<p>I have friends at both Nova and Penn. The Nova-ites report that there is an active social life which is easily pursued. The dorm floors are single-sex, but generally seem to breed close friendships; the overall dorms are coed by floor, and everyone mingles in the lounges and common areas together.</p>
<p>Villanova is a Catholic institution. There are fines for being in possession of condoms, and you’d likely find some pious church-going students, but the frats are about a twenty minute walk from campus and offer a very vibrant drinking/dancing scene. “Thirsty Thursdays” are quite popular with the Villanova undergraduate body. Penn is also about 20 minutes by car if you can hitch a ride with an upper classmen; I think it takes about 45 minutes to get to Philly via public transportation. Those who have been to Penn parties usually rave about them (no pun intended lol); Penn has a much more lax alcohol policy and will even allow anonymous medical assistance to over-intoxcated students. (Nova is not as generous; verbal warnings lead to meetings with the dean, and two ambulance transports in any given academic year lead to immediate expulsion. Also, an underage drinking citation pretty much equals several weekends’ worth of community service.)</p>
<p>Thus, both residential life and the party scene at Nova have garnered mostly favorable reviews. Everyone at Nova is extremely personable, and I think that a student who is committed to having a good social life will his goal easy to achieve.</p>