Before I went away to a university I always heard about the infamous syllabus week. So when I finally started at Rowan, rather than a community college, I had expectations of the first week of classes being, for lack of a better term, a joke.

I was dead wrong. Since I started at Rowan, the first week of classes for me has almost always involved some form of homework. I often thought I was just unlucky and just got those teachers who ran their classes like that.

But after chatter with friends and fellow classmates, I found it to not be my terrible luck. There was, in fact, a good portion of students whose professors like mine taught the first week of classes.

All of this made me ask the question, does the typical crazy syllabus week actually exist? Is there actually teachers who just review the class information the first day of classes and doesn't present actual work till the following week? Was I missing out on some essential part of my college life?

I observed friends on Facebook at schools all over enjoy “sylly” week. Meanwhile, I was reading chapters, doing math problems and taking online quizzes.

I quickly realized it's a professor by professor basis. Some don't want to start a lesson until the first full week of classes while others are ready to jump right in. They want to take the semester by storm, and sometimes that's okay.

It gives teachers an extra week to know you. Eventually, you'll enter the classrooms with a warm welcome like “hey Danielle” “good morning, how are you, Danielle?” And depending on who you ask, that's important. If at the end of the semester, I'll appreciate my professor knowing me when I need one or two points added to my grade or that added push from an 89.5 to a 90.

I’m probably not with the majority in saying any of this and that's completely okay with me. I live at home and commute to campus, so to me syllabus week isn't about ending my break with an alcohol induced coma; it is about enjoying my last few free moments before the semester hits me like a ton of bricks.

So to some, syllabus week the craziest party time of the year. But for others, it's a myth, like a boogie man or the jersey devil. And for some that's alright and for some, it's the end all be all.

But that's up to you.