<p>First off, congratulations!</p>
<p>It depends on the kind of person your son is - I personally would not have enjoyed the first-year dorms. I chose quiet floor (quiet floor and substance free housing are also options you can choose) and I’m very happy with it. I’ve never really been to the first-year dorms, though - most of my friends live elsewhere. You do make instant friends in them, although it’s not at all difficult to meet people if you don’t live there. I’ve found that because I don’t have an instant community in my dorm, I have friends from all over campus, and I have several different groups of people I can hang out with, and I find this refreshing - I’m not stuck with the same group of people all the time.</p>
<p>Most dorms are close to all the important places, Oberlin is a pretty small campus.</p>