Gimme a Break

"Well, looks like you just messed up Princeton's four-year graduation rate," my dad sarcastically quipped to me when I decided to take a year off last spring. During my college search, my parents had been very concerned about the percentage of students who graduated in four years. At some schools, the numbers were as low as 30 percent. Princeton, however, had some impressive percentage in the high nineties. It comforted my parents to know that most of the people I started with at Princeton would be walking out of FitzRandolph Gate with me.

In its admission literature, Princeton bills itself as a four-year private institution. This description, I feel, is very fitting since most students do graduate in four years. Before I decided to leave for a year and take some time away, I had felt that I should do this too. This was not because I didn't want to mess up Princeton's statistics in the college guides or because an extra year would throw the whole grand master plan for my life off track. But, in some sense of propriety and Princeton convention, this 'just wasn't done.' Luckily, I got past my assumption that taking time off was a bad thing and left our little bubble here in New Jersey for a year. On coming back to campus this spring, I find that nothing has changed — yet everything has changed.

Princeton, itself, is almost exactly the same. They're still serving the oily french fries and soggy Ivy Leaguer sandwiches in Wilcox. The 'Street' still hands out watered-down beer like it's some magical elixir of life. Sure, there's this new, huge monolithic student center in the middle of campus, and I'm trying to figure out what's going on with it, but for the most part, it's all the same.

What's different is me. We all come to Princeton as freshmen still high from our past successes and ready to conquer the world. I have no doubt that at this point we're all ready for the intellectual challenges that Princeton will offer us. What I wonder is if we're all ready for the emotional challenges we'll have to face. College is definitely a critical time in our development. And I wonder if taking a year away from college somewhere during that time wouldn't be beneficial in the long run?

Through a series of events last spring, I decided to leave Princeton and move back in with my parents (no joy, let me tell you). I worked in that 'real world' that some of us will soon enter for good. I did some volunteering. I took a class. I traveled. I spent lots of time reading those books that were on my 'TO READ' list. I came back to visit. And it's strange. Now that I've had some experiences other than getting my reading done for precept, going through Bicker, writing a paper or trying to stay awake in lecture, this place seems totally different to me. I have a completely new perspective on it. All the things I just mentioned are important, no doubt, but I've realized that in the grand scheme of things, they're all relatively insignificant. Don't get me wrong, I've still stayed up late to finish a book for class the next day, and I was still disappointed when Bicker didn't work out for me. But I also realized that there is more to the world than what is behind FitzRandolph Gate, through which we will all — sooner or later — walk. This is probably one of the most important lessons I'll grasp in my time here at Princeton.

So now that my sister is looking at colleges, my parents aren't quite as concerned with the four year graduation rate. In fact, my family thinks that a five-year plan might be a great choice. So long as you're not paying tuition for all five. John Lurz is an English major from Lutherville, MD. He can be reached at johnlurz@princeton.edu.