Besides the rare, but existent, self-proclaimed morning people out there, few students are interested in waking up for an early morning class.As much as we try to avoid Friday classes, we’re also trying to avoid any class that starts before 9:55 a.m., though even that can be pushing it. And if you’ve ever had a late enrollment date, you know the pain of realizing there are only early morning classes with open seats left. 

Recently, a study was released which confirms that earlier classes lead to higher GPAs for college students. If this is true, it might be time to reconsider those 8:30 a.m. classes and, if you’re really adventurous, maybe even the 7:45 a.m. classes. It could be worth it.

This study was conducted by two psychology professors at St. Lawrence University in New York. They found that students' grades dropped for each later class during the day. “This is really surprising because I feel like I’d be half asleep in an early morning class and not even do well,” said Alma Reinenbach, Delta Gamma. Most people would agree with this and think that if they got more sleep in the morning they would be more awake during their afternoon classes. But based on this study, students who take morning classes go to sleep earlier, work and study more efficiently and stay sober during the week, which leads to better grades.

Some students disagree that morning classes lead to going to sleep earlier. “Last semester, I had a 7:45 a.m. Spanish class every day that I couldn’t miss. But, luckily, it was my only class on Fridays so even if I was up late the night before, I could take a nap right after class was done,” said Winnie Dresden, Delta Delta Delta.

Just because students have early morning classes, doesn’t mean they will be able to go to sleep early, whether that’s because of a late night of studying, the temptation to go out anyway, or just getting distracted and staying up late talking with friends. 

This study could be considered questionable because of people’s different personalities and study habits, as everyone functions differently. For some people, it’s better to get their classes done early in the day so they can spend the rest of the afternoon doing homework and then get to sleep early. For others, they’d rather be able to sleep in late and then have their classes in the afternoon.

Even though we all have different preferences when it comes to class times, everyone can agree that you definitely don’t want a day full of early morning and late afternoon classes. “I get so tired by the end of the day when I’ve been up early and then go to classes all day long, into the late afternoon. I don’t know how we did it in high school,” said Karley Gosselin, Kappa Kappa Gamma.

This study could just be a university’s attempt to convince students to enroll in their earlier classes and go out less at night, or it could actually be true and lead to a new norm of taking 8:30 a.m. classes just to get that higher GPA. Good luck to whoever decides to try out this theory.