PROVO -- Is anybody really surprised that Brigham Young University students are sober? Heck, Adam could have prophesied this one 6,000 years ago.

The Princeton Review, which every year surveys thousands of students about their collegiate experiences and ranks colleges according to academics, social life, food, campus, extracurricular activities and more, ranked BYU as the No. 1 "stone-cold sober" college campus in the nation, along with most socially conservative, for the 12th year in a row.

Uh-huh. And what's new?

"It's definitely stone-cold sober," said Will Anderton, a mechanical engineering student from Austin, Texas, home to the University of Texas, which is decidedly not sober.

He's a big fan of the lack of an alcohol-fueled party scene on campus, a factor that drew him to BYU, while other friends, including LDS friends, opted for other colleges.

In any other city, the closest grocery store to any other campus would have a well-lit beer aisle and lots of liquor sales. In Provo, the Creamery on Ninth has a hopping cafe and offers apple beer, Jones sodas and the Brazilian soda guarana for those looking for a little kick.

Michael Smart, a spokesman for the university, said it was worth raising a glass of milk for, but not something the university takes seriously each year.

"We're happy but not satisfied," he said. "We're gonna take it one day at a time, and not rest on our laurels, and hopefully this time next year we'll be talking about No. 13."

More seriously, administrators do realize the stone-cold educational atmosphere isn't popular everywhere, and Smart credited students for making the choice before they came to school to live by those standards. As far as he knows, it's not a turnoff for the students who are serious about getting their education there.

"BYU is very clear about what the university stands for," he said. "We know it's definitely not for everyone."

Like most of Sean Holder's law school classmates. Holder, who is from Atlanta, spent his freshman year at Georgia Tech, received his undergraduate degree at BYU, started law school at Emory University in Atlanta and is concurrently working on another bachelor's degree, this one in physics, at BYU.

"We have a keg in the courtyard of the law school every week," he said of the Atlanta school.

They also have "bar reviews" -- pun intended -- and pre-game parties to help students save money by getting drunk before they get to the bar. His weekends in Provo are spent playing capture the flag, going on dates and hiking, while his weekends in Atlanta include running into his law school friends nursing hangovers.

"I would be on my way out to church on Sunday, and they would be on their way back from partying," he said.

Holder likes the straight-laced environment. He said people have to be more creative without alcohol, such as when he and his friends tied an inner tube to a couch and sledded down Rock Canyon Park -- really, who needs alcohol when you do stuff like that sober? -- and requires real courage instead of liquid courage while out in the social scene meeting people.

Nephi Henry, a 2007 BYU graduate who works at the Kennedy Center, does get his favorite beverage from a tap. That's tap water, mind you, but a popular choice nonetheless. He splurges on Guarana occasionally, and soda for planned festivities, but for the most part, he gets his beverages and his fun somewhere outside the bar.

"I've been around people who, like, center their lives around alcohol and around partying, it seems," he said, adding he's been in the Utah Valley bubble for a while, but he still appreciates the perspective. "You're trying to find a good time, and everything's centered around finding a good time. What's the point of that?"

And it's not like they don't have alternatives. Spark Restaurant and Lounge in downtown Provo offers alcohol-free mixed drinks, family home evening groups serve virgin Jell-O shots, people have Thirsty Thursday root beer float parties and BYOM -- bring your own mug -- hot chocolate parties in the winter.

"Everybody gets together and just like hangs out and drinks hot chocolate," said Emily Bitton of Naperville, Ill.

Bottoms up!

• Heidi Toth can be reached at (801) 344-2556 or htoth@heraldextra.com.

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