he was an undergraduate

from Herman Melville, Moby Dick
[Ishmael describes his bedmate for the night, the "cannibal" Queequeg]:

But Queequeg, do you see, was a creature in the transition stage-- neither caterpillar nor butterfly. He was just enough civilised to show off his outlandishnes in the strangest possible manner. His education was not yet completed. He was an undergraduate.