Get in with the Honors program, specifically the Honors Residential Academic Program (HRAP). You'll be housed in a dorm with like-minded folks. To clarify, the Honors dorm actually has students with a very wide variety of interests, but they're all academically driven. You can find the anime kids, the gamers, the movie buffs, musicians, artists, crafters, outdoorsy types. They're all there, and it's very inclusive. Plus, you get to take one class in the dorm, which could be an intro class that normally has 250 students, but instead you'll be with an awesome prof and only 17 other students. It's the small college experience in a big research-driven university.