Should I try and transfer out of Durham uni

Hi, I'm a first year at Durham and as the question suggests I'm not having the best time. I'm enjoying my course, but apart from that I'm having serious doubts about the university and my choice. My flatmates are all from private schools and I feel like they're laughing at me behind my back and my flat is half empty anyway as a lot of students haven't showed up for first term. I know it's really unspecific but I just have started to hate the atmosphere of the place. The only friend I made has now dropped out and I'm stuck as I don't want to break the covid rules, but I can't do another term just sitting in my room. I had to decide on my uni choice without any post-offer days because of covid and I feel like I've made the wrong choice. I've started to hate how small the town is and more specifically how everyone I see is a student. I'm not sure if it's a covid thing or a durham thing but I feel ill at the thought of coming back here for another term. Could I make a transfer application, so I could leave if I still hate it, and then still choose to come back to Durham if it gets better? How do transfer applications work?

The short answer to your question is yes, you can apply elsewhere, then decide later if you want to actually take up another place. Essentially you just apply through UCAS as you did before. The main difference is that you’ll need to nominate a referee from Durham and potentially you may be asked to provide an academic transcript.

The two main issues you face are:
1) Not all uni’s/courses accept transfers into year 2. At this time of year, it may be slow to get a response and find out from uni’s that don’t make this clear on their websites.
2) Transferring may not resolve your issues, and could indeed make them worse as you would potentially be joining a cohort who have already formed social groups. Outside of the course, socialising is limited at every Uni under the current environment. I don’t have an answer as to how you could research this.

NB. If things are really bad, you might consider applying for year 1 elsewhere. However, this is a big step as it uses up your ‘gift’ year for student finance, so shouldn’t be rushed into or taken lightly.

The university transfer FAQ is a very useful resource.

Hey. I was accepted into Durham and went to the overnight open day for my college. I know what you mean about feeling out of place due to most people being from private school. I also picked up on the close minded and gossipy nature of some of the students. In the end I went to the University of Manchester instead. In comparison, there was a much wider variety of people there so meeting the type of people you get along with was much more possible. Obviously meeting people has slowed down a lot at the moment due to the pandemic, but it sounds like you would be better suited to a larger, more diverse university. I almost went to Durham because of people pressuring me about the 'prestige' but I'm so glad I didn't. University is such a decent time to build yourself up and discover what is important to you. That can end up being more valuable than the qualification. So I guess my advice would be that it sounds like you should transfer. Maybe do some research on what type of university would be best suited to your personality type. In general, if you're unsure I'd say go for one with a wide variety of people. Then once you get there, make an effort to meet as many people as possible and find the best people for you.