One daughter went to school 2000 miles from her high school but did know 2 other students. It was nice to see a familiar face during those first few days, and the girl and my daughter were in the same sorority; my daughter talked her into going through rush but then they sort of went their own ways. My daughter is very outgoing but the other girl very reserved. She flourished in the sorority.
Other daughter went to school much closer (2.5 hours away) with a frienimy from the rival high school but a teammate on the club team. Also, they were 2 of 9 freshmen on the same team or forced togetherness. Daughter really worried about it but it turned out fine. They were friendly, weren’t roommates, weren’t in the same major and didn’t really have the same interests so contact was limited to team things. Again, not a bad thing to see a familiar face. A guy from her hs also went to this school (and daughter had had a big crush on him) but in the first few days she went to visit him in his dorm, he was smoking pot, and she immediately left because she was an athlete and couldn’t risk being suspended. He left school about a month later.
So many things can change senior year, the summer after graduation, and then the first few weeks of school. Also lots of talk about going to Top50 schools, going to LACs, going to this school or that, but a whole bunch of kids end up at their state schools because of money.