Best

The $$$.

Graduating means realizing that money actually matters…a lot, and for things you don’t want to pay for. You have to actually pay hundreds of dollars in health insurance every month, even though you’re perfectly healthy? And doctor’s visits aren’t even always covered by that insurance? Aaand you’re off the family phone plan? Plus the government takes half of your paycheck and like 97% of your Christmas bonus. Living costs a lot, and saving on rent and groceries helps tremendously.

The homemade meals.

It’s like having your own personal chef for free again after spending the past four years on ramen and microwaveable dinners.

The lack of responsibilities.

You can have a dog without the vet bills or the early morning wake-up calls to take it out or having to pay for food and treats! And somehow you’re still the pup’s favorite.

Utilities.

You can turn up the heat without thinking about the nickels and dimes. You suddenly have 500 channels AND the ability to fast-forward through commercials. And that water pressure that doesn’t feel like someone spitting on you like the dormitory faucets did.

Being sick or sad or tired is a lot more tolerable.

You know during college when you just wished your mom could be there with a bowl of soup and trashy gossip magazines whenever you came down with something? Now, that is life! Or when you don’t feel like going out on the town, you always have company with whom you can stay in and catch up on Dance Moms.

It’s your last chance to spend this kind of quality time with your parents.

After you move out, that’s it—hopefully (assuming you don’t end up as a thirty-something deadbeat in their basement). Cherish the moments you have to live under the same roof and see them more often than on weekends and holidays; because while you’re growing up, they’re growing old.

Worst

The FOMO.

Abruptly, your social media is filled with images of the abundance of your super-senior friends taking six years to graduate and still spending the middles of their week at Wine Wednesdays; meanwhile, you’re taking part in Whine Wednesday (about having to wake up at 7AM) and watching Modern Family by yourself on the couch. Your best friends are all still living together while you swapped out your roomies for your rents.

The “Where are you going?” / “Who will you be with?” / “What time will you be home?” questions any time you walk out the front door.

As if you didn’t just spend most of college in way sketchier surroundings without their knowledge whatsoever. But suddenly going to a girlfriend’s to watch a TV show requires an exact ETA.

The dating scene.

Because inviting anyone over to hang out isn’t even close to an option.

The neighborhood.

Living at home typically entails being stuck in suburbia where pesky housewives definitely notice that 3AM Uber dropoff and still expect you to babysit outside of your 9-5 job. Gone are the days of walking to the dining hall downstairs with all of your closest friends and hundreds of acquaintances. But now the pool that you grew up doing swim team competitions in is the closest thing in walking distance, and your parents are your sole dining buddies.

You kinda forget how to be an adult.

Your messy room annoys your mom more than it does you, and suddenly you come home to find your bed made and toilet scrubbed. You have plans to whip up that dish you saw on the Food Channel, only to find your dad already grilled salmon, and you can’t argue with that. It’s too easy to fall back into a state of dependency, no matter how hard you try to pretend like you’re getting your life together.