<p>Remember that in virtually all schools where there are mixed class dorms, one third or so of students in the dorms will be first years, because of dropouts and study abroads. So there is no reason why mixed dorms have to cut down on class cohesion.</p>
<p>Obviously, one can have a good (or a bad) experience in either situation. But I don’t think they are equally conducive to the educational environment. I DON’T think the bottom line is the student - the schools are the ones who make judgments about the character of their institutions, and what they expect the experience of the student to be.</p>