Blog, I hope your daughter feels better soon. Part of the problem is the newness of it all, without the familiarity of, say, old friends.
Is there also an issue with time management? DD's course is the opposite with 30 hours of contact time. They seem to do a lot of testing perhaps to train kids to keep on top of the material and to learn as they go. Attendance to lectures etc is compulsory. The course failure rate is extremely low, so they will all get through, but some (including grad students) appear to be struggling initially with the change of pace. DS had similar with his first year maths courses and in his second term his tutor kindly took him out for a coffee and suggested different study techniques.
One seminar a day sounds like a big change from school, and a lot of time in which assignments might loom. Is breaking the time up, by scheduling in some non academic things, a possibility. DD has always used sport this way. So after a full day she often has training, so has to fit study in somehow, either before or after. She did this at school so has mastered the art of doing things quickly to a good, but not perfect, standard. For her sport is downtime, and a shortcut to finding a friendship group.
I would add here that it seems to have taken longer to make friends in her University accommodation, or from her course, but this has now started to happen. It appears there are quite a few quieter ones who were pretty shell-shocked during freshers week and the aftermath, who have started to emerge and find each other.
I would really recommend she tries to find a group activity like sport (there are usually lots of not-so-serious teams) or a choir or something that means regular contact with a like-minded group. Plus her giving thought to managing her days so that she gets better use of her time, perhaps by quizzing one or two of her course mates about how they cope/organise. If she can pick up effective time management skills now, the next three years will be a lot more fun.
Sorry about that essay. It has been a huge transition. DD now seems to have a routine, has a sense of achievement from sorting out things like the DSA, and has started picking up some good friends. It helps that her course, with all the testing etc, seem to keeping a close watch on them so she knows she is doing OK, plus her sports team are doing well. She may also, finally, be getting over her freshers flu. I think it will be next term before she feels fully settled, but she is already confident she is in the right place and on the right course.
She has decided to switch allegiance from the big name team everyone supported at Primary school, to support the football team her dad follows, so will join us at an away match near her University at the end of the month. I am told to buy her a replica shirt, but the team will probably lose so she could well swap allegiance back!