People have different learning styles. Some learn best by doing, others by being shown how and yet others can study and learn from books. Doing CS at universi

People have different learning styles. Some learn best by doing, others by being shown how and yet others can study and learn from books. Doing CS at university is only a good option if you learn well in that environment. As many others have pointed out, CS degrees teach you a lot of stuff you will never use. On the flip side, the risk of being a self taught hacker is that you pick up lots of bad habits, could end up with a limited world view. Instead of going to Columbia and racking up a huge student loan debt, seek out a startup or open source project where you can be an apprentice to some masters who have a verifiable track record (majority of professors are lousy programmers if they do any at all). And never stop learning and seeking out ever better masters.