Sometimes I wonder how good Michael Phelps would be without the swimming program and the mentors he had along the way. I think there is alot of refinement that

Sometimes I wonder how good Michael Phelps would be without the swimming program and the mentors he had along the way. I think there is alot of refinement that comes from difficult programs built by top educators/researchers in afield over a ling time. Now, the gap between a University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon may not be massive, but completing either of these long 4 year marathons for a B.S. will refine you in a way that for the vast majority of people, self study will not Even then, those who can self study right out of high school, who are these people? How do they have the discipline, the study skills, the vision to complete that gauntlet alone, at 18, without a group of peers and people to learn from. These individuals likely had a great home and k-12 education. Its a monumental task even for the most brilliant of us. Those who could do it, already have incredible discipline, drive, intelligence and clarity for their age and probably should be getting a scholarship somewhere (if not for personality and learning disabilities that make conventionally structured schooling difficult for them. Then again, as someone who went through a B.S. in engineering, self taught themselves (after reaching out for mentorship of course) my next degree will focus on getting into an in person masters where creating deep networking connections with my cohort is the goal equal to the degree itself. I will say that I am struggling on when and where and how much should I be prepared to spend. Its expensive, but most of the invaluable things in life are. And its very easy to ignore the large benefits of the connections and certifications if you arent part of the communities that are leveraging those assets to great advantages for themselves and their family. Education, discipline and connections are the most valuable and risk resistant assets in life.