I spent the fall semester completely out, but not yet full time. I had intended to be in boymode the whole semester, but I kinda figured what's the point, so the majority of the semester I showed up to class dressed as me, but I still went by my male name and pronouns. I got to a fairly liberal university with strongly inclusive LGBT policies so I was pretty well accepted. In January I got my legal name change, went full time, and was able to update all my stuff at school by the time the Spring semester started.
I'm in upper level classes, so there's a lot of people I've had in classes before. I think it was helpful that they knew what was up with me well in advance. They've been able to experience my journey with me and it wasn't a shock when I showed up this semester with a different name and higher voice.