Prefrosh pack their bags for India, Ghana, Serbia and Peru

The students have been selected. Their host countries have been picked. And the kickoff for the inaugural first bridge year is just eight weeks away.

Twenty members of the Class of 2013 will defer matriculation and spend the next academic year in Peru, Ghana, Serbia and India, the University announced earlier this week. The group was selected from 54 applicants, chosen for their "openness, maturity, flexibility, courage, resourcefulness, eagerness to be challenged and commitment to service abroad."

Among the students: four hail from California, three from North Carolina, two from New York, Virginia, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey, and one from Wisconsin, Oregon and Turkey.

The chosen 20 will gather at Princeton during the last week of August for a "pre-departure orientation" before splitting into groups of five and heading to their specific country. One year later they'll return, joining what will then be the incoming Class of 2014.