I had a great time at College. Lived in a big old house renting a small room and shared the kitchen, livingroom, bathroom and everything else with 8 other people. First day I met one of my roommates he pulled out a garbage bag full of weed. I did well at school despite all the distractions.
My advice to anyone going to school is to act gregarious even if you really aren't, and force yourself to meet anyone you can. Be sure to pick out the quiet ones and let them know you're a nice guy/girl and don't bite (much). The worst they can do is ignore you, and chances are they would've done that anyway. Eventually you'll find a few people who don't threaten to call security and you may become friends.
The weird thing about getting into new social situations is that most people will automatically make the same mistakes they've done in the past - they'll be shy and quiet even though they desperately want to break out of that after being ignored all through highschool for example. You have to be like George (on Seinfeld) and do the opposite of what you'd normally do. 75% of people are waiting for someone else to make the first move, so do something memorable and joke about it later - i.e. "hey, you're that guy who threwup in my shoe!".
After about the first 2 weeks, the dust has settled and it's tougher to meet people. So you have to go for it early or wait until you graduate and enter the workforce to come out of your shell.
Time to live it up is NOW!
