When I went to college, I ended up at a university that allowed illegal (pre 21) alcohol drinking. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — a few hours south of Chicago. I wasn’t a partier in high school, but that changed once I made it to college.
Illegal Drinking
The university was between two adjacent cities. In one city, they would allow people to enter bars if they were 19. And the other city, they would allow people to enter bars if they were 18. Once you were in a bar, they would not check your ID to serve your alcohol. So essentially, the drinking age was 18. There were maybe half a dozen bars in these cities on the edge of campus.
Another characteristic was that my university had the biggest Greek system in the country — the most fraternities and sororities. We knew people in those fraternities and sororities, so we were often invited to parties at these places.
So essentially, it was easy to party and drink alcohol.
Quart per Quarter
One of the bars had an event that they called Quart per Quarter. This meant that if you drink a quart of beer each quarter of a football game, then you would get a prize at the end (a T-shirt?) This is a lot of beer to drink during a three hour period of time. I did this once, but I threw up in the bathroom midway through the football game.
21
The other overlay is that I was the oldest of my roommates. So when I turned 21, I was the one who would go to the liquor stores to buy alcohol. I would always buy the cheapest beer.
Once when I was in a bar with friends, I was the only one who was 21. The police came in (possibly because they were trying to undo what the bars were doing) and they checked everyone’s IDs. Since I was the only one in my group who was 21, I got a ticket — because they assumed I had purchased alcohol for my friends.
Summary
It was easy to party at my university. Maybe things have changed, but honestly, I don’t know.