How do you decide if your sim lives in a house, dorm or Greek house at uni?

I don't really have to choose that. I mostly play my game basing my decisions on the sims' wants, so if a sim desires to join a Greek House I will do so. The dorm is usually the most common choice for my sims because it is cheap.
I usually envision living in a private house for richer sims who are accostumed to luxury and do not appreciate the company of less-wealthy students around. Otherwise, I also like the idea of Knowledge sims living alone or groups of friends. However I prefer dorms because to me they feel like a mix of a residential and community lot, since there are dormies around to interact with.

I have 5 greek houses in Sim State that I use, and all have different expectations for members, for example Alpha Nu Chi fraternity expects a GPA of 4.0.

Most Greek houses can comfortably accommodate 8 live-in members, with the exception of Delta Psi Gamma house that accepts just 4.

With a larger number of young adult Sims, some Sims have started to live in groups of 1-3 living in private accommodation. I choose roommates at random. I don't like private housing as much though because it's harder for all Sims to have all the needed skill equipment available. Also I don't like playing smaller households in uni, my uni hood already takes up a lot of my time so I want to get through my uni rotation ASAP.

There are currently no Sims living in dorms. For the same reason as why I don't like private housing. Just it happens there were already small premade houses in SSU close to the Greek houses (because I was worried I'd forget to play them if they were further away). I am building major-specific dorms though, which accommodate 8 Sims each and have all the skilling equipment needed. At the moment all I have is the Beaker Science dorms completed, but I don't yet have enough students (and haven't finished the other dorms) to start using them. Before I made the "student welcome centre" (A dorm lot with just minimal to make over Sims, sort them into houses etc) I use to use the Beaker Science dorms.

There was some discussion of this in a recent thread, but basically, I rarely choose private housing. I'm too lazy to renovate them and I've already renovated most Maxis dorms to have better quality furniture and a decent variety of fun & skilling items. I also try to avoid households with only one sim in Uni as much as possible, since they can get to be as boring as all get out. So in my game it's usually dorm vs Greek house.

I usually let whomever wants to join a Greek house join one, but sims who are richer/higher status/upper class join, too. In my game, I'm working on establishing an Old Sim's Network, so that joining a Greek House has certain perks and benefits--they get to use career rewards, for example, and can also use hacks to find a job. Eventually I want Greek Houses to have their own scholarships and influence admissions. Someone in the other thread I linked to above mentioned having their Greek Houses compete for members. I like that idea, so I think my fraternities and sororities might become more choosy in the future. But anyway, for now the sims I want to have those perks will join.

I play with the Uni in the base hood back, so I do things a bit differently.

All first-year students start in dorms. These have very few skilling objects (to force students to go to community lots). After that, 1 student takes the job as RA. (They teleport in new students and clean the dorms.)

After their first year, anyone who isn't the RA has to leave. If the student pledged a Greek House during their freshman year, they get to move in. Otherwise, they have to rent a place.

Because I use the gold record, there's no discount on housing like there is in a Uni hood. However, if I place the gold record in a common area, I can use an apartment. That being said, most students who choose to rent a place actually rent a room in a house. (I take a Maxis house and swap the doors for apartment doors.) It's probably the cheapest option.

The dorms and the Greek house cost 500 simoleans each semester. The RA gets to stay for free. The apartment costs its rent price every 7 days plus whatever the student pays in food. (If you use a communal kitchen in an apartment, the game charges you per meal eaten.)

It's been a while since I've played a Uni subhood as most of my college students now go to class in the main hood. When I did, however, most of my playable students stayed in dorms. I did that so they could meet and mingle with dormies, with whom they could make friends and find potential spouses. Very occasionally I had a student rent a house but I found it kind of boring if they were the only one there. I almost never played Greek houses, as I don't care for the whole set-up. I didn't like becoming responsible for sims I wasn't prepared to take on (in pre-made ones) and I didn't really find any advantage to playing one.

With my main hood students, they have the choice of renting an apartment (I have several cheap options available), going to a dorm, or staying at home. It really depends on the sim and their family/money situation. Before the dorms were built, some students chose to rent an apartment because it gave them their first taste of adult freedom, or because it made room at home for younger siblings. Those who either couldn't afford an apartment or didn't have the pressure of an over-full household stayed at home with their parents. The dorms came in to provide more space (mostly for the Ottomas kids) without a student having to pay as much rent as they would for an apartment. Dorm students do have to pay a dorm fee of $200 every semester, which all students can afford even with the lowest grant possible (the exception being those who get put on academic probation). The money is used to cover normal bills, plus any extras or improvements that might be made. There are no Greek houses, as I'm not going to deal with the hassle of maintaining one just for the odd student who might be interested in pledging. It's the one want that goes unfulfilled if it shows up.

I always pick a house. Dorms are too small and I got tired of the Greek house stuff quickly.

