Author: Jeremy Candelas

Dear 9 AM classes,

You are the bane of my existence. If it weren’t for the fact that 9:05 is the only time my core classes are offered, I would never even have considered taking a class so early in the morning. Honestly, why would anyone want to give up precious, precious slumber? I’m already sacrificing my sleep to work on various assignments every night as it is. It truly amazes me that there are classes offered even earlier on in the day, let alone students willing to take said courses (unless they, too, are being forced?).

Every day I find myself forced to crawl out of bed at 8:00 to head to class, lest I miss a quiz. Once- just once – I would like to have a day where I can sleep in. If it was just the quiz, maybe I would skip a little more often – but alas, “attendance.” And I certainly don’t go for the lecture material because (let’s be honest) I’m too tired to understand anything that early in the morning anyways.

Time and time again, I am forced between two forms of dress:

1.     Dressing like a bum, in the jeans I wore yesterday and whatever hoodie I happen to grab first, or
2.     Looking somewhat presentable to try and impress the girl who sits 5 rows away from me (and doesn’t know my name).

Perhaps the worst part of an 9:05 is that I never have time to get coffee. It’s a vicious cycle, really: I need coffee to function, but I can’t function enough to get ready without the coffee. Hell, I barely get to class in time as it is. Only after my 9AM classes do I have time to grab my Grande Chai Tea Latte, and by then it’s too late – I’ve already missed everything going on in lecture.

There’s a scientific study (read: propaganda) going around, published in the New York Times, touting the “benefits” of early classes. Apparently, for every hour later a class starts, there is a .02 difference in overall grades. While that may sound appealing to the average pre-med student, I’d much prefer an extra hour of sleep, thank you very much.

Begrudgingly,

Jeremy