Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
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Notes -
Dorm living (for students from out-of-town at least) isn't very self-selected, and manages constant, recurring proximity pretty well, for colleges with a high enough percentage of students living on campus. I think my college had around 75% of undergrads living on campus at any one time, nearly 100% living on campus at some point - probably nothing of this applies to "commuter colleges". Most importantly, dorm life forces students into constant, recurring proximity in their free time after class, which makes it a lot easier to turn proximity into friendship than the few minutes of free time in between high school classes or whatever opportunities a teacher provides for kids to socialize in classes.
Thinking back: of my top 11 friends in college, I may only ever have had a class with 2 of them. 7 of them (and IIRC one of those 2, too) were people I met in the dorm. I only actually lived in a dorm for 2 out of 4 years, too, but even during the other years I'd be pulled into proximity with dorm residents whenever I'd visit friends or a girlfriend there.
I think this might be a stronger claim. I made something like half of those friends in my first month at college, when the (non-local, which was most of us) freshmen were all in "must make new friends now" mode while the upperclassmen were in "must be nice to the nervous new freshmen" mode. Miss that window somehow and you'll probably at least need to keep your ear to the ground for opportunities to go to clubs and study groups and public parties and such easy-to-enter quasi-social circles.
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