There's a strange expectation everyone carries after graduating from a decent college—that once you step into a PG course or a professional program like LL.B., you'll finally find your people. Sharper minds, real ambition, the kind of energy that pushes you to do better. You walk in expecting deep conversations, healthy competition, maybe even a few friendships that inspire you to grow.
But the reality often looks very different. A few weeks into the new batch, and you realize the mindset just doesn't match. Some people are only there to complete a degree. Others already have a family business waiting, so studying is just a formality. And the genuinely passionate ones? They're so rare that finding them starts to feel like a task in itself.
This gap becomes even more obvious when you look at people from your own college who've now scattered in completely different directions. Someone's working a job they don't even like. Someone else has quietly slipped into "settle mode." And a few are simply coasting through life with a "whatever happens, happens" attitude.
This mismatch in ambition—where you're trying to build something while the people around you are just trying to get by—becomes a quiet, unspoken struggle for many LL.B. and postgraduate students. Nobody really talks about it, because from the outside, everything still looks perfectly normal.
Then there's networking, which somehow feels a lot harder now. In college/school, networking was easy because everyone was in the same boat, chasing similar goals. But once you step into professional life, genuine connections suddenly feel rare.
LinkedIn is full of people showcasing their "hustle," seminars and interactions with seniors often stay surface-level, and real, honest conversations become the exception rather than the rule. This kind of loneliness is far more common than people admit, especially for those who genuinely care about their field. Feeling this way isn't unusual, and it certainly doesn't mean something is wrong with you.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, there are also a few genuinely funny observations that make the experience a little lighter. Like the people who post about "grind culture" on LinkedIn but aren't really doing much behind the scenes. Or seniors who give advice with complete confidence even though they're still figuring things out themselves.
Sitting over chai and quietly debating whether someone is actually serious or just performing becomes its own little stress-reliever. These small, funny moments are often what make the entire journey feel a bit more bearable.
At the end of the day, finding the right people is a slow process—not an impossible one. Don't water down your ambition simply because the people around you aren't matching your pace.
Sometimes, one or two genuine connections are worth more than an entire batch of acquaintances. And if you haven't found your people yet, that doesn't mean you never will. It simply means you need a little patience and a lot of trust in yourself.