<p>A lot depends on the school. Some schools have a large population of international students and are used to dealing with the acclimatisation issues, others do not. Location matters a lot too. Some states have very restrictive laws on guns, others quite permissive. Some states have very restrictive laws on homosexuality, others quite permissive. It is very hard to find generalities that apply in a specific case.</p>
<p>A lot also depends on the student body. Are you applying to to a large state university with 10000 students in any given year or a small liberal arts college with 150? All of these affect how easily you learn to fit in, and how comfortable you are there.</p>