that sometimes / kinda works for me, but it seems my semi-conscious mind is a crafty devil, and manages to stay mostly-unconscious through even somewhat complicated tasks.

There's also some past health problems I've had which sometimes leaves me really light-headed when I stand up in the morning, so my options upon hitting the alarm are to lose vision and nearly pass out, or hurry to lay back down.

Also, keep in mind that due to the strange sleep schedule, 8am classes commonly mean I get less than 5 hours of sleep. Try getting 3-4 hours of sleep per night (or less, if I've had a project) for a week, and see how well you wake up to your alarm clock. Now sleep in on the weekend to try to make up for the deficit, and continue this for a few years. Alarm clocks just don't cut it.