A senior in high school, Jen was involved in student government, cheerleading, a community service organization and enrolled in multiple honors courses. Every person in my high school had no clue how she managed to balance everything and still get good grades. Rumor had it that her secret was to stay up until midnight, take a nap until 2 a.m. then get up and do more work until 4 a.m. then go back to bed until 6 a.m. Getting up early in the morning doesn't have the same positive effect on a person's work ability. Staying up late is a staple of the college experience.
College students are finally free of the parental concern over lack of sleep.
With no one announcing a set bedtime, college students are free to put homework off until the early hours of the morning. One of the reasons late nights make for better work hours than early mornings is because of the incentives. Contrary to what people may think, there are a lot of incentives to staying up late to cram or even pulling an all-nighter. First, there are the late night runs to 7-11 or Taco Bell. During the day, the same snack run wouldn't be anything more than an odd grocery-shopping trip.