Syllabus week can be a breeze, but surviving college isn’t always a walk in the park; here’s your guide on getting through the first semester of college.
Congratulations: you’ve made it to college! Your room is decorated, your books and pencils are lined up, you’re ready for class, and the first day nerves are starting to wear off.
With this comes all the caveats of being a college student – there’s an increase in your homework load. You have to sign up for all the clubs and extracurriculars that’ll look good on your resume. And I haven’t even mentioned balancing a social life on top of that.
Sometimes, your hopes and goals in the first week aren’t as easy to accomplish once you’re in the midst of a busy semester. So, readjustment might become a necessity as the weeks progress.
What is “Sylly” Week?
Syllabus Week, also known as “Sylly” Week, is the first week of the semester, where the main requirement for most of your classes is simply going over each syllabus.
This is the time when your workload is light, homework is at a minimum, and many students try to get ahead on assignments and set themselves up for success.
You’re starting to get used to your schedule and planning out your days around your classes.
The best way to use your time is to get ahead. Planners are great tools for keeping up on assignments, and reading ahead can make transitioning into school mode easier in the long run.
However, this concept of “Sylly” Week being easy may not apply to everyone. Typically, classes meet more than once a week, so your first class is short and sweet, but going over the syllabus doesn’t take longer than a class period.
Post-Sylly Week survival guide
Once assignments start rolling, you may find yourself struggling to keep up.
Signing up for clubs is also starting to require some attention. Feeling overzealous the first week and signing up for eight clubs, then only showing up to one, is totally okay.
The workload change from high school to college can be jarring. You may have been able to handle six clubs and two sports in high school, but college courses require more of your time outside of class.
Don’t feel guilty for having to take things off your plate.
Corinne Nulton, the Writing Center Coordinator at The University of Scranton, recommends that students avoid focusing on individual things. A big-picture viewpoint will help you get through college.
You have to keep zooming out to make sure that you’re not accepting a defeatist attitude.
Corinne Nulton
If you focus on every little assignment and lose your motivation after one bad grade, you won’t be able to keep moving forward and succeeding.
Goal-reorientation
The initial methods you use for getting work done and studying may not work. The goals you set for yourself during “sylly” week may also need some adjustment.
Look over your schedule and grades; is there an area where you are starting to struggle? Juggling too many things may cause an area or class to suffer. Shifting your goals to be less overwhelming will help ease stress.
Instead of setting a goal to get A’s for all your classes, you may want to reorient this to just passing your classes if you start to struggle.
Also, trying to hold executive positions for every extracurricular you join isn’t an ideal goal to strive for. These also require work, and falling short with effort isn’t productive for you or the rest of the people on your team.
For commuter students, extra problems may arise from trying to accomplish your first week goals of getting through your freshman year.
Parking tends to be an issue at colleges. Depending on the length of your commute, going out of your way to come back to campus for a club that only meets for 30 minutes once every two weeks isn’t ideal.
Doing the bare minimum is still doing something, so even if your time spent on campus is only for classes, that is okay.
Doing things off campus, like working or volunteering, can offset feeling like you need to do everything your university or college offers on campus.
No matter what, keep moving. It can be hard to come back after a rough semester, but then you can go into future semesters with more realistic goals and expectations. This will lead to you figuring out how you do your best work.
Burnout
Burnout is the loss of motivation tied to feelings of fatigue. This often coincides with a person’s heavy workload and can prevent you from getting your work done.
For many students, it’s unavoidable in college when your workload gets heavy, and it doesn’t feel like there are enough hours in the day to complete everything you need to do. Here are a few tips on overcoming burnout to survive college.
Sleep is crucial to avoid burnout. Pulling all-nighters occasionally to get your work done is a quick fix but not a solution to your problem. Running on low sleep will seep into your waking hours and slow you down.
Eating healthy will also help. Getting enough nutrients in your diet will help with the side effects of burnout and will help with surviving freshman year by creating healthy habits.
Create a support system. Whether you make one friend or 20 in your first year, having others to support you can get you through tough times.
Self-help
Having a daily routine will almost always help with managing stress. Additionally, journaling can also be beneficial to get your thoughts out of your head. Writing is great, especially if you’re experiencing burnout.
Doing the things you love will help with balancing work. Whether that’s watching an episode of your favorite show, reading, or going for a walk, incorporating these things into your schedule will relieve some pressure.
Get active. Working out, going on walks, or joining a sports team can help you stay active. Intramural sports are fun and low maintenance, which can be easy to manage.
University resources are there to help you, so make sure you research what options you have on your campus.
Career centers are beneficial for helping you stay on track with your education to graduate and succeed post-grad.
Counseling services will help you get through difficult times. Talking to another person about the things you struggle with is a great option for lessening the stress you feel, especially if you experience burnout.
Tutoring services connect you with other students who took the same courses. This can help you create habits that will lead to success when beating burnout.
The key is to establish yourself early. Tutoring options fill up as the semester goes on, so you don’t want to go too late when services aren’t available.
Midterms
By the midway point of the semester, you may not have everything figured out. That is okay. As cliche as it sounds, change takes time and isn’t always easy.
You may be in a course where you failed the first exam or bombed an assignment that brought down your grade. It can be hard to recover, but surviving freshman year is doable.
Adjusting is the key. For me, group study sessions don’t work. Others may recommend studying with friends to keep you on track, but in practice it may cause as a distraction.
If you’re the type of person who struggles with certain studying practices, changing it up and trying things until something works may be your best route.
Check in with your professors. They may have tips from previous students who took their course and have a method to studying that can help you too.
Adjusting the amount of time you study or where you study will help as well. Studying in your room can distract you, or not, but finding where and when you work best will lead to success.
There are plenty of options of places to work on campus. The library, study rooms in buildings, or even outdoors are all great options for changing it up.
If you’re a person who works best at night, then don’t try forcing yourself to do work in the mornings. Do what is best for you and adjust until you find something that works.
The holiday slump
The worst time of the semester is the last few weeks. Everyone is back from Thanksgiving break, and it feels like there’s only so much time before final exams.
In most areas of the United States, it’s the coldest time of the year. The weather isn’t always the greatest. This can make this time feel extra dreary on top of anticipation of heavy workloads and exams.
Reach out to professors when you can! It may be a little late to start asking about extra credit, but checking in on your average at this point in your classes may be ideal to decide on a game plan.
Your game plan might need changing depending on your grades. For example, calculating that you only need a 35 on the final for a class to pass with an A- means putting that class on the back burner. Then, you can start focusing on the classes that require more work to pass.
Ordering what you need to do based on importance is great for getting through your first year at college.
How to survive college; adjust your goals to fit your needs. Seek the right resources for what you need.
With this in mind, you should still do your research. Not every tip and trick here will fix every problem students face. Regardless, enjoy the next four years. They go by fast, so relish every second of it because it goes by faster than you think.
