Why do we skip?

 We’ve all been there. It’s a Friday afternoon, you haven’t done the reading for class and there’s freezing rain outside. You weigh the options and, in the end, decide that missing this one class won’t be the end of the world. Students skip classes for various reasons, but most of us are guilty of missing an occasional class without thinking twice about it. 

Although there is no official survey data on this subject, here’s our take on the five most common reasons students skip class.

At a school with such a big bar culture, most popular Main Line bars offer reduced drink specials on the weekdays that are just too good to pass up. With Flip & Bailey’s on Monday, Kelly’s Dollar Drinks on Tuesday, Erin’s Quizzo on Wednesdays and The Grog on Thursday, partying during the week can be hard to resist. It is often even more tempting than getting your eight hours of sleep a night.

In addition, most Greek Life organizations opt to have their socials on weeknights because they receive reduced prices when booking venues. Getting up for that 8:30 a.m. class the next morning is more difficult when you didn’t get home until 3 a.m., especially if you are nursing a killer hangover.  



2. The weather When you look out the window and snowflakes are falling, staying cozy in bed seems much more appealing than treking to class. Not only is weather a deterrent for on-campus residents, off-campus students may prefer the more enticing option of curling up with a cup of hot chocolate and watching reruns of The Office rather than braving the slippery roads.   In the opposite sense, that first day of summer sunshine after a long winter makes being crammed in a classroom on the third floor of Tolentine seem like a terrible alternative. Not all classes are lucky enough to have a spontaneous professor who takes the class to sit on the grass in the Grotto on those sunny days. When the sun is shining so brightly that lying out on Sheehan Beach feels like the only option, weather can be a factor in the decision to skip class.  



3. You aren’t prepared for class It is easy to get into the mentality that if you haven’t done the work, then you may as well skip because you won’t be able to follow the material. In fact, many students skip because they have “better things to do.” “A student once used the excuse on me that they could not come to class because they were busy planning a party for their fraternity,” says Catherine Kerrison, a political science professor.  “I find that students often have unexcused absences from class because their priorities lie in finishing work for another class,” says Craig Wheeland, associate vice president of academic affairs.  


4. You  overslept We can all agree that 8:30 a.m. is early. In fact, this class time has lower registration rates than most because both students and professors do not want to wake up that early. However, because of the number of classes offered and the number of classrooms needed to accommodate them, classes must be spread out between early mornings and late nights. While athletes and ROTC students have no problem getting up early, most of us have a daily fight with ourselves over whether or not to press the snooze button just one more time.  Early morning and night classes are skipped more often than afternoon classes, which according to Kerrison, is why many professors set their sights on midday classes. 


5. You’re sick “This is my ninth sick day this semester. It’s getting pretty tough coming up with new illnesses. If I go for 10, I’m probably gonna have to barf up a lung. So, I better make this one count.” While Ferris Bueller may have been an artist at faking an illness, not all professors are going to accept so many excuses. Although the Health Center does issue notes confirming a student’s visit for freshmen, they do not do so for upperclassmen. Instead, whether the student is telling the truth or not is at the discretion of the professor. So why aren’t upperclassmen granted excused absence notes from the Health Center?