@Nocturnus, I have heard university at least from a social perspective is a rather different experience in the states to what it is in England. In England it's literally a community of people living, working and socializing together in various institutions, where as in the states I believe it's more like a random collection of people wandering into an institution to partake of what that institution offers and social contacts happen outside of, or at most incidental to the university itself.
For example, I was very much part of, eventually president of the philosophy society which occurred every thursday evening and involved inviting lecturers from across the country to attend debates and discuss various topics. It was very heavily connected with philosophy (obviously), but entirely external to what we were expected to learn, particularly since the lectures we organized had a lot of fun aspects too (we once had a party with a talk entitled "Celibrating life and death!" where I went dressed as the grim reaper).
I attended several other societies as well as functions in colidge where I lived from balls to formal dinners, started role playing and generally had a huge amount of fun finding groups with diverse interests or heck just hobnobbing with people living on my corridor.
Of course in Britain there are instances of universities (even groups among mine), who are horribly cleaquey or taken up with just themselves or their type, but that's the same everywhere, and certainly university has more than enough different people who get together, all having moved away from home and generally all interested in making friends.
I for example made one good friend by simply sitting next to her in history of medicine lectures for a couple of terms saying "good morning" each day, then when the lecture was cancelled asking if she wanted to grab a coffee next door in the student bar. it actually turned out she was feeling as much an outcast as I was, but my ease in that environment helped things progress rather well.
In a way my one cryticism of university is that it gave me unrealistic expectations of social acceptance, since I assumed the general collective would be as prone to be reasonable as students were, and found that not to be the case once I left, particularly when all those good friends I'd made moved away, went else where and got wrapped up with procreating or making money.
As regards jobs and such, well it's actually one of the few advantages that I see to having a disability (and there are enough disadvantages), that I can do pretty much what I like in terms of finding a vocation and don't! have to worry about trying to become a cog in the collective and sacrifice all my energy and free time for basic existance and a superficial level of social acceptance that so many people do.
I'd be very glad to actually do good for others, or to use what creative talents I might have for others' bennifit, but if society doesn't want that from me, then society can go and take a running jump.
This isn't to say I'm a total parasite, just that I see my time better spent doing what I can irrispective of othef the collective's expectations, eg, singing, writing, working for this site, trying to be nice to people or doing voluntary things, as opposed to trying to fill expectations that I'm not cut out for, nor would be the least rewarding were I able to fill them anyway since tey are not expectations tailer made for anyone's bennifit accept the share holders of set corporate processes.
Of course, were I like my brother and absolutely! devoted to, and cut out for one specific career, the way he is for the law, matters could be different, but honestly at this point I'm happy doing what I can get in terms of writing and performing (the two things I'm good at), if anyone pays me, good, if not, well I'm not going to feel overly guilty at having some cash from the government provide me a basic existance so long as I am doing somethingg for others and not living entirely for myself, and if I'm not contributing to the prophet machine or living up to the collective's expectations of what a good citizen is? Well who ever said the collective and the prophet machine were right anyway!
My one real sadness is that finding accepting environments and groups of people is so rare outside of university. The aims music school I attend a couple of times a year is one such, a bunch of people of different ages, cultures and backgrounds bent on singing and performing all stuck together in one place, however outside of that it seems society actively discourages any sort of meaningful interaction or acceptance.
I admit though that situation has eased hugely since I am now married to my best friend. Hopefully the two of us can find something more social and some degree of interaction with others, but if not, we will always have each other, and actually it's amazing how much that means!
With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)