Take Five, High Five. | Admissions Blog

Take Five

What is the TAKE FIVE SCHOLARS PROGRAM?

The T5 program complements the University’s vision of a creative and flexible liberal arts education. Students have

a tuition-free year to fulfill their intellectual curiosity, often taking courses irrelevant to their major(s). University of Rochester advocates a ‘build your own curriculum’ philosophy which reflects a high level of trust in the students.

In other words, students are regarded as intellectuals who can maximize their own pursuits and talents without a guideline. The Take 5 program takes this trust to the next level, giving students the liberty of pursuing something entirely different. Take 5 scholars often try to figure out answers to intelligent, creative, and striking questions.

“What’s your TAKE 5 program?”

I’ve answered this question at least a hundred times this semester. Now I usually avoid saying my program title,
Forensic Psychopathology, since everyone gives me the same puzzled reaction: “Wait, what?”

Basically, my Take 5 program is about mental illness (psychopathology) and the law (forensic). So far, I’ve taken
classes from various fields such as psychology, anthropology, history, and philosophy for my program. Major
topics include the insanity defense, suicide prevention, and juvenile delinquency. Although most of my classes offer me facts about mental disorders and the judicial system, I try to contemplate more on their moral implications and applications. For example, what is the line between insanity and sanity? Is suicide assistance really murder? Are juveniles competent to stand trial?

Moreover, my Take 5 program has challenged and improved my critical thinking skills: How do you get people interested in serious topics such as the death penalty? What is the most effective medium to represent such topics? In my ‘Holocaust in Film and Literature‘ class, I’ve been studying various examples of “representing the unrepresentable” to address these questions. One of the examples is documentary film. Recently, I’ve become interested in the art of documentary-making and how they represent societal issues. Fortunately, the Take 5 program is flexible and I can petition to change classes according to my interests. So next semester, I am incorporating a new course called ‘Issues in Film: Documentary and Mock Documentary’ in my program.

Most people assume that the fifth year is an easy year, but this isn’t necessarily true. The classes I’m taking are definitely more fun and interesting, but sometimes I’m not equipped with the appropriate study methods. For example, for my religion class called ‘Guilt,‘ I had to write an essay about ‘sin’ in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) and it was probably one of the most challenging papers I’ve ever written. I have never taken a religion course before, and writing an essay about ‘sin’ in Christianity is nothing like writing a theoretical paper about comparative politics. (I’m an International Relations major.) Moreover, my lack of knowledge in Western theology is making the religion course even more challenging. The professor gave me the benefit of the doubt for my first paper, but I have to be more cautious for my upcoming assignments.

Despite the small challenges and mind-bending moral questions, I’m enjoying my fifth year and trying to make the most out of it. I just realized last week that I haven’t even checked-off half of the U of R Bucket List! Thank goodness for another year! Anyways, feel free to leave a comment if you are interested in the Take 5 program. Don’t pass up this opportunity!