<p>Late to the discussion, but - I bet your daughter will learn a lot from making this decision, whatever she ends up doing. If she tries the apartment and it's a success, great. If she doesn't like the apartment, it will still have been an interesting experience and she'll use it to figure out what she wants to do next, whether that's going to a different dorm or finding a new roommate.</p>
<p>About the music roommate - she might really like having a chance to meet non-scientists. As she gets to her junior and senior years, she'll probably become much closer to the students in her own department. Having a musician roommate will let her meet a different set of people. For a long time, most of my husband's and my adult friends were people we knew from graduate school and work, so basically everyone we hung out with was a computer person. Great people, but I'm grateful for my musician and artist friends who don't talk technology all the time :-).</p>