Well unfortunately the housing situation is a lot different at major college towns. There really aren't big apartment complexes filled with students, so yes, I am living in a family neighborhood. My apt is a house converted into 4 different apartments. I prefer the quiet and don't need to be constantly entertained.
As for the grading curve, its available on the website, but its basically between a 3.0 and 3.2. So you have to do a little better than average. If you slack off and don't take school seriously, like a friend I know, you could easily lose your scholarship. However, I think it is definitely manageable, and the gpa is based on year, not semesterly if that helps.