For years, college students across the nation have taken pride in something known as "syllabus week," which is the stereotypically "stress-free" first week of classes. During syllabus week (often abbreviated to "sylly week") students expect to receive little to no work from their professors and hope to be released from their classes mere minutes after they've begun. The name "syllabus week" befittingly stems from the generalized notion that the professor discusses the course's syllabus and "what is expected of you" over the semester, on the first day. Over the years, students have hyped up sylly week to no end and have celebrated it by going out, and treating each night as anything but a "school night." However, not every college student has the luxurious opportunity to have it so easy their first week of class.
Ultimately, the way you're going to spend your sylly week is up to your professor. They're the ones who assign the work, and have the final say on what goes down in class. Often, college freshmen get lucky and get to soak up everything syllabus week has to offer since their professors acknowledge that they're still adjusting into the new atmosphere. Nonetheless, as you leap forward into the world of college, you may find out that this is not the case. Going into my sophomore year at Montclair State, I was beyond excited for syllabus week. Who wouldn't be? But then classes started and I was brutally awakened. Unlike freshman year, I had a totally contrasting experience. Most of my classes, which consist of two and a half hour lectures, were not terminated early. I found myself staying for the whole class and having the professor briefly touch on the syllabus and dive right into teaching a lesson. If this were my freshman year, I would've only had to be in class for roughly twenty minutes, then I could go about my day and do whatever I pleased.
Gratefully, this year, none of my classes assigned lots of work. Most of my friends are already cooped up in their rooms doing endless amounts of homework after only two days of classes! Personally, I have found myself burdened with the stress of purchasing all of my textbooks and online access codes and I feel as if I already can't keep up. I'm desperately yearning for my freshman year experience where I wasn't welcomed to abundances of stress starting day one.
In the long run, the disturbingly overrated "sylly week" is different for each student. It's basically up to your classes and professors to decide your syllabus week fate. Sometimes you'll acquire a bit of luck and have all the time in the world to go out and experience an anxiety-free, easygoing first week of college. And other times you may be trapped in your room with a brutal migraine envying all of the freshmen who don't have to worry about completing ludicrous assignments in their first week. All in all, as a word of advice, syllabus week can be the best experience in the world, or the world. It's up to your classes and your own personal judgment to decide whether or not it exists or not.
