How I’m Transitioning from Undergrad to Law School: Classes, Socialization and Living at Home

Fortunately, the transition hasn’t been too awful.

But I do see similarities in myself from when I transitioned from high school to undergrad. My first semester of undergrad, I loved it one day and hated it the next.

Those very same feelings are summing up my semester right now.

But I know that that is just part of the adjustment phase.

I have been blessed (and definitely cursed) that my undergraduate institution was extremely rigorous, and I was forced to work 7 days a week, 10 hours a day.

Law school and Wake are very similar in workload, except law school feels more like a job and is way less social. I’m not really struggling with the workload transition, but I am struggling with the socialization transition.

I am a very social and outgoing person, so I have been struggling with the idea of only doing schoolwork all day, every day. I have a couple of classmates that I am friendly with, but that’s about it. We talk before and after class and that’s kind of it. We did go out to lunch once, and I hosted a beach picnic and we are planning to go out to dinner this week. But my friends from law school feel more like colleagues right now then friends from college.

So, to help transition from the relationships that I am used to, to these new ones and the new type of school I am in, I am keeping a schedule like I would at Wake. I have a weekly schedule of calling my friends, working out, and blogging.

Honestly, I just pretend that I’m back in my dorm room in Winston-Salem.

Change is super hard for me, so that’s why routine is so important.

I know, it’s silly to pretend that I’m back at Wake doing my homework, when really I am sitting in my childhood bedroom. But for the past four years I’ve lived and gone to school in Winston, and that’s all I know. So, by keeping some things constant in my life, like working out before dinner, like I did at Wake, and calling my friends at lunchtime instead of seeing them in person to grab a meal is really helpful.

Transitioning physically from one school to the next is tough. But so is transitioning back to living at home.

For the past four years I have lived with friends, without home cooked meals or any relatives nearby. I was in my own little paradise.

But now I am living back at home. Don’t get me wrong, I am so happy that I can hug my parents every day and have delicious home cooked meals every night at dinner, but it is definitely not easy.

I went from being able to do pretty much anything I wanted, to now having to follow my parents’ house rules again.

Luckily, my parents aren’t too strict and understand this weird transition, from little girl to college student to now graduate student and are being flexible and working with me.

But honestly, after four years of living independently from my parents, it’s weird and hard to be back at home.

My parents and I have had open communication about all these changes and are giving me my space when I need it, like right now, when I am sitting in my room, at my desk, with the door closed.

My biggest tip is to communication with your parents if you are living at home as an adult.

If you’re moving home after graduation or at any point in your life, communicate with them!

Any transitions are hard, probably the hardest one for me right now is living at home after four years away, but I am figuring it out!

If you’re in a tough transition, remember, that the rough part will pass, and you will adjust after it is more familiar to you. It’s hard at first because it is new, but it will get easier over time.