IMC DATELINE ? Red Sox Nation. The first week of Late Fall gets going like the Red Sox in a World Series against the Colorado Rockies: (OK I just had to find a way to slip that in somehow. The second game is ours!) it starts hard and fast and it keeps going.

As all current IMC students know, and maybe some very sly prospective students have heard, the Early Fall term ends on October 22 ? and Late Fall term begins on October 22. Yes! So this is the week when IMC students completely shift gears after finishing final papers or projects for Early Fall and start to master new material.

If a student plans their time well, (like my friend Krista) they have a nice weekend off, catch up on their laundry and social life, and start the Late Fall class nicely refreshed on Monday morning. If a student hasn?t planned their time well or had late-breaking events at work or at home, (like me) they probably started Monday with a final project that wasn?t quite complete, a new text book they needed to retrieve from whichever corner they stashed it in when Amazon.com sent it weeks ago, and very little clean laundry or food around the house.

With first class discussions due on Wednesday (and usually beginning Monday night), I have learned that it is VERY important to get your bearings on the new class as soon as you?ve pressed ?Submit? in the Homework Dropbox for last term?s Final Assignment. You have to start strong, the way the Red Sox started this Series clinching two games for two, or it?s easy to find yourself falling behind. Even though it would be a dramatic finish, I don?t want to ?go all seven games? and submit my final assignment at the last possible moment at 11:55 pm on Christmas Eve. I?d like to see myself finish with time to spare.

One habit I thought I?d share here is taking a few minutes in the first week to scan the syllabus and ALL of the Lessons and Writing Assignments for the new course. This way I can see when I?ll be spending the largest portions of time, gather any materials I?ll need, and pace myself to avoid potential conflicts in my personal life.