I play British Style. In their first 'year', they stay in apartment-style dorms. Then, they have the chance to live in private accommodation later on. Greek Houses aren't really a thing here (I think? I'm not in university yet.)

I play by wants. What is an RA?

Resident Advisor. It's usually an upper classman who lives in the dorm and advises the first year students on managing dorm and college life. They can help mediate roommate disputes (or escalate as needed), and they hold occasional meetings to go over issues or news.

I stick with dorms. They have all the skilling objects, more fun stuff like games or pool tables, and more sims to socialize with. My sims only move to a house if they want to live with a boyfriend or girlfriend. I don't use the Greek houses in my current hood's uni, but I have in the past. It depended on whether their friends were already in the Greek house, or expressed a want for it.

Yeah, RA is Resident Adviser or Assistant, and is basically like a sort of supervisor for a dorm, I guess. In addition to the duties inspiredzone mentioned, they can be responsible for increasing social activities, like hosting gatherings/events to help everyone in the dorm get to know each other and do something/go somewhere. An RA might host a movie night or a game night for example. They also help make sure students in the dorm comply with dorm rules. They're supposed to enforce/report underage drinking, people breaking curfews (if the campus is strict enough to have one of those), or people having banned materials in the dorm, etc. (Especially here in the US, dorms can be very strict about fire codes so in addition to all the illegal things students aren't supposed to have in their dorms, they'd report appliances and potential fire hazards that you weren't supposed to bring--from things like candles to small appliances like hot plates, coffee makers, and sometimes irons. Things which have a tendency to be left on and start fires.) I think my RAs also used to assist with fire drills, recording time and making sure everyone actually left the building.

So, kinda like a live in hall monitor. Or maybe chaperone is a better term. But the key is that they're a peer to the residents of the dorm, or close to it. RAs are usually either upperclassmen or grad students, as opposed to having a professor be chaperone, which I guess musta been a thing way back in the day.

All first year students stay in a dorm. Popularity sims head to either the fraternity or sorority in their second year. The rest of the aspirations just stay at the dorms. I don't like having the sims in their own place so that's why they stay at the dorms. In my normal hood, there's usually a lot of sims heading to uni at any given time so I like to just fit as many as I can into a single household, which for me is easiest with the dorms. I do have any knowledge sims try and work their way into the secret society.

I usually just stuff everyone into a giant house and make it a Greek House, which I like because it means all the sims pool their money so in theory the poorer sims can get a bit of a better start by going to college with their friends, and the house stays continually occupied with students arriving and leaving every year. It also means that I only have to play one uni lot per cycle. However, now I'm starting to get to the point where there are 9-11 YAs at all times on this lot, some of them with pets and babies, and it's getting more difficult to play. Not sure how I'll handle it in the future.

Hey, @kestrellyn (I was just thinking earlier this week that I hadn't seen you post in a while)! Anyway, at that point I would break up uni households into two. That's the exact reason why for uni I have a 5-6 sim per household limit. Things just get too hectic to play. It's certainly doable I guess, but I know I don't have time to give each sim the minimum amount of attention they need/I like. I find things become more about making sure everyone's needs and class requirements are met, and I spend less time focusing on non academic college life and sims' personal stories. They need time for romance drama, spouse hunting, parties, making friends & going out on the town. College is often a time I use to figure out who my sims are or advance long story plots, so I like being able to focus a bit on each sim and fulfilling their aspirations. While sometimes a couple of sims are directionless in uni, most have complicated things going on.

The last time I was in uni, I was in my mega Pleasantview and I was finishing up the premade teens' uni years and it was... involved. Sims were making up and breaking up; stealing boyfriends and fiances; dropping out of school then deciding to go back to school; pledging or founding Greek Houses, throwing parties; dating half, if not all of another Greek House; getting into the secret society, making secret deals with witches for access to aspiration rewards; using magic to brainwash and seduce sims; skilling; maintaining straight As; and raising money to pay back student loans. No way I coulda done that with 10 sims on one lot. I can't imagine having 9-11 YAs plus pets and babies. I would have to keep families separate just for my sanity.

I'm also a little surprised at how popular private housing is though. Like I said before, that's my least favorite option. I wonder if everyone uses the pre-built houses or makes their own private residences?

I've never had a defined system, but I suppose I should probably come up with one. For a while I refused to use dorms at all because I didn't want to deal with dormies. I've always put existing couples (those who were going steady as teens) together in private housing so they can share a bedroom but that probably wouldn't make much sense in most medieval type hoods were I ever to get around to playing one of those. I've played with dorms more lately and learned not to hate them.

As far as Greek Houses go, I can't just choose to put a sim into one of those from the start, but the only time I'd move a sim into one was if either a member of the Greek House or the other playable YA had an associated want. I suppose I'd have to move someone in if a Greek House was about to fall out of existence due to every single member graduating but typically my sims don't get things unless they either need or want them.

