<p>Artsy Smithie makes an excellent point that the personality of houses can change radically over a very short period of time. I recall a house that suffered a great excess of drama one year and two years later it had completely changed. Thus, relying on even one-year-old stories to form an opinion about a house is shaky. </p>
<p>Some first-year classes for a given house "gel" and others do not. It's all a matter of chemistry and I don't think you can predict it.
Nor can you predict things like friction between house presidents and an RA.</p>
<p>It's an adventure with a lot of uncertainty...embrace it. :)</p>