I'm currently still in college, so I guess I understand a little about your dilemma. However, I am not from the US (from Singapore), so my situation might be slightly different.
Since I'm currently in my final year, I appreciate my education a lot more than before. There are so many fundamentals that I wish I had spent more time on, that are coming back to haunt me now. (P.S. I'm in engineering=))
School gives you an opportunity to meet smart people that forms your future team. You'll be surprised how many projects get started in college. It's pretty difficult to meet people like that randomly. School gives you a chance to work with people so that you can find out what kind of team player you are, your own personal strengths and weaknesses.
Study what you really like and try to be damn good at it.
I'm just starting to learn programming, but I think most people would acknowledge that combining knowledge from other fields makes you better in the field that you choose to specialize in. You also get access to teachers who can guide you along the difficult parts when you get stuck. Find good teachers, and you might not find school a waste of time. =)
School provides resources that are relatively freely available for you to take advantage of. There are funding schemes, equipment, computers, a captive audience to test on, an alumni network, overseas opportunities..
It's really up to you how you manage your time during those 4 years. If you are as smart as I think you are, you would realise that school gives you a lot of assets that you can leverage on easily. If you have been always under-challenged, maybe you should try taking the advanced modules available.
School is not a direct path to a dull job at a large company. You still choose what you want to do at every stage of your education/life.
Unfortunately, to be a founder, you need multiple skillsets which you can only achieve either by being extremely multi-talented or by forming a team.
Lastly, you might end up not knowing what you don't know if you don't go to school formally.
I'm currently still in college, so I guess I understand a little about your dilemma. However, I am not from the US (from Singapore), so my situation might be slightly different.
Since I'm currently in my final year, I appreciate my education a lot more than before. There are so many fundamentals that I wish I had spent more time on, that are coming back to haunt me now. (P.S. I'm in engineering=))
School gives you an opportunity to meet smart people that forms your future team. You'll be surprised how many projects get started in college. It's pretty difficult to meet people like that randomly. School gives you a chance to work with people so that you can find out what kind of team player you are, your own personal strengths and weaknesses.
Study what you really like and try to be damn good at it.
I'm just starting to learn programming, but I think most people would acknowledge that combining knowledge from other fields makes you better in the field that you choose to specialize in. You also get access to teachers who can guide you along the difficult parts when you get stuck. Find good teachers, and you might not find school a waste of time. =)
School provides resources that are relatively freely available for you to take advantage of. There are funding schemes, equipment, computers, a captive audience to test on, an alumni network, overseas opportunities..
It's really up to you how you manage your time during those 4 years. If you are as smart as I think you are, you would realise that school gives you a lot of assets that you can leverage on easily. If you have been always under-challenged, maybe you should try taking the advanced modules available.
School is not a direct path to a dull job at a large company. You still choose what you want to do at every stage of your education/life.
Unfortunately, to be a founder, you need multiple skillsets which you can only achieve either by being extremely multi-talented or by forming a team.
Lastly, you might end up not knowing what you don't know if you don't go to school formally.