Only dorms.
I like filling up my dorms with playables, so I have 6 6-room dorms. No dormies to deal with on a regular basis at all (although there are two who insist on moving in every time one of my sims graduates - but most of the time, they move out again when my new playables move in).Since my hood is big, I don't have a problem sending six teens to uni at a time - but I do haveone 2-, one 3- and one 4-bedroom dorm for if it should happen.
They will be in a dormie group for the rest of their lives, going on outings and having parties together (kind of reunions) - so it works for me.
I find private housing a bit boring and could never really get into playing Greek houses (besides the pizza, it is not a thing in my country).

We never had Greek Houses at my university (I'm sure they must exist somewhere in my country but were never in my area), but I've watched enough TV from the US to get the general idea. TBH I find Greek Houses in TS2 to be a lot of fun, but I haven't really played with them extensively.

They're not, I was really disappointed
Not that it mattered, I lived in private accommodation all 3 years of my bachelor's because I don't like strangers. Probably not Greek house material

Yeah, I wound up getting involved in making a mod for Crusader Kings II and didn't sim for a long time. I'm phasing back doing both now, I probably just won't have time for modding TS2 right now.

I feel like I still get to know my sims and map out their personalities even when they live in huge houses full of other sims, but I think I might reach my limit in a couple more rotations when more teens go to college. I mostly really don't want to break up the house because I like the effect the pooled money has on new graduates, but maybe something can be done about that.

As someone who plays CK2, I'd love to know which mod you were making.

This one: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru.../#post-25638611

I don't like playing Greek houses, so that part of the decision is simple. Otherwise, most students spend most of their time in dorms, with strict rules about when they can move to private accommodation.

In a large hood where college is free, pretty much everyone lives in dorms so I can get through the rotation in a reasonable length of time. It also gives my Sims plenty of opportunity to choose their future spouse. Sims only move to private accommodation if they've paired off and have the funds; usually it's not until their third or even fourth year that they qualify, but a lot drop out before they get that far anyway.

My current hood is still small and college is expensive, so Sims are placed in dorms according to whether they've paid just for the current semester (Semester Dorm), for the first two years (Diploma Dorm), or for the full degree (Degree Dorm). Only Sims whose tuition is fully paid up for the entire four years are allowed to move to private accommodation after their first semester - even members of the royal family spend their first semester in a dorm, although the Royal Dorm is rather more nicely decorated and furnished than regular dorms (still has the same lousy food, though!).

What, the royals don't get a butler or some other live in servant to make their meals?

...That's actually a great idea. I'm totally going to that in the Academie with sims like Alexander Goth. My Academie Le Tour has super tough standards now--it's like a mini challenge. Sims going there have to max 3 skills, I think, get 2 gold badges, learn 2 life skills, and they have a grade requirement. I think it's 3.5 they need to graduate from there, otherwise the get booted to Sim State or La Fiesta. So yeah, they could use the help. Hmm, maybe I'll make that Alexander's contribution to the Greek House.

My new hood is really young so I only have a handful of students. I don't care for dorms and only use them for Freshman, when you hit Sophmore year they have to move out. Depending on the student that may to a shared house, single house or to a Greek House. Right now I only have one Greek house on campus as I'm still filling out my hood so it's possible some students may move out and then later form a new Greek house.
The only really hard rule I have is to separate by attraction. So much of my Uni play is about dating and parties that it is just too easy if I have couples living together. It also differentiates my playing style from when they move back to the hood and do move in together or get married.
I'm not sure why people don't like Greek houses but then my game is heavily modified and I only came back to playing after about a 7-year break and I don't always remember what behavior I've modified out.

I dislike having too many houses in university to play, and feel that a big part of university play is getting to know other sims. So I'm going to talk about my age-modded-uberhood.

At ALT, there's a dorm, with the motto "It's not what you know, it's who you know." Because as far as I can tell, that's what really wealthy Americans rely on too: knowing each other. ALT sims who don't already arrive at campus knowing who they're going to marry will figure it out within those four years, and it may just be about combining resources and maintaining family fortunes, because it's always far more interesting for me to have some couples who are together because they are supposed to be and really would rather be with others, and have that problem in life to solve.

At the other universities, there are dorms and greeks, and the greeks function more or less as the ALT dorm does, to make sure sims meet the 'right' sims. Sometimes there are college aged families, living in 'off campus' housing. Sims without children stay in the dorms or greeks, just for my sanity. Everyone has to live in the dorms freshman year, and anyone who rolls the want to move to the greeks can pledge. The greeks also roll wants for pledges, and anyone they want to ask can pledge and move in, even if that sim doesn't care. Greek houses are more likely to get career rewards gifted by adult members, so they can skill up easier, and of course the ALT dorm has all the luxuries. (If, say, a family has two of the same career reward, the extra needs to go somewhere.)

I do have an unlimited sims mod, so my greeks and dorms can go over eight, and so I usually play really big dorms, so I don't get stuck with too many sims for available rooms.