I’ve been at college for about a week and it has had its fun moments: going out to eat with my roommates, meeting new people at welcome week events, etc. I have fun briefly but always go back to just feeling depressed and like I just want to go home and go back to my old routine. I live close to my campus and I went home yesterday for a couple of hours to pick up some stuff I forgot to bring and I was immediately so so much happier there, going back to campus I just felt awful again. I’m so homesick even though I chose one of the closest possible schools. My parents keep telling me to make the most of it, talk to people, explore campus and I’ve done all of that and, again, it makes me feel better in the moment, but it doesn’t last, I just get sad again. Anyone else severely homesick? Or was and has advice?
I feel like living at home and commuting would be a suggestion, but my parents want me to experience dorm life and the commute involves a very unreliable ferry system anyways
I would very strongly suggest you not go home much. Spend your weekends at your college doing things at your college with your college friends.
Don’t use your house as a crutch. Stay at school.
A high percentage of students get homesick until you go home at Thanksgiving and realize - wow, I can’t wait to get back.
It’s normal - it’s a new experience, a time to grow, without the comfort of mom and dad right there.
But by going home or by calling often, you’ll make it harder.
I assume you don’t plan to live with mom and dad for the next 70 years. So at some point, that break has to happen.
You worked hard for this opportunity - so focus on the positives. Your parents are right - meet, meet, meet people, join clubs, study in the library…go to office hours.
You’ve got this…it just takes time.
Good luck.
My daughter and I agreed on a plan. She said that she won’t visit home for the first month and we shouldn’t visit her either. We added that if there was an emergency (mental or physical health etc), she was allowed to buy a plane ticket and fly home.
It takes time to adjust and it’s harder to adjust if you keep going home.
Also, do you have a roommate? It’s been my observation that loneliness strikes when you are alone in your room at night. A good roommate can be a lifesaver in such a situation.
Or friends who live on your floor. Doesn’t have to be a roommate.
I have three roommates and they’re really nice, we do stuff together and talk a lot when we’re all in the dorm. They all have met other friends already and seem to be settling in easier than me, though.
Please just give yourself time to adjust. Your roommates probably feel the same, btw. Trust me, at this stage you are almost certainly doing better than most college freshmen.
And I agree with others who have said please don’t go home much, if at all for several more weeks. Adjusting isn’t easy. Stick it out because it’s going to help you mature.
This is very normal. Please read this: To those who feel lonely/homesick/friendless/think they chose the wrong school, etc
Sorry, don’t mean to trivialize a serious question and a (almost certainly) typo, but LOL.
Oops, we are not that rich. 
That’s great.
Classes, activities/clubs, dorm life. These are all part of feeling like you belong. It just takes time.
What do you like about home?
Perhaps we can help make college feel more like home.
I agree you shouldn’t go back - but you CAN make college more “homey”.
BTW, it takes 3 weeks to 3 months for freshmen to feel comfortable at their college. You’ve only been there a week, you’re well ahead of the curve even if no one shows how they feel. It’s a struggle to go from being your parent’s child to being an independent young adult.
BTW, do you have a small class, seminar, etc (16 to 24 people)?
Have you joined a club where you do things together - Habitat for Humanity, another charity, a music group, a team?
I do have a seminar class, and I’m in a system where I have a cluster of like 20-30 people where we all have two academic classes and one first year sort of orientation type class for first quarter. I’ve been told people make a lot of friends through this system!! And about home, I guess I just like having my own space (as much as I love my roommates)
I should clarify I mean we would all have those classes together, so I’ll see a lot of familiar faces in my classes
So next year her your own place or at least room.
This says it all. You just need time. Pretty soon, you’ll be looking forward to heading back to college instead of going home. 
Sounds like everything is set up well.
(I worried that, like many students, you only had large lecture classes, which can cause a feeling of alienation).
If you need to have quiet, private space from time to time, use the library. The quiet floor or the stacks would be quiet and you’d be able to be on your own with no one bothering you.
It’s only been a week! I think you can expect to feel a little disoriented, homesick and even lonely until after Christmas, to be honest. It takes time.
I just moved and I am homesick and I am way older than you. The difference is that I know it takes me 3 months to adjust so I wait it out.
I am not denying the pain and if it continues after Christmas or is truly unbearable, I hope you will consider talking to a counselor. But your feelings after a week or a month or even more are perfectly normal.
I differ a little from some others in that I feel going home occasionally may actually help you adjust. But not so much that it interferes with socializing and other ways to adjust to being at school. Also, maybe you could try zooming instead of going home!
Hi guys, thanks for the advice. I’ll try to not go home much, and I’m sure once classes start I’ll be too busy to even think about it. I’m looking at a volunteer opportunity on campus, and yesterday I finally went my first full day without crying. I was still pretty sad, but I was able to find a local coffee shop to sit at and work on adding all my classes and assignments into my calendar. I still feel really out of place and homesick, but a lot more hopeful.
Awesome!! It’s just one foot in front of the other, and you’re doing that.
Change can be hard. It sounds like part of what gives you comfort is being in control -’ of your space, of your calendar, etc. Look for those opportunities too and give yourself credit for how well you’re doing with the stuff you can’t control.