At the beginning of each semester, students get ready to go back to classes, and have thoughts we have all had at least once. Syllabus week is that crucial week at the beginning of every semester where you can make up your mind about your professors. Students fill lecture halls with high hopes of a 4.0 GPA and a successful semester. Syllabus week helps students understand the expectations that will be set for that class. We sit in class and see other students walk-in and soon the professor walks in with a stack of stapled papers and, as two eager students pass out the syllabus, it hits us: we were not ready for classes to begin.

Three books? I think I'll just get the first one

The professor begins talking about the syllabus and the required materials and they say you will need not one, two, but three textbooks. I look forward to getting in debt for these books.

Quizzes every week? *eye roll*

Sometimes classes are so big that the only way professors take attendance is using quizzes (or it may just be another torture method.)

Why do we have 3 pages on plagiarism for every syllabus?

EVERY. SINGLE. CLASS. You get the syllabus and all you want to know is the schedule and grading, but instead, you get three pages on university policy and plagiarism. I understand it is University policy, but a syllabus should not be more than five pages long. Save the trees!

Chapter one already?!

This is true for STEM majors because there is so much material to cover that lectures begin right after the syllabus is reviewed.

How many times can I hit snooze, get ready, and find my preferred seat for this morning class?

Somewhere between the syllabus and slide number 5 you realize you're exhausted and want to go back home and sleep. This is where you become a mathematician to calculate how many extra minutes of sleep you can get.

Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee

Sleeping in class is not an option because tuition is expensive, so coffee is required to function at the most basic level.

I'm already behind...*dies a little inside*

The worst thing is to hear the professor say "You should have received the reading schedule in your University email." You haven't ordered the books and you're behind on a chapter...It'll be a great semester!

Planning out absences

When the professor or TA say that you can only miss one session you have to start planning which one.

Yay! I get to see my friends again

Hanging out with friends who you probably didn't get to see all summer and catching up with them.

Classes are about five minutes long

Sometimes if you're lucky the professor will read the syllabus and say " alright, see you next time" and you can hear angels sing. It only really happens for people with "easy" majors.

Labs get cancelled on the first week

Sometimes classes will begin in the middle of the week and labs for the remainder of the week would have been cancelled until Monday of the next week.