I'm not the OP, but I can say that pursuing anything where you have to spend large amounts of time learning on your own to achieve a deep understanding of a top

I'm not the OP, but I can say that pursuing anything where you have to spend large amounts of time learning on your own to achieve a deep understanding of a topic gives you valuable learning skills. I find people from these paths typically learn topics more quickly and with a better understanding than someone finishing their undergrad degree. Maybe that is what OP was getting at.