But as first-years quickly learn, with a crushing course load and more than 250 extracurricular options, sleep is often the last thing on the schedule.

Next year, however, Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) plans to implement a nightly midnight snack--a sign that Harvard is moving toward a tacit acknowledgement of students' 24-hour lifestyle.

But even though change is in the air, not everyone thinks that shifting the College's hours to fit students' habits is necessarily the right idea. They have a simpler answer: an alarm clock.

"I don't want to stand up as a member of another generation telling the younger generation how to apportion their time," says Winthrop House Master Paul D. Hanson. "[But] I think it's sad if Harvard students change their schedules simply because of a cultural trend. They can stand up and say they want to set their schedule to maximize learning experience and maintain healthy bodies."

Late Late Night

As any fan of Animal House knows, college students don't keep an orderly schedule.

At Harvard, undergraduates may not be attending wild fraternity parties every day, but they tend to stay up late anyway. Unfortunately, their academic performance suffers, students say.

"My hours are really screwed up," says Alfa Tiruneh '03, who typically goes to bed between 3 and 5 a.m.