Daughter struggling at uni. What to do?

I can't edit, but wanted to add DD joined a couple of sports at university too. She also doesn't work. We wanted her not to have that added pressure.

OP never said anything about not letting her fly the nest.

Shes only 17. My dd is living at home, but has made friends with people in halls. She don’t want to leave home. I wanted her to.

HRTFT but DD sounds very similar to my own. She is fairly academic, currently in her first year of an integrated Masters
DD doesn't drink and I'd say introverted, but not completely antisocial. She had a small close friendship group at home (who are now all at different universities).
I encouraged DD to join lots of societies and not to turn down social invites when she first arrived (remembering how quickly friendship bonds formed), even if she was tired. She has CHD.
DD joined the obvious groups for maths and sciences, but also debate (hoping to improve confidence), some obscure Korean artists. Taylor Swift was another one and a baking group, which cooks each week and a coffee society. She hates coffee. They visit small independent coffee shops and eat cake, this one has been brilliant.
DD soon worked out what she liked.Starting wide gave her a lot to work with. Could your DD join a lot more societies? She also soon worked out which flatmates in her halls were her type of people.
What has surprised me most is DD has tickets to balls and formals. She refused to attend her school prom and all sixth form formals.
Academics are of course important but first year marks don't count towards degree classifications. I believe it's much more important to settle in and learn to enjoy your surroundings in the early days.
I think your DD might be too close to home (as long as she can cope living independently). It's allowed her to cop out of anything slightly outside of her comfort zone. Also, whilst some students might know each other, this cannot be possibly true of all of them. It's a numbers thing until you meet your tribe. If this was my DD I'd rather she had a reset next year at another University if she can't improve on her current situation.

I went to a relatively local uni and didn’t find my tribe. I remember expecting to meet people on my course and in my halls and on nights out etc in my first year, but it didn’t happen.

I came to terms with it at some point and just cracked on. Looking back now it would have been great to have had a social life and a solid friendship group but it didn’t work out.

I think there’s an element of FOMO in your first year and pressure to be present for any sliding doors moments. By the second year I imagine she’ll be more settled, even if she doesn’t form any friendships.

Has she had weekend holiday jobs @LifeChoicesAreTough

She hasn't left home.

She was probably hoping to meet people etc and a whole new world. But her fellow students are likely not all living at home. So she is not included in their world.
Your poor daughter. I feel sorry for her. Yes, she is regretting her choice of university. Clear as day.
You have to let her fly the nest.

Would it improve if she moved back home? If not, how about taking a year out then trying again next year.
I know a kid who hated his first year but thrived once he switched to a course in his home town and he could move back home. We don't need to push them out so young.

I think most people would benefit from a few years out before going to uni. She is too young to be there, and not ready to engage with the social side of things. Having the option to come home also is not helping her - as long as she can escape she wont stick it out and find a way through.

That being said though, its too early for her to be there I think.

Can she move back home with you? She has the rest of her life to move out and it might help a lot being in familiar surroundings. The three or four years of uni will fly by.

Sorry it’s not going well. She’s probably really stressed over it. But making a false start isn’t the end of the world. If she withdraws now she’ll get 2/3 of the fees back I think. My daughter had to intermit at Christmas last year (withdraw and resit the year) and 2/3 was taken off this years fees. She also had two friends drop out of their courses in the first year because they chose the wrong course and just didn’t enjoy it. Both are very happy now. She can work/volunteer/travel for the rest of this year and think about what she really wants to do.

We kept our struggling nd dd in uni with a huge amount of effort on our parts. It took an extra year and the result didn't reflect her ability. In hindsight I'm not sure pushing her to stay was the right thing to do.

My DD is as struggling at uni socially. She really wanted to come home every weekend but we encouraged her to stay and put effort into meeting up with people. I found it so hard as I was so worried about her but she started to gain ground socially. She also joined a local church which has been wonderful - they have a student minister who was great at looking out for strugglers and introducing them to others. They have regular social get togethers and are all very supportive.

Yes or derails time for her to do Uni work. All I know is my DD worked 12hrs a day, 6 days a week at Uni work to succeed.

Might be worth asking if it causes her to self-select out of social things "I better not/better go as I have to be up in the morning"

I agree with the job. If she doesn't NEED to work and can get by then she shouldn't be working. It is full time education for a reason. It's hard work. It's full time.

I often ask my students who works or which of them have EVER had a job and it is very very few. I offer support for those who do because they are often from our widening participation groups and essentially find it much much harder.

have her apply for DSA now she has the diagnosis

She does have a part time job
She needs to quit it. My DD could not succeed at academics with a job. Being dyslexic means she needed far more time to get the required amount of research read, digested and papers written. Your DD will struggle if she is overloaded and limited on time.

this was my son last year, he hated the uni he was at. Dropped out at Christmas and went elsewhere this year and fingers crossed it’s going better.