What Does It Mean When You Dream About Being Back in School?

If you’ve ever had an anxiety-producing dream that you’re back at school, you're definitely not alone. Dreams about being back at school can happen for many years after you have left school, and take lots of different forms.

You might dream that you’re late to school, that you’ve got a test or project coming up, or even that you've skipped an entire semester. So, where do these dreams come from, and what do they mean?

Our dreams can often reflect our unconscious thoughts or feelings, or the emotions we’re experiencing in the day before we go to sleep, so there are lots of reasons why you might be dreaming that you’re back at school.

Interpreting Your Dreams About Being Back in School

According to Deborah Lee, MRCGP DRCOG, GP and sleep expert, it’s common to dream about being back at school—particularly among people who live with anxiety and stress. She explains, “You may revert to a time in your life in your dreams when you felt happy and secure and had positive aspirations for the future."

Martin Seeley, sleep expert and CEO of MattressNextDay adds, “If you find yourself dreaming of being back at school, it can symbolize learning in your life, whether you are currently experiencing and learning something new in your everyday life e.g. taking a new course, starting a new job or learning a new skill.”

As school was a time when we had to adhere to rules and our life had plenty of structure, it might be that your brain wants a more stable, predictable life.

Physical and Emotional Significance

“If you keep dreaming of a specific situation, such as being at school, your subconscious mind may be trying to tell you something,” says Dr. Lee. She recommends noting down your dreams, and taking the time to think about their underlying meanings.

If your school-related dreams are more stressful, this might be because your sleep is being affected. Higher levels of stress can affect the rapid eye movement (REM) phase of the sleep cycle in particular, and this is where we dream the most.

Dreaming about school can be difficult for some people. If you didn’t have a good time at school, be it academically or in terms of your relationships with peers or teachers, you might not enjoy having these dreams bring back memories of your school days. 

Common Themes and Variations

When you dream about being back at school, there are lots of different potential themes. Some may be mostly innocuous, but several of them may have you waking up in a cold sweat from time to time. School may be in your past, but your dreams feel very present, and very real! These are among the most common variations of school dreams:

• Being in a classroom
• Seeing old high school classmates
• Being late to school or to class
• Not being able to find a classroom
• Taking a test
• Forgetting to study for a test or complete a big project
• Missing a class (sometimes you go to the first day of class then never again, for example) or a whole semester
• Not being able to graduate
• Having a crush on a classmate or teacher
• Showing up to school naked

Possible Explanations and Theories

Sigmund Freud believed that dreams were a way to gain insight into the unconscious mind,  while most modern researchers believe that, in contrast, dreams are a reflection of what we’re thinking about while we’re awake.

Carl Jung, meanwhile, viewed dreams as being a way for the unconscious mind to communicate with the conscious mind, with dreams being symbolic and potentially having more than one meaning. So, what could dreaming about being back in school indicate?

As mentioned, dreams about being back at school can often come about if you’re currently learning something new, perhaps as you’re back in a similar headspace. Perhaps you’ve started a new job, you’re a new parent or pet owner, or you’ve simply started a new class to learn a language, for example.

“Alongside this, if you are dreaming about starting a new school but you’re no longer in the studying era of your life, it could relate to anticipation or suggest it is time to start something new such as a career path or moving to a new city.”

Why Do I Keep Dreaming About School?

One potential explanation for dreaming about school is that it relates to impostor syndrome—particularly if your dreams relate to you failing an exam, for example, or being late to class. If you doubt yourself or your abilities, dreaming of failure at school may reflect the fears you have in the present.

And as school plays such a big part in our lives, guiding us through the transition from childhood to adulthood, it can sometimes represent symbols or figures of authority when it appears in our dreams.

Dreams about being late to school or to class could indicate that your priorities aren’t in order, or that you’re worried about a lack of planning. Have you been feeling disorganized, or felt guilty for procrastinating recently?

What if you’re dreaming about hanging out with friends at school? According to Dr. Lee, “If you have a current friendship or relationship issue, you may dream of the times spent with classmates and friends during your school days, and utilize these reserves to help you move things forward. Sometimes, school appears in our dreams if we feel nostalgic for the past.”

If you’re dreaming about taking a test in school, it might reflect the anxiety you feel while you’re awake, perhaps if you feel as though you’re a perfectionist or you have high expectations for yourself. Or, it might mean that you need to solve problems in your real life.

Another potential explanation might be that you recently watched a TV show or movie set in a school, you’ve been spending time with younger relatives or friends who are still in school, or you traveled past your old school. If you watched a movie set in high school in the evening before you went to sleep, it might have made you look back to your own school days, and in turn prompted you to dream about school.

Coping Strategies and Interpretation Techniques

“It can be helpful to keep a dream journal and write down what you can remember in the morning, every morning,” Dr. Lee says. “They are thought to act as messages from our higher self that can help/aid us through difficulties in life.”

If you live with a partner, friend, or relative, could you find a few minutes to discuss your dreams over your morning coffee, for example? 

There are a few things you might ask yourself when trying to interpret or make sense of your dreams. If school, or your school friends, are common symbols that occur often, try to remember what they looked like, and what they were doing—or what you were doing—in your dreams. How did you feel about them in your dream, and how do you feel about them now that you’re awake?

Keep in Mind

If you’re dreaming about school, there are various potential explanations, and they might depend on the aspect of school you’re dreaming about. There are no definitive answers, but keeping a dream journal or just taking the time to think about your dreams each day could help you gain a better insight into your dreams. 

If you’re feeling stressed or anxious, and you think that this is manifesting itself in your dreams, you could reach out to a loved one or a mental health professional for advice and support.