<p>My freshman is out of state, a seven-hour drive from home, at a large private university. I think she would rate her happiness at college at about a 6 or 7, which is higher than she would rate life at home or at her high school.</p>
<p>My daughter has had an enormous advantage in meeting people because a close friend of hers from high school, who is far more social than my daughter, is on the same campus. They do not live in the same dorm and they are in different academic programs within the university, but they have maintained their friendship, and my daughter has met many new people through this girl, as well as in her own dorm. Other than the one preexisting friend, she does not consider any of the people at college to be anything more than acquaintances, though. </p>
<p>My daughter seems to have become comfortable with most aspects of college life, and I think she is beginning to relax a bit now that the first major round of exams is over. Prior to those exams, she had no idea what kind of grades she would be able to get, and this was a huge source of stress for her. (She is the sort for whom academics are more important than social life.) </p>
<p>I don’t think she knows her campus well enough yet to recommend (or not recommend) it to others.</p>