[D to the iddy]

Agreed on living on the Westside. There's usually tons of places for University students that are close to school so you can walk (although the wind can make walking suck in the winters). With that, after a couple weeks of classes you should be able to make friends who live in your direction that you can bum a ride off going home (into the wind)

As Flames85 said, it usually depends on the night for partying. All his assessments of the clubs are pretty bang on. I've lived here for about 5 years and it seems like clubs go through about a three year life cycle of being popular so it wouldn't shock me if another club starts making some waves next year.

Three pubs to watch games on the Westside would be The Duke (soon to be Pop's Pub West), Backstreet or Mojo's. I like Mojo's personally but to each their own.

Enjoy the Canadian Windy City!