1. Class is expensive and your parents are paying (a lot) for you to be there.
I am not joking. Average Lehigh class costs about $125 dollars and that’s just a normal class. An average lab class can reach up to around $200 per lab. That is an expensive 50 or 90 minutes of youre life. Might as well attend the service you have already paid for.
2. Professors are pretty smart people.
Think about it a professor is someone who obviously went through a lot of school and reading and such in order to obtain their doctorate. They notice when you are not present in class and though they do not take typical roster high school style attendance, they do notice if you only show up to class for the exams. Remember that first day of class when you actually read the syllabus and it said that class participation is worth 15% of your grade, well that hasn’t changed and you not attending is only going to hurt you in the long run. Plus, come the end of the semster when you are borderline C-/B+, I am sure your professor will go more in your favor if you attended class vs. if you hadn’t at all.
PS. if you do participate, even if you think gibberish is coming out of your mouth, own it.
3. Pop Quizzes
A lot of classes have unannounced quizzes. Why? Is it becasue the professor is a mean spirited individual set out to ruin your life? Maybe, but usually it is for the exact reason that a lot of people skip class. It is quite simple, if you show up to class and bomb a pop quiz you get an F. If you don’t show up at all you get a zero and 50% is a lot better than zero. We all remember Professor Gunter and his “curve busters”, so we should all learn our lesson from freshmen year and show up to our classes.
4. Exams
A lot of exams are 50% readings and 50% class lecture. A big part of class lecture besides simplyifying readings that are supposed to be done prior to class is to include information not written down on the syllabus. Plus a lot of professors will go over the readings and mention in class specific examples that may appear on the exams. As well all know many classes grades are made up of the two 4 o’clocks and your final, so if you want to do well on your exams then go to class.
5. Comprehension
This may just be for me, but half the time I think my reading are in another language becase they are so confusing or they are so dull and boring that I zone out. Lectures are much more interactive than readings (depending on the professor) and they will take key concepts and theories in class and simplify them. One of my classes right now, my professor took a semi-confusing topic and translated it into terms college students would understand by comparing the concept to being set up on a blind date. Simple comparsion, but I know when my exam comes I will remember the simple analogy from class not the irrelevant one from my textbook.
6. Nobody likes a moocher
I am all about helping out a friend, If we both go to class everyday and study together and you want to compare notes and vice versa, that’s fine. But I do NOT want to share my notes with someone who NEVER attends class because they were too hungover to go. Not an excuse. This is Lehigh we play hard, work hard. Don’t give anyone the excuse you couldn’t go to your Friday class because you went out the night before because I guarantee a good majority people sitting in your 11am in Packard right now also enjoyed their Thirsty Thursday and they still found the effort to get out of bed. If you are too hungover too function once in a while and need a friends backup, they got you. That being said, don’t be the partyer boy cried wolf becasue eventually people are going to stop helping you out if you never ever go to that class.
Devils advocate: there are few, but some classes that give almost zero incentive to attend. Why? They have one textbook, reading only from that textbook and then powerpoints everyday which are word for word the textbook and they read the slides verbatim. So if you have adequate reading comprehension and manage to do well on exams, then you’re set. So in all honestly not that you should miss ALL those classes, but I understand that those professors aren’t helping my point in why it is worth it to go to class.
Sometimes people say in college you can only choose two of the three: sleep, fun, or good grades. I think most people at Lehigh aim for the last two. So bottom line, even if you wake up 10 minutes before your class in Maginnes, run down the hill in your sweatpants and messed up hair and MAKE IT TO CLASS. I really believe that your professors, Lehigh, your GPA and probably your future employer will thank you for it.