Syllabus week is incredibly boring and usually feels like a waste of your time. You drag yourself out of bed and try to look good because it’s the beginning of the semester, just for the professor to read off to you what is already written on the syllabus they just gave you.
Back to School Problems
You got so used to sleeping in until 2 p.m. over break, and now you are expected to get up and learn things before noon!
You have to go back to eating dining hall food again. Even if the food is good, you still have to adjust to eating on the college’s schedule based on the hours they're open.
You have to go back to being considerate because you’re living with other people again. No more having your own room, no more staying up all night, and no more of your mom doing your dishes and laundry.
New Schedule Problems
When you get every class syllabus that week you are presented with all the work you will have to do for the rest of the semester! You feel overwhelming panic about every essay, paper, problem, quiz, oral report, and exam that you know is in the near future.
Last semester you knew exactly when you had free time study time or when your work shifts were. Now you have to relearn and reorganize how to fit your life around these new classes for the next four months.
If you drop a class because you can’t handle the professor or the course load you then have to deal with picking up another new class quickly, that will still fit into your schedule.
New Professor Problems
You learn which professors you will hate. And you learn their annoying tendencies. That first day might not always be the best first impression of your professor, but it is usually a very good indicator of whether this professor is going to make you stress and cry, or if it will be an easy A.
Some professors don’t like to inform their class until AFTER you’ve already bought your $200+ textbook or eight different $20 paperbacks, that you won’t be using some of them. Also not only do some expect you to spend hundreds of dollars on their "required" texts, but they also like to make you feel guilty and pressured to pursue (aka drop more money you don’t have) on recommended texts.
Some professors give out a syllabus that has a blank calendar. They don’t seem to have gotten the memo that the only reason students care about the syllabus is because it is supposed to tell exactly what things are due and when.
Although students complain about to dullness of syllabus week, we also understand it is protocol. That first week we are “getting into the swing of things." If a professor assigns anything major (i.e. essays or quizzes) then they are a traitor to the long respected tradition of syllabus week.
New Class Problems
When you realize you have no friends in your class. And you feel that dread and panic when your professor vaguely mentions group work.
When you walk into the wrong class and realize it too late, so you either have to stay the whole time and miss your own class, or you have to get up and leave while the professor is talking. Either way it’s awkward and embarrassing.
There is also the underrated pressure of picking the right seat during that first week so you can see the board, take good notes, avoid the annoying people, and sleep when necessary.
