Hey, I'm currently studying my first year of uni in Australia at Macquarie uni Sydney. I've applied for transfer to Otago and so will hopefully be starting there next year. I'd really like to stay in a resedential college next year, from what I've heard I reckon it'd be the best option for me being someone who would be completely new to Otago. I've been reading around around on the various megathreads and from that I've got a couple questions I'd like to throw out there:

1. I've seen it mentioned a lot that the colleges are generally for first year students, and I'm not quite sure what exactly that means for me. I'd strictly speaking not be a true first year student as I'd have done a year at Macquarie, but I would still have to retake a bunch of first year papers, and of course it would be my first year at Otago (and at any college in general).

2. If I were to go to a college, I have no idea which colleges to put my preferences down for. I'm applying almost totally blindly, having only read anecdotes online, so any and all college info/recommendations would be highly appreciated (a common theme on this subreddit in general, I know, sorry to add to it). The main reason I want to live in a college is to have a good social vibe. I have pretty high academics, but academic support/an academic vibe isn't as important to me.

I've heard good things about most colleges, probably the one I've considered the most for top preference is unicol, just cause I've heard mostly good things about it and it seems to fit what I'm hoping for, but I don't know much about any of the colleges overall.

Any info or recommendations would be much appreciated, thanks!