Daughter starting university

Hi! For me going to university made things so much easier socially! I made friends for the first time ever as I met likeminded people. I didn’t know I was autistic at the time but I did know that there was something different about me. My main advice would be to be yourself. I thought I had to try and be all social in freshers week and I even went on a pub crawl (first and last one ever in my life)- but this is just not for me- I don’t drink I don’t like parties or big group social events and I soon realised this was fine. I made most of my friends through my course or through going to talks (i love science). I did withdraw rather a lot in my room, and later on I sometimes felt like I should have maybe tried to meet some more people (as I actually ended up becoming friends with some people from my undergrad after graduating and I had met them first in freshers week, liked them but then somehow never really saw them much. But at least we did become friends eventually). It’s a balance- I think it’s really important to not overstretch yourself socially but doing things sometimes where you can meet people (eg. join a society about something you are interested in or drop that person that seems nice a message and see if they want to go for coffee or a walk together etc) is also a good idea even if it takes some courage. Not sure if any of this is helpful- I am actually a PhD student now. I wasn’t  a student for 1.5 years after my masters and it is definitely easier socially whilst at university- at least for me. 
I think your daughter has an exciting time ahead!!

in terms of support from university I would encourage her to accept whatever they can offer- I didn’t have a diagnosis in my bachelor and masters but I do now and I have been able to access support (eg. Mentoring etc). And if anything is challenging, it’s a good idea to reach out early on- there are often a lot of things that can be done to help! 
best of luck to your daughter- I hope it works out !! 

Hi! For me going to university made things so much easier socially! I made friends for the first time ever as I met likeminded people. I didn’t know I was autistic at the time but I did know that there was something different about me. My main advice would be to be yourself. I thought I had to try and be all social in freshers week and I even went on a pub crawl (first and last one ever in my life)- but this is just not for me- I don’t drink I don’t like parties or big group social events and I soon realised this was fine. I made most of my friends through my course or through going to talks (i love science). I did withdraw rather a lot in my room, and later on I sometimes felt like I should have maybe tried to meet some more people (as I actually ended up becoming friends with some people from my undergrad after graduating and I had met them first in freshers week, liked them but then somehow never really saw them much. But at least we did become friends eventually). It’s a balance- I think it’s really important to not overstretch yourself socially but doing things sometimes where you can meet people (eg. join a society about something you are interested in or drop that person that seems nice a message and see if they want to go for coffee or a walk together etc) is also a good idea even if it takes some courage. Not sure if any of this is helpful- I am actually a PhD student now. I wasn’t  a student for 1.5 years after my masters and it is definitely easier socially whilst at university- at least for me. 
I think your daughter has an exciting time ahead!!

in terms of support from university I would encourage her to accept whatever they can offer- I didn’t have a diagnosis in my bachelor and masters but I do now and I have been able to access support (eg. Mentoring etc). And if anything is challenging, it’s a good idea to reach out early on- there are often a lot of things that can be done to help! 
best of luck to your daughter- I hope it works out !!