While the same proportion of Harvard students abstained from drinking in high school as students nationally, only 23 percent of Harvard students say they typically binged when they drank in high school, while the national average is more than 27 percent.

Wechsler says he believes Harvard students' lower high school drinking rates may account for students' less frequent binges, as drinking patterns in high school set behavioral patterns for years to follow.

And even colleges with high rates of binge drinking can only do so much to corrupt their students.

"A huge population of drinkers come to campus with plenty of experience drinking," said Thomas A. Workman, communications coordinator for the University of Nebraska's program to reduce binge drinking. "The conversion rate [to heavy drinking] is quite small."

Large state schools also inherit local drinking patterns, which schools like Harvard that place an emphasis on geographic diversity do not.

"The state of Wisconsin has a reputation for drinking a lot...so they've grown up with it if they're in-state," says Jonathan L. Zarov, communications manager for University Health Services at the University of Madison-Wisconsin. Zarov says two-thirds of Wisconsin's students are binge drinkers, and that the university has had problems with alcohol-related fights, vandalism and sexual assault.

Another factor in Harvard's lower binge drinking frequency may be its location.

"In fraternities and sororities...you're saturating college culture," Workman says. "In a city, it's much easier to adapt to the adult norm...and you don't have the bar owners who are reliant on the need to sell to college students."

Because of its location, Harvard students have more weekend options than their rural counterparts.

"Typically, rural schools have higher-risk drinking than urban schools," Perkins says. "There's a broader diversity of things to do, a bigger diversity of age ranges in urban areas."

Less than 20 percent of Harvard students say they drink because there is nothing better to do, leaving a large majority who feel that the University and the surrounding region offer a range of pastimes more enjoyable than getting drunk.

Only 47 percent of Harvard students say they drink with the explicit goal of getting drunk, while 54 percent of college students nationwide do.

Citing alcohol's negative effect on health as the top reason to limit drinking, Harvard students seem particularly concerned with maintaining their own well-being.

"I think that alcohol is fundamentally a poison," A. Nathaniel Chakeres '02 says. " I just don't see why you would want to put a poison in your body."

Fear of losing control was the second most popular reason not to drink given by Harvard undergraduates.

"A lot of people here," Morgan says, "like to be in control."

--Staff Writer Dan Rosenheck can be reached at rosenhec@fas.harvard.edu.