I'd say don't go to college if you think you can meet people and find jobs without it. Here's my story. In 2007 I left high school 2 years early and went to c

I'd say don't go to college if you think you can meet people and find jobs without it. Here's my story. In 2007 I left high school 2 years early and went to community college. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life; all I knew was that I hated high school. During the next 3 years at community college, I learned that I was way better at computer programming than I thought, and that I wanted to do software startups for a living. I got accepted as a computer science transfer student to UC Berkeley, but by this time I had learned to work 6-8 hour days 6 days a week programming my own stuff. I was very ambivalent about whether to go, but a friend of mine who I had a lot of respect for said I would actually be more productive there, so I went. Pros of going to college: * Diverse experiences are good, right? I walked alone in the hills a few times, snuck in to one of the other dorm buildings at night, got girls' phone numbers and learned just how polite a rejection can be, tried drinking, and met a homeless guy who succeeded in convincing me he had a PhD in biology from MIT. I probably wouldn't have had these adventures at home. * I met a designer (who was actually already my friend on Facebook) and now we're collaborating. Cons: * My 6-8 hour days fell apart. I now work maybe 1-2 hours a day on my projects. * UC Berkeley students aren't really all that clever. Even among the computer science students, many couldn't program before they came here, and a solid majority of them never program unless it's for school. * It's a bit hard to relate to the freshmen on my floor. I don't think I've ever had a really good conversation with any of them, let alone a good conversation about physics/economics/etc. * My classes are dull. I already know what's being taught. And non-sped-up lectures are an inefficient way of learning things in general. I'll believe that educators seriously want to educate students when they write education websites that optimize for learning the way e-commerce sites optimize for conversions. How to meet people? * Scour your Facebook friends, gChat contacts, etc. I didn't know my friend Persia was in to web design; I had to run in to her in Berkeley to find out. That's an inefficient way of doing things. * Go to events like SuperHappyDevHouse, meetup.com stuff * younoodle.com? djangopeople.net? etc. One option is to go to college and then withdraw. UCB at least offers guaranteed readmission to withdrawals. I'll probably do that if I find that I can't reconstruct my 6-8 hour days or I become ramen profitable.