[jiggy2011]

Going directly into second year is probably a bad idea from a socialisation point of view. When you turn up in college in year one, nobody knows anybody so people have to form peer groups from scratch, thus it's easy to make new friends.

If you go into second year these peer groups are already established and it becomes harder to slot yourself in.

[geedy]

Definitely true to a certain degree. But I also think that having the experience of being forced into new friendships in first year gives people more confidence to meet people later. Its a snowball effect of sorts.