Think advice about milestones is such a good idea.
mrshodgilbert, my dd has felt some of the things your dd was talking about. I told her about this thread and she found it comforting that other students were going through the same thing. Think it really is one step forward and two back, plus these up and down emotions unless they have been lucky enough to meet good friends straight away.
When you are lonely and vulnerable you fear rejection. Something that helped me when I did CBT .... If someone asked you if you wanted to go for a coffee, meet-up etc and you were doing something else, you would probably be very glad you had been asked. You would just arrange another time. You wouldn't think the person who asked was stupid. Nine times out of ten this is true. It's just having the courage to ask.
Also, if the dcs defer or go somewhere else, what is to say they won't have to go through some of the same things again? Unfortunately you can't plan or control who you are going to meet and what they are going to be like. So unless you really hate the course or are too ill to cope, it is worth sticking it out if you possibly can.
strict - it must be tough if they are fine and don't miss you. I suspect I might feel worse when she doesn't need me as much. It already feels strange that she isn't back - two weeks is the longest she has ever been away!
Don't you think the toughest thing about being a parent is setting your own feelings aside so you can support them? And it's so tiring and hard to see them feeling bad. Thanks for all support on here. Hope things are going better for the dcs this week.