Many of us have been there: It’s almost 8 a.m., your alarm is screeching at you to get up and for the third time this week, you’re asking yourself, “Should I just skip class this morning?”
For people with 8:30 a.m. classes (or anytime before, for that matter), this is an all-too-well-known cycle.
According to many Colgate University students I’ve talked to, 8:30 a.m. classes are dreadful — only made worse by the fact that, for most of the school year, they require trudging through snow and freezing temperatures before most of their peers have even snoozed their alarm. If your roommate doesn’t have class, you’re getting ready in the dark, praying that you don’t wake them up with your not-so-silent shuffling. If you don’t have friends in the class with you, you’re doing this process alone, praying that you’ll at least get your normal seat without looking like you woke up twenty minutes ago — even though you probably did.
Waking up so early also means you’re likely to skip breakfast, feel drowsy during class and, if you usually go, delay a trip to the gym until later. At least for me, eating breakfast, grabbing a coffee and working out are not worth the trade-off of an even earlier alarm.
If the thought of all this sounds so miserable or exhausting, then why on Earth is it worth it? How can I argue that this supposed nightmare scenario is actually underrated and over-hated?
In my opinion, waking up just before 8 a.m. still gives a few minutes to check your phone, a chance to pick out a good outfit, brush your teeth, grab a granola bar and be on your way with 10 minutes to spare. Additionally, while you may have been up late the night before forcing your friends to help you with your calculus homework or reliving crazy gossip from a week ago, an 8 a.m. wake-up call is still reasonable. You can go to bed at 1 a.m. and still get a good seven hours, so in theory, an 8:30 a.m. class shouldn’t rob you of a good night’s sleep.
By the time your 8:30 a.m. class is over — or by the time you’re brutally attacked by the frigid temperatures and snow outside — you’re fully awake. Instead of going back to sleep after class, you can keep your morning going. If you have class right after, then great! Chances are you’ll be done with classes earlier in the day and will have the afternoon to relax, study, be social or go to a lab or practice. If you have a break before your next class, that’s even better. There’s now plenty of time to grab a coffee, get some studying done, get in a quick workout or have breakfast — maybe with a friend who refused to get out of bed at what they claimed was the “ungodly” hour of 8 a.m.
Compared to a 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. start — my nightmarish reality of last semester — an 8:30 a.m. is ideal. I often associate sleeping in later and laying in bed before starting my day to be a weekend ritual, so starting my school days off in the same way makes me feel unproductive and unprepared to tackle the day. Keeping an earlier routine throughout the week is the best way, in my experience, to prevent sluggishness.
None of this is to say that you absolutely must take an 8:30 a.m. class, but I disagree with the notion that they deserve all of the hate. Maybe you’re a night owl and would much rather stay up until the early morning, sleep in and start your day with an 11:20 a.m. class, or you would rather do your homework in the morning when you wake up, before you start classes. To me, this seems like a strange order of operations, and would ruin the routine I’ve worked so hard to build, but if you’re willing to grant yourself a few extra hours of sleep for a more packed productivity schedule later in the day, go for it!
While it may not seem like it when you’re trudging through the snow at such an early hour, an 8:30 a.m. class can help you be more productive sooner in the day — which gives you an excuse for an afternoon nap, if you have the time. To me, there are no long-term downsides to an 8:30 a.m. class, only 20 minutes of struggle each morning as you wake up and debate if you’ll stick to your plan for the day after all.
