Hey NatureFreak, I am sorry for bumping this thread but I have read your post and I found it really interesting as I am also a university student, specifically I study sociology!
I am 20 years old and I finished my second year of my studies and I really want to express my own view about it:
As you aptly said, a lot of people say that university years are life-changing and you start living as an independent person and your life dramatically changes, I never saw the first, and there are many reasons why! The main reason is that I still live with my parents because Greece is an economically average to poor country due to political issues, so I don't have my own apartment and I still live as I used to when I was a school student! I wake up, I follow my university schedule, and when conditions are right, I hang out with my friends!
My emotions about my university life are mixed! At first view, university gave me a chance to avoid toxic people from my school life and meet new people with same interests, as I actually did! I met some really nice people that I can call friends (I keep contact with my old friends ofc), and I also met a girl I used to date for more than one year (We made up but now we broke.. sh*t happens

), I had some nice experiences with them, nice talks, hang outs, etc, and I really found interesting after some time the content that political sciences provided to me!
On the other side of the coin, I had some really bad experiences that changed a lot my life: When I was on the first year of university, Ι was really hyped to meet new people and discover a new world of information and knowledge! But when I finished my first semester exams, I started losing my interest to that routine! I have to mention that you don't have to be present at lectures in order to pass the exams, so you can get into the classroom whenever you want! When I lost that interest, I was going to watch the lectures once or twice a week. I also started losing my interest hanging out with my friends, and generally I was not happy! I was observing other people having progress with their lives, working, getting their driving license, building their future and I was just stagnating, doing nothing. Nothing that brought me happiness at past could bring me happiness then, and I was just a miserable guy that was pretending he was having fun when he was hanging out! I was eating less and less, and my routine was just waking up and playing videogames until I had to go at the lectures or hang out with my friends or my girlfriend! After six months, that condition went worse, and I decided to visit a psychologist! My psychologist after two visits told me that I was mentally healthful and nothing was going wrong with me. The thing that was not going well with me was that I couldn't adapt to the adult life and I was still living as a teenager with no goals, interests and hobbies at all!
I decided after a lot of struggles to change that. I found out that my body was a big reason I was feeling insecure with my self as I was very skinny! So I decided to go to gym and I managed to eat more! A small goal every day was/is exercising my body! Then I decided to talk with my friends about my problem! Sometimes talking with someone you trust is a life saver because they can help you by giving you advises and you can also hear yourself talking which is a good way to face your problems! I found my interest about my studies by going to university more often. I also save my money in order to do driving lessons and take my driving license and make my transport to the city easier! I am starting step by step feeling more mature and I really enjoy it, but I have a long way ahead as I am overthinking everything and sometimes this keeps me idle..
So this is my story until now! I hope you find your way soon and anything that you read above was useful.
Best wishes my friend!