<p>calvinator: i would say living on-campus definitely gets you adjusted to college social life, and of course you meet your friends for the next 4 years in your building, and around campus I guess. I can’t imagine living off campus freshman year and still meeting the people I have.
thatbird: i don’t really think it makes a huge difference where you live - wherever you go there will be some noise and some drinking. Maybe you wouldn’t want to go to Porter, which is one of the more rowdy colleges. But besides that they all have a similar amount/attitude towards drinking and partying. There is a fair amount of it here.
I’m living in Cowell, and there’s pretty much people drinking/smoking/partying most nights out of the week, but it’s usually not too disrupting - and the library is always a valuable escape. Overall, the focus isn’t incredibly academic. But you have control over the work you get done, etc.</p>