I lived in the dorms all four years. My small college was probably 90% dorm residents, so we had a blast. I loved it. The friends I made in the dorms are still my friends today. Our school had about 1200 full-time resident students, so after the first year or so, most people ended up in dorms surrounded by friends in their areas of study. We all roomed with friends. If someone wasn't getting along with their roommate, it was usually a simple feat to find someone to swap rooms with.

Pick a dorm that has 'quiet hours.' Unless you want your neighbors, roommates, upstairs people partying all night when you're trying to study for a major exam, just do it. All dorms at our campus were 'quiet hours' from 10 PM to 10 AM on weekdays, 2 AM - 10 AM on weekends. It was so nice to have evenings quiet to study or sleep.

Set boundaries with your roommate. If you're respectful of each others' wishes, things go much easier. For instance, your roommate may think you have no problem if her boyfriend spends the night on the weekends. If that bothers you, let her know ahead of time. She'll probably make other arrangements, or you can compromise and work something out. Don't bitch about it if you didn't make your feelings known.

Get involved in something! I don't care what, just do it. Go to hall activities. Join an intermural squad. Audition for the choirs and theater productions. The point is to get involved and find a group of people with similar interests to start making friends. Believe me, the first year of school for me was made MUCH easier by the fact that my roommate and I were not friends. We never had class together, we rarely saw each other. We'd go eat together sometimes, or go shopping, but that's about it.

If you are attending the same school as a high-school friend, it's OK to get into the same dorm, but DON'T ROOM TOGETHER. Trust me on this one. I have NEVER seen this work. As scary as it seems, you will be happier rooming with a stranger. If you have a friend the first few days, you miss out on making new friends. As someone above said, the 'social window' closes after the first week or two. You MUST make connections to other people in your dorm or you will really struggle. You'll make friends through classes (particularly at a small school where you have the same people in the same classes for four years) but at a larger school with 500 kids in your lecture class, you may struggle a bit.

Don't go home until Thanksgiving. The kids that went home every weekend were the ones that didn't force themselves to make friends with others on campus and had few friends their entire college careers. Weekends are prime social time. If you miss the weekends, you miss a lot of fun and a lot of socializing. Go to parties even if you don't drink. Get together with floor-mates and go skating, mini-golfing, or to a movie. Go shopping with your RA. Just do something. Don't go home, and don't sit in your room with the door closed.

"Gypsy gold does not chink and glitter, it gleams in the sunshine and neighs in the dark."