don't know that nature is trying to teach them how to handle social scenes by provoking anxiety and working through it. Some people pre-party so that they don't feel anxious but this undermines their social confidence building.
So are you making Friends or Drinking Buddies? Many a first year student finds major disappointment in a friendship during the first year, but you need to ask yourself, ŒWhat is my definition of friendship? My unspoken rules? Like if we go out together, we come back together . . . none of this dumping a friend because of beer goggling!'
Friends intervene with friends!!! You stop each other from doing something stupid . . . like hook up with someone questionable, or doing shots (a guaranteed hangover). Watch out for signs of alcohol overdose/poisoning. People do die from drinking too much alcohol or suffocate on their own vomit or enough vomit gets into the lungs for infection to set in. Vanderbilt has an amnesty clause in the Alcohol Policy: Emergency Treatment.
Do you ever get panicky if you don't go out? Are you afraid that you might be missing out on something? This may not be normal anxiety. Talk confidentially with a therapist from the Psychological and Counseling Center to reduce this type of anxiety.
Do you consciously self-medicate your social anxiety? The first step is to recognize what you are doing. The next step is reflection . . . what is it about social scenes that worries you so? Start confronting irrational beliefs and if you can't, find a trusted friend or therapist who can help you confront these thoughts. Try dealing with social scenes without alcohol; taking along some close friends who understand that if you feel really uncomfortable, you all will leave and do something
else.
When a Friend Lets You Down Due to Drinking
It's Sunday afternoon and you are mad. Why did your roommate act so stupid last night? You are fuming, but your roommate doesn't notice. You've got three choices: stay fuming; get over it; say something. The most constructive course is to say something, but only if its assertive and not aggressive. If this is a onetime thing, the feedback will probably help your roommate to stop and reflect about their drinking. If this behavior is a pattern, then a different approach may be needed. To help you with an intervention with a problem drinker, you need some advise in order to be successful. Come by the Office of Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drug Prevention for a confidential consultation.
What's Normal Drinking Anyway?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advises no more than 1 standard drink per day for women and no more than 2 standard drinks per day for men. (See http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa16.htm.)
OK, what's a standard drink? An alcoholic beverage that has _ ounce of pure alcohol in it: 12 oz. Domestic beer; _ oz of 80 proof; _ oz of 100 proof; 5.5 oz of unfortified wine; 3.5 oz of fortified wine; 10 oz wine cooler.
However, there are some people who should not drink alcohol at all:
- women who are pregnant or trying to conceive;
- people who plan to drive or engage in other activities that require attention or skill;
- people taking medication, including over-the-counter medications;
- recovering alcoholics;
- persons under the age of 21;
- people with certain physical ailments or diseases, i.e. peptic ulcers
Other people may have a high risk or potential of drinking problems:
- people from alcoholic or addicted families;
- people from families with depression history;
- people from families with disordered eating conditions
Help!
If your drinking is causing you problems, then it's time to take a long hard look at it. Try one of the assessment tools on this web page or go to this brochure, and make a plan to cut down or cut it out completely. If you find that you can't cut down, call the substance abuse therapist at Student Health and make an appointment (322-3414).
Links
These numerous links can assist in searching for personal answers or for classroom assignments. We have categorized by type of source to expedite your research. Please send us your recommendations for other websites. Note that Vanderbilt does not endorse any other website, nor guarantee the link to the site is active.
For more information:
Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drug Prevention Programs
Station B 1508
Nashville TN 37235
(615) 343-4740
FAX (615) 343-3702
