It doesn't matter if you're starting your freshman year or returning to college, we all seem to love syllabus week. Syllabus week may seem like a fun, easy week, but there are many struggles that we all face during the first week of classes.
1. Figuring out the new roommate.
It's always a mystery what the person you're going to be sharing a space with for the next nine months is really going to be like. Social-media stalking in the summer can only show so much. In the first week of school, it is pretty easy to tell if you and your roommate are going to be besties for life, live your own separate lives, or going to want to kill each other at some point during the year. If you want to avoid constant roommate conflict, it is important to set some rules within the first week that you both agree upon.
2. Buying textbooks.
Nothing like paying an arm and a leg for textbooks that you probably won't use but a couple times during the year. Don't you even dare asking your professor if you're actually going to need the book because they all say "the textbook is required". Even if you end up using a textbook frequently during the semester, it still isn't worth the $300, especially on our broke college student budget.
3. Going out almost everyday because it is the one week when your college life isn't consumed with other responsibilities.
It’s fun to go out and meet a bunch of new people during the first week of school. Just know that syllabus week is the only time that you won’t have a million and one things to do and won’t be stressed to the max. So go out and enjoy your freedom from responsibility while it lasts!
4. Having to wrap your head around the fact that you will have an 8:00 a.m. all semester.
8:00 a.m. classes should be illegal. No college student is functional that early in the morning. Unfortunately, you won't be getting rid of your 8:00 a.m. anytime soon, so embrace it. Roll out of bed, grab a coffee, and enjoying your early-morning learning session.
5. When a professor goes straight from the syllabus into a lecture.
Thinking to yourself: "But wait it's syllabus week. We're not supposed to learn anything." Learning during syllabus week should also be illegal. If you get a professor that jumps right into a lecture after the syllabus, be prepared. If that professor can't even take the first day off, then they won't be taking any days off. Be prepare to constantly be doing work for this class.
6. Trying to find friends in your new classes.
Nothing is better than having a buddy in each of your classes. If you don’t know what is going on in class, this person will be a perfect resource to have. They will be the person you can sit with, study with, complain about the class, and eventually survive the semester with.
7. Getting back into the swing of classes, homework, clubs, sports, all while trying to maintain a social life.
Summer is over. It's time to get back to juggling academics, extracurriculars, and friends. No more relaxing by the pool all day (lucky for us at HPU-- we can still do that). It's time to face another year of college. Bring it on, school year!
