Frankly, I think living in a dorm is overrated. You have little or no real privacy, you have to abide by a variety of housing rules that range from the sensible to the ridiculous, and you have to put up with people who can't understand the concepts of shared space and respecting other people (being kept awake until 4am the night before an 8am final exam because the people on your floor are throwing a party and the floor monitor is oblivious is NOT fun). The absolute only benefit I ever got from living on campus was being able to take tutoring jobs at hours I couldn't haven't taken while living at home, because the commute would have had me home far too late to get a good night's rest before classes. You can still be social and have friends and parties and such without living in a dorm.
