[Patrick del Poker Grande]

It's hard to get back into it after a break. I had a semi-bad case of senioritis towards the end of my undergrad degree. I graduated in December, took an internship in January, and started grad school the next fall. It's hard to come back to school after a summer break, but coming back after 8 or 9 months was very tough for me to get back into it. I have no idea how some people do it when they take years off. Your situation is a bit different, though, and your hand may be a bit forced. If you're 4 years into college and you don't know what you want to do, then maybe it's time to really evaluate what the hell's going on. Maybe your problem is that you're going to an inferior school (sorry - I went to UM, so I had to get at least a weak shot in there). Money forces the issue and if you can really make enough cash in one semester to do all that you say, then that sounds pretty good.

I guess I'm not giving a real good answer, but it seems that maybe a semester off is right for you. There's not much use in wasting the time and money on something you don't even know is in the right direction. I've just never seen anybody actually do well when they've done this.