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<p>Too broad a brush. There’s pretty wide variety <em>within</em> most dorms. Also, of course, there’s the FSILGs, and it does indeed suck that frosh can’t live in them, and I think that blight on the housing system should be repealed, but you still get three years of living in your FSILG, and FSILGs are part of the housing system that you are maligning.</p>
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<p>Of course! But there is a difference between having some friends in your living group, and being part of a tight-knit community in which you are emotionally vested. You’re in a sorority, right? You said that in another thread? Do you not get this kind of experience, this sort of anchoring, emotional security, belonging, from your sorority? I mean, at many schools that have randomized housing or something similar, going Greek <em>is</em> the way, the <em>only</em> way, to get that sort of experience in the place where you live - that’s one of the big draws of the Greek system at many schools.</p>
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<p>If I had been thrown into Next House or Baker, I sure as heck would not have ended up living the same lifestyle as I did as an undergrad, and probably not the same lifestyle that I’m living as an alum (if I had ended up in Random or Senior Haus, it would be quite a bit closer).</p>
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<p>Despite being a first-semester frosh, eisensteinprime is wise. 
I couldn’t have put it better myself. I will just add the point that it’s not a one-way process - you’re contributing to the gestalt of your living group, culture- and personality-wise, as well as taking from it.</p>