As syllabus week came to a close last Thursday night (or Friday night you poor Friday class folk), there was a bittersweet feeling in the air. At least for me, the first-year coming straight from responsibility-free NSOP, about to plunge into her first week of real classes, the infamous syllabus week served as a nice yet stressful way to dip my toes into the warm waters of Barnard/Columbia classes.
As a way to rant, and hopefully to hit a relatable chord with some of you, here are a couple of my main thoughts about last week as a whole:
As a way to rant, and hopefully to hit a relatable chord with some of you, here are a couple of my main thoughts about last week as a whole:
First off, I think it’s fair to say that syllabus week is primarily a week of learning nothing of actual substance in any class, yet finding yourself with five hours of reading anyways. Whether typing furiously in the quad, reading a little too silently in Butler, or just walking blindly to your next class while mid-chapter in a textbook, every student on campus becomes overwhelmed with work in what feels like the snap of a finger. Gotta love college.
This brings me to my next point: every first-year’s first adventure into Butler. And for upperclassmen, having to return to the enormous and completely intimidating (hopefully that feeling goes away over the years) library that sits on Columbia’s campus.
While I had my OL walk me through Butler before, I actually tried to walk in with my computer and a reading assignment, I still managed to get lost, not be able to find an empty seat, and make too much noise as I tried to navigate the chair and my bag and everything else that makes noise. Which is literally everything. I don’t even want to think about how many ungrateful stares I got that night.
Next we come to the amount of classes that people try to go to during syllabus week. Although most people know what they have to take to fulfill certain requirements (shout-out to Foundations), there are still students who want to try every class they possibly can. And I don’t blame them — there are a ridiculous amount of cool sounding classes. I already made a list for next semester.
However, this isn’t to say that there isn’t a way to go overboard on the shopping periods during syllabus week. I have a friend that maxed out her credit limit on myBarnard because she was enrolled in so many shopping classes. I didn’t even know that was possible. So PSA: don’t enroll for over 33 credits during a semester. For obvious reasons, but it also just won’t let you. But we still know you are a girl boss!
I think we can all agree that syllabus week is a blessing and a curse. But most importantly, looking back on it, we can all give ourselves a very strong pat on the back because we made it!