Anyone with experience of son or daughter changing university?

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My DD is in her first year at university. She keeps saying it is not how she imagined it would be and although she has made friends is struggling to find people she really clicks with. She seems to have ended up somewhere she feels is very sporty and money/brand conscious - which is just not her. I keep telling her that out of all the thousands of people there there will be some like minds and she just has to look for the right societies etc, but it doesn't seem to have happened yet. She is not feeling passionate about her couse and Now she is already feeling under pressure to choose her housemates for next year and this is making her feel stressed as she does not want to turn people down but does not feel she has really found her feet socially yet. Things are made more difficult by the fact that she has had to come home die to v bad 'freshers flu' and is now saying she doesn't want to go back. I am encouraging her to go back and give it a really good 'go' until Christmas at least, but also do not want her to spend three years somewhere she is not keen on doing a degree she is not passionate about. If the worst comes to the worst I am wondering whether she should think about starting all over again next year. How do you go about assessing the atmosphere of a university before you apply? Any tips? Does anyone have any personal experience of universities that have a creative feel? Sorry for long rambling post - just feeling a bit unsure for best way forward.

scatterthenuns, I don't want to risk outing my dd so don't think I'd better reveal the uni! she has gone back today so fingers crossed she will settle into it and find her feet. Thanks to everyone for your support and wise words.

It is sometimes possible to transfer into the second year at another university but only in the same degree course, and universities can be very reluctant.

But it doesn't sound as though she's given it a really good go - I really can't believe that any university is only "sporty" and public school-ish ... oh, unless it's Loughborough which is the former but not the latter.

But she needs to search out opportunities - that's the thing about university: you need to be very active and seek out what you're interested in.

I wasn't very clear - What I meant in my 1st sentence is that if she thinks she's chosen the wrong course, then she'll need to restart first year. Unless she's at somewhere like Lancaster, or in Scotland, where changes of degree course happen between Part 1 and Part 2.