HSMMaCM I agree. Nice flat now, no problems. Her only regret is that there has not been sufficient time to really make friends with her new flatmates. Bristol is a lovely City, she enjoys her subject and is happy with the course. She still feels she made the right choice, and I think this belief will grow. Plus, as a parent, it is a lovely place to visit.
Her senior resident, with a few years extra wisdom, had been urging her to move for at least a term. So, if she had listened to available advice, she would have been on the right track much earlier.
Except that advice was predicated on an assumption that nothing could/would be done about the anti-social behaviour within the first flat. Because of DD's distress I felt I knew her flatmates. Actually the whole narative sounded like a rough patch in Yr7, same personalities, just different names. To the extent that I would have loved to have phoned one mother and suggest she stopped the cash flow, and was she aware her DC had missed three months teaching or more, and perhaps even probe as to why her DC was losing the plot so badly. And to pick up another, and urge her to resist the unhealthy peer pressure. She had her whole future ahead of her.
And I think the same concerns affect DD and others. It will be awful for those whose friends have died. What could, or should they have done. Ditto with someone on DDs course, who dropped out. The 18 year olds did what they could to help with the transition to University level work, but wanted "grown-ups" to do their bit. (And here Bristol, who give out more contextual offers than perhaps any other University, have a special obligation to support - something the Sutton Trust allude to in a recent report on contextualisation.) I told DD a story about a first-year medic at another University being called to a neighbouring flat where someone had overdosed, and DD confessed she was terrified the same might happen to her.
Really useful first steps would be to bring some order and structure into first year accomodation. Then visible first points of contact for students who might be hurting, or their friends who are worried about them. These people, whether in halls or departments, should then be ablle to signpost - including getting a student urgent help when needed. Far better than relying on a troubled student to self-present. Some students will have been struggling with MH problems for a while, but others may suddenly hit a perfect-storm of academic challenges, relationship problems, and the impact of alcohol/drugs/poor diet/money problems/lack of sleep. You cannot predict when or to whom a crisis might hit. The route to help needs to be there.
Again sorry about my ranting. The problems are far from unique to Bristol. And some of the problems are shared with the City itself. I have been happy to recommend Bristol to London friends, as long as they are already adept at avoiding the druggie set that all London sixth forms have (and for whom Bristol along with Newcastle etc are favoured Universities!), that they go prepared to move flat if the dynamic does not work (a huge number do, and many moves are sucessful), and if they are likely to engage in their course and, ideally, in some University ativities. Sport, music, drama etc are all great and one of the big advantages Bristol has over, say, London.
Exams permitting, DD plans to march. Both Tab articles, and a third from a parent, reflect her experience.