In college it can seem like it's a built in part of the experience to go to parties on the weekend and drink, especially at USC. California ranks towards the middle for underage drinking, but I would guess that Trojans, specifically, would show a much higher rate. For being a pretty prestigious university we've got a notable drinking culture, at least for some parts of the school. And even if you don't find yourself in a group that parties every single weekend, the time will likely arise at some point where you're offered the opportunity to drink. So, should you do it?

That decision is yours to make like any other in your life (you're an adult - yay!), but I"m here to say that it's A-OK to not be into drinking. It doesn't make you less cool. It doesn't mean you aren't an adult. And anyone who has such opinions has a pretty narrow view of the world. Between you and me, you can do better when it comes to finding friends.

This isn't an argument to never drink during your lifetime -- that's not a reasonable decision for most -- this is simply here to say that there are other priorities in college, and there's nothing wrong with focusing on those instead of drinking.

I fully realize that just saying "not drinking isn't uncool" is about as convincing as the "get high on life" speech you may have heard in high school health class (I sure did). With that in mind, here are a handful of reasons why your coolness is not impacted by a decision not to drink.

Again, this isn't a decree that you should never drink -- just don't feel like it's the only option to be "cool." Having a great career is cool, being knowledgeable about LA's history is cool, having life-long friendships is cool… you get the picture.