Back to School: First Week Problems

By Desiaire Rickman on August 25, 2013

It’s that time of year again! Back to school!

Summer is over and the new school year has begun. Freshmen are settling into their new homes and upperclassmen are reconnecting with their friends and becoming reacquainted with their second home.

However, once the back-to-school parties and icebreakers are done, what’s left are the classes, the professors, and the problems. A lot of the bad happens during the first few weeks of college, so here are a few tips to help you avoid these messy situations.

Do your back-to-school shopping early.

Need a new backpack? Items for your dorm room? Looking for a bed for your new apartment? Whatever it is, have it before you get to campus.

It’s no fun moving into your dorm room or apartment and realizing that you’re missing essentials like toothpaste, paper and hangers. Instead, buy the things you know you’ll need throughout the summer and keep a list of things that must be bought before you’re back on campus.

Trying to buy what you need before school starts can be both stressful and expensive. Everybody goes back to school around the same time, so stores are definitely going to take the opportunity to increase their prices on food, furniture and school supplies.

Shopping early is not only fiscally responsible, but also the smartest option all around. Why stress over something when it could’ve been handled months before? It doesn’t all have to be done at the same time; it can be done at different times buying different items. It’s a lot easier than buying everything at the very last minute.

Have your textbooks before classes start.

This feeds back into doing your back-to-school shopping early, but this is so important that it earned its own section.

Have your textbooks before your first class meeting. Don’t wait for the syllabus and don’t wait on the professor. Some professors are nice enough to email you about the textbook you’ll need before the school year starts, but not all of them will do this. Get smart and do your research!

You know what course you signed up for, who the professor is (normally) and what section number your class is. Take this information and find out what textbook you will need to buy in order to be successful in the class.

Does your university have its own bookstore? Start there. Go to their website (if they have one), and using the information for your class, find the name, author and edition of the textbook. No bookstore? How about Barnes & Noble? Do the exact same thing. Once you understand what textbook you’ll be needing, compare prices. Does your university library carry it on reserve? Do you want your own copy? What are the bookstores near your campus offering it for? Do you want to rent or buy? All of these should be considered when obtaining the textbook.

At Ohio State, there are four bookstores near campus (outside from the university bookstore) in which textbooks can be bought: UBX Book Exchange, Student Book Exchange (SBX), College Town and Barnes and Noble. OSU students should visit these locations or their websites to compare prices. If none of them are asking for the right price in your budget, you can always try Amazon.

No matter where you buy your textbooks from, make sure to have them before school starts, for there’s always that one professor that wants to test you on readings from the textbook at the end of the first week. You never know, so be prepared.

Decide what classes you will commit to for the semester.

Every college has its graduating requirements and every major has its own. Most of the time they mesh together nicely, but other times you have to pick and choose which classes to take that won’t be insufferable or an annoyance.

Scheduling classes is always a fun and nerve-wracking experience, but no matter how much you believe you are in control, you never really are. You could sign up for the easiest classes, yet get the professor with the hardest grading policy. You could sign up for the hardest classes, yet get the professor who doesn’t post grades when they need to be posted or has a lousy grading policy.

You are spending your money to study at your institution, so at the very least you should get the professors that will teach you what you need to be taught and move on to your next course. Sadly, that’s not how it works, so every now and then you’ll have to improvise.

During the first week of classes, it’s important to keep track of the classes you’re taking and the professor that’s teaching those classes. Remember, you’re stuck with them for the next four months, so those four months can either go without trouble or be the most troublesome you’ve ever had.

Don’t like the class? Change it, as soon as you can. You have the power to add and drop classes within the first few weeks of the semester, so if you even begin to suspect that you won’t do well in the class, get out and find another class you might be interested in. The “wait-and-see” way almost never works and you’ll end up either failing or having a “W” (withdrawn) on your transcript.

Don’t like the professor? Move to another section. Just because you know you’ll love the material being taught in the class doesn’t mean you should have to pound away hours of classwork and homework for a professor you can’t personally stand. There are a million reasons a student may not like a professor, and that’s okay. You’re not required to like them, just as you’re not required to stay in their class.

Don’t know what to do? Talk to an academic advisor at your college. Get advice and decide what your next steps will be. Depending on your year, you can always retake the class with a different professor at a later date. About to graduate? Talking to your advisor can show you the options you have so that you won’t have to stress over the one class you don’t like.

A lot can happen during your first week back to school, so plan wisely and be ready to improvise if certain things don’t go as planned. But despite these #FirstWeekProblems, never forget to have a fun new school year!

#GoBucks!

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Get Top Stories Delivered Weekly

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format