The prospect of 8 a.m. classes fills students with dread each and every semester. We all know the sinking feeling of seeing that a crucial class is only offered at 8 a.m.
As daunting as trudging out of bed at early-o-clock to get to class can be, there are a lot of benefits to this hardship.
Firstly, starting classes earlier has been linked to higher grades.
A study conducted at New York’s St. Lawrence University says that students that started their classes earlier in the day ended up with higher GPAs at the end of the semester.
Although the statistics show that there is only a .2 point increase for every hour, that increase can put one over the line for keeping a scholarship or graduating with honors.
The study also shows that students that started their classes earlier also tended to get better sleep, allowing them to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for their early morning lectures. This was chalked up to that the students’ early wake-ups daunted them from going on late-night benders or other excursions.
I feel like this is a reasonable claim to make, at least judging from my experiences. I can’t count how many times myself or a friend have declined plans using the old “I have 8 a.m.s” excuse.
Waking up early has also been linked to productivity.
Complutense University in Madrid ran a study that showed that people who woke up early were less likely to procrastinate compared to their peers who slept in.
I can attest to this claim. I find that after my busier days of class, I’m much more likely to keep working on assignments after class whereas, on my calmer days, I just want to sit in bed and watch Netflix.
Finally, it is so much easier to find parking at 8 a.m. than it is at a later time like 10 a.m.
Although this is not a problem for non-commuters, any commuter knows the struggle of prowling through a parking lot searching for a space and hoping that the other three cars in the lot didn’t find the last one.
So if not for any other reason, commuters should take the 8 a.m. classes for the easy parking.
However, despite the fact that I am endorsing 8 a.m.s, I know that they might not be the best option for everyone.
Someone who is used to starting their day at 9 or 10 a.m. may not like the idea of waking up with the birds.
If you do not reasonably think that you will be able to keep up the early morning grind, there’s really no reason to sign up for an 8 a.m.
After all, you can only get the aforementioned benefits if you can actually wake up and get to class.
