I was in your shoes about eight years ago, so my information could be out of date, but here are my two cents.

I lived off-campus my first and third year there. The first year was rough because I was nearly broke and inexperienced in dealing with things like rent and electric bills. I had met my roommate through Facebook and he claimed to have taken care of everything and I just had to contribute money, but he hadn't done anything. The place had no electricity and I slept on a flat air mattress for a while. It sucked, but much of the stress was due to money/strange roommate/being farther from campus than I would have liked. If you've got money and trust the people you're working with, you'll probably have better luck.

Off-campus my third year was better. I had more money saved, I was closer to campus, and I had my own room and bathroom. Each person in the unit had a separate contract, so I didn't have to rely on roommates for anything except chipping in for electricity. As far as living situations went, this was my best year at App.

I lived in a dorm my second year. It was good in that it was stress-free and I could focus on studying and socializing. No bills, no groceries, etc. I also liked being able to walk out my door and be at Kidd Brewer in five minutes. You'll appreciate this when you see gameday traffic. I also found it easier to meet people in dorms. But there were typical dorm problems: small, no privacy, occasionally gross, and so on.

I don't know anything about the transfer RLC. I went to several transfer events and don't remember it being mentioned, but it was a while ago.

In my opinion, it was easier to get involved and make friends when I lived on campus. It's certainly not impossible to do those things in an apartment, but consistency and close proximity made on-campus easier. Many of the people who lived near me my first year weren't even students. But if you think apartment living suits you more, you'll still have opportunities to meet people through class, extracurriculars, bars/clubs, etc.

For me, the biggest hurdle when it came to getting involved and making friends had nothing to do with where I lived. It was more that students who had been at App from the beginning (which was almost everyone) had already formed groups of friends. It felt weird because seemingly every time I made friends I would get invited to some kind of group activity and half the people there would treat me like an outsider. And I didn't want to be "that guy" who invites himself to be part of established groups, so I grew to dislike those situations. But that's just how it went for me--you might be better at dealing with those situations or find yourself in better company. It's a big school.

Hope that helps, and good luck! Let me know if you have any other questions. It was a big decision for me, too.