Students fight withdrawal stigma

Though "the numbers vary from year to year," University Registrar Joseph Greenberg said, 75 students withdrew voluntarily last year, while 35 were required to for academic or disciplinary reasons.

The decision to withdraw "include[d] a wide range of circumstances," Associate Dean of the College Richard Williams said. Some people were told to take time off by the disciplinary or the Honor committees; others "had wonderful opportunities to travel or do internships."

In between were those people who had medical issues — several women left this fall because they felt "physically uncomfortable," he said. Other students had to withdraw due to psychological problems, like depression or eating disorders. "Almost all would have preferred to stay in school," but the situation was too difficult for them to manage, Williams said.

A senior who had studied abroad in England during her junior year and who had "detached [herself] from her first two years at Princeton" took what would have been her senior fall off because she felt "overwhelmed" by the prospect of her thesis. Because she also wanted to gain more work experience, she went to work in a publishing company in Toronto.

Though she said it had been a hard decision, she argued that taking time off had allowed her to come back to campus "more focused" and "made [her] appreciate Princeton more," especially after her year spent at an "impersonal" university in England. She also added that Dean Williams had been "fantastic, very supportive, very understanding."

The University tries to help students ease the transition to and from college life. While away from Princeton, students are encouraged to keep in contact with friends to stay aware of what happens on campus. Their email accounts are kept open, Williams said.

But, there are also a small number of students "who want to be left alone and feel embarrassed and concerned that people might assume the worst."

However, he added that "virtually everyone comes back." A few students may be required to withdraw for a second time and are not readmitted, but "99 percent of withdrawn students who come back do so after one, two or three years."

When a student comes back as a freshman or a sophomore, the dean of his or her residential college or the director of studies "is meant to reach out to make sure things are doing well," Williams said.

Williams said he also invites students to come see him.

Nevertheless, the smoothness of the transition back to school depends on individual cases. Williams distinguished two categories of people: those "who left with a wide range of friends in their original class or in their new class" and for whom the transition is "seamless"; and those "who left late in junior or senior year" and who "are apprehensive, because their friends have already graduated."

Natalie Kurz '04, who withdrew after her sophomore year, recalled that the first two or three weeks back at school were "tough, but outweighed by the positive experience of taking a year off."

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Though she acknowledged that the administration had been very supportive, she also pointed out a few logistical problems. She said she received mail from both the classes of 2003 and 2004. "It seemed nobody really knew what class I was in."

Kurz was also given her room assignment only two weeks before she came back. "Nobody knew I was back," she said. Another senior described similar housing concerns.

Yet "not everyone chooses to come back; a small number of people transfer to other universities" and certain students for whom psychological problems don't improve decide to not come back, Williams said.

Is withdrawal a taboo subject in Princeton? "Institutionally, no," Williams said, adding he has never tried to talk people out of their decision to withdraw, because taking some time off "does so many people so much good."

Yet, he acknowledged, "there is a strong impression among many students that Princeton doesn't want people to take time off," which he said "could not be farther from the truth."

Kurz '04 expressed a similar concern: "If you don't graduate in four years, kids here see it as a failure."

But according to a questionnaire filled by withdrawn students, all of those who left of their own volition would do it again, Williams said. A student even remarked "you ought to make everyone take time off."