I think it creates so many more opportunities and pitfalls in that you are treading on fresh snow, so you're in a new place.
I took a year of karate. It was like obligatory. . . every kid was taking like one year of karate and one year of piano in my town. It was Bruce Lee and Liberace. But I was not a white belt. I graduated. I had a colour belt - but that's all you need to know. It could have been black, it could have been yellow, or it could have been anything in between.