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Under Age drinking in the USA

Alright,

I'm going on a year abroad to UCSB next year, but i'll only be 19/20. Just wondering if anyone has any experience of being in America before they are 21? What is the score when it comes to drinking? Is it just like here when you can get someone to get you drinks then get smashed at a house party as long as you don't cause any damage? Or is it more easy to get in trouble with the police?

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Reply 1

Clare~Bear

I think they're rather strict with under 21s :frown:

Reply 2

game of james

Yeh I always wondered what uni would be like with the problem of buying alcohol.
Who exactly gets the booze in?

Reply 3

simibean

They are really strict. They asked for identity from my grandfather (old looking) and also my dad a few times in resturants etc

Reply 4

game of james

Fair enough, I'd **** myself when handing over a fake ID.
I take it house parties are way bigger than going out to pubs and clubs then?

Reply 5

Always.Inbetween

I actually did a year abroad at UIUC (Illinois) and I was 20 going on 21 (which was fun).

I drank a LOT probably even more than after I turned 21.

I'm sure this is giving the wrong impression.. I wasn't drunk all the time, but yes, I did drink - however, it wasn't in public, but at non-student-dorm house parties (of which there are a lot, probs because of the drinking limitations). One of my friends (American) got caught drinking in a bar (which he was allowed to enter, but not allowed to consume alcohol) and his punishment was to take an online quiz (the results showed him how many things he could have bought instead of spending money on booze) and write an essay on how drinking under age was bad.
He was taken in a campus police vehicle though. Felt bad for him. Real nice guy lol.

Have fun!

Reply 6

swbp

Kind of worried about this. Is it stricter in certain areas of the country? I ask as i'm hopefully going to spend a semester abroad at the University of Washington in Seattle or UT at Austin...

Reply 7

Caldeep

Just seems weird, in the UK if you are caught hammered they just tell you to go home, and at home you can pretty much get hammered after you are 15 at a house party/gathering! Yet in the states they talk about fines/jail/community service!

Reply 8

Arizona Dreamer

Lol have you not seen American pie?? They have house parties etc but the cops like to bust their parties :/ lol :smile:

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 9

Teemo

So odd that they have people running around with guns. Yet you're not allowed to drink til you're over 21...

Reply 10

A.J10

Original post by Always.Inbetween

I hate punishments that are "write an essay/letter/whatever on why what you did was bad". Seems so condescending.

Reply 11

boba

gosh that sounds really strict. we had parties in halls all the time and the only sort of "procedure" we followed is to check that no one living in the corridor or flat (depending on the hall) had a deadline soon after.

I think living somewhere that I was suddenly underage for drinking again would be really weird, especially since I assume that you have to be 21 to serve alcohol as well and thats the only job I actually have experience in so finding a different type would be quite hard.

Reply 12

Baltimoron

Underage drinking at American universities is quite common. Everyone does it. It's usually very simple to find alcohol. Fake id's are rampant and if you don't have that just ask someone who is 21. I've said this before on TSR, but you Brits make out underage drinking in the US to be some unobtainable achievement or something. It's not. 18-21 year olds here drink just as much as 18-21 year olds in the UK. We just have to find slightly more creative ways of doing it. House parties and fraternity parties are your best bets if you don't have a fake.

Reply 13

boba

Original post by Baltimoron

I don't think I've ever meant to say drinking in the us when 18-21 is unobtainable and hard. like you say you have to "find slightly more creative ways of doing it" which for most people here is what they have to do at 16/17. so if you do that at 16/17 then get used to legally being allowed and not having to if you go somewhere where you are underage again it feels strange and like being 17 again.

although it would be good in some senses because you get the 18th birthday in the uk and the 21st in the us.

plus obviously there are more important things when deciding to move somewhere than the drinking age.

Reply 14

Baltimoron

Original post by boba

Ok, yeah, I think we're on the same page haha. You're right, coming here and not being able to drink after being able to drink in the UK would be weird. I kind of know how that feels but it's the opposite. My friend and I went to Toronto for a couple days a couple weeks ago where the drinking age is 19. Being able to just sit down at a bar and order a drink without being asked for id was a very strange feeling. Great, but strange. Oh, and we went to Toronto solely because of the drinking age. :wink:

Reply 15

sammy-lou

I had a friend who used to live in the States who said that Fake IDs are so much easier to get away with than in the UK because each State has a different style of drivers license, so it is a lot easier to get away with a 'bad' fake ID if you're using a fake Illinois license in Oregon, for example.

I imagine the drinking habits of American's aren't all that different to ours; you play the cards you're dealt at the end of the day. People will always find ways to get around drinking laws.

Reply 16

cbuchwa1

In America, I was able to get drinks at some bars when I was 15, while others still card me today (I'm 25). You'll quickly figure out where to go and how to drink, but chances are you will not be able to sit with some friends in a bar and have a drink. Frat parties are by far your easiest option.

Reply 17

chrisjar

You're gonna be at a university, it's easy. Here's how:

Frats, frats, frats, frats, frats, frats.

(sung to the tune of LMFAO and Lil John's 'Shots')

Seriously, find some other students, go to a frat/sorority with them, get cosy with the brothers/sisters, enjoy free beer. Done.

Reply 18

donutaud15

Original post by Baltimoron

18-21 year olds in the UK drink because it's legal for us to do it, without needing fake ids and whatnot

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my HTC Sensation Z710e

Reply 19

Descartesz

The climate for underage drinking varies widely from place-to-place and school-to-school, even from day-to-day. Generally there is indulgence of underage drinking, in particular by college-aged students, as long as it is kept on private premises or on campus (or at least in particular areas of campus) and isn't so obvious, intrusive, or harmful that the authorities feel the need to do something about it. But there are enough exceptions to this general rule that local practice needs to observed and understood.

Underage drinking in public (at bars, etc.) is more problematic. Serving underage customers can result in penalties and even loss of license to bars and clubs that do it, so enforcement is capricious and can even depend on how your server is feeling about you at the moment. Fake ID's are, indeed, fairly common but using them is also a risk, and you can't know how savvy the person you are presenting it to will be. Personally I would not recommend this practice.