off to university

[Torrfield]

Dropped 17 year old off at uni last saturday and he is miserable. He's coming home today for a' chat'.
Any words of wisdom would be great.

Aww - your poor DS.
Such a big change is bound to be very stressful. All that enforced socialising with people you might never speak to again, finding your way round, feeling like you don't have a clue....
I found freshers' week an ordeal, but really enjoyed uni once I had met like-minded students and got into the way of things.
Your DS is probably shattered, which will make him feel worse. You can tell him that this very early experience of uni is not typical of how uni life is going to be.
There are probably loads of other students feeling like him, with fake smiles and false cheeriness counting the days till Christmas.
What pastoral care is provided by his institution? They'll be very experienced in dealing with people like your DS.
It will get so much better. :)

Oh that's hard. 17 is so very young and is quite a shock to the system going to uni.
If he's self-catering it may help to consider a switch to halls of residence, always seemed much less of transition from memory.
I guess it depends if it's his course or lack of friends or not living up to expectation...
If he's not happy, he won't learn though. And I guess he may need to consider asking for a deferral for a year if he's very unhappy, with the proviso that he needs to get a job/do something career useful during that time.
I still remember finding the first month of uni very hard and that was nearly 20 years ago. A least he has you to come home to, at least he will come and tell you how he's feeling - think I'd be very relieved about that.
Good luck.

feed him
do his laundry for him
show him how to do laundry
how to cook, if you havent already taught him
listen to him.
give him a big hug