Do the dreams students have at night or during their long afternoon naps mean anything?
Do reoccurring dreams have specific meanings?
A few students and professionals agree that dreams are personal and cannot be interpreted, except by the individual.
"My guess is that there is very little, if any, research that would be credible on dreams," said Sarah Wilson, a local family counselor and graduate of Richmond University, with a master's in professional counseling. "We learn how to help a person process and talk through what a dream means if they come to us with one, but there are no classes where we learn what dreams mean or anything like that."
Talking through them is one way Rhoades Hughes, senior in electrical engineering, deals with his dreams.
"My roommates and I discuss our dreams all of the time," Hughes said, "especially our crazy ones."
Katie Sturgis, junior in art, said dreams had specific meanings in the past, such as in biblical times, but she thinks it's not as likely to happen now.
"Dreams can teach you things," Sturgis said. "You can take what you want out of them."
Hughes said she also believes in the possibility of spiritual dreams.
"I think I have had dreams where I was supposed to get something out of it," Hughes said. "But for the most part I think dreams are just random stuff."
According to Ana Franco-Watkins, psychology professor, dreams are only random thoughts.
"I don't believe in the dream analysis," Franco-Watkins said. "It hasn't been scientifically demonstrated that we can interpret dreams."
Franco-Watkins said there are different books written about translating the meanings of dreams.
Franco-Watkins tried to make sense of dreams once in an Intro to Psychology class she taught by having students write down their dreams and then look up the meanings.
She said the translations were outrageous and all over the place.
"It just proves that there is no system to dream interpreting," Franco-Watkins said.
Whether a dream is translatable, students admit to occasionally letting their dreams determine how they feel throughout the day.
Piper Schouten, junior in human development and family studies with a concentration in social work, said she barely ever remembers her dreams.
"But, if I have a bad dream and remember it," Schouten said. "I'll worry all day because I'll be thinking about it."
Rachel Brown, junior in exercise science, also said she often doesn't remember her dreams.
"I had a dream last night that my roommate's dog, Lily, died," Brown said. "It was terrible."
Brown thinks the dreams she remembers could be caused by what is on her mind at the time.
"I'm glad I don't remember my dreams," Brown said, "because when I do, and it's weird stuff, I think about it too much the next day."
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