I never went to college, but I felt like you do about my high school grades. Now that I've spent 15 year in industry, on the other side of the table interviewi

I never went to college, but I felt like you do about my high school grades. Now that I've spent 15 year in industry, on the other side of the table interviewing college graduates, I know that I haven't given up anything verses the _average_ college CS graduate. In spite of this I'm looking to start going to college for the first time this fall. While I believe the average college CS student has no advantage over a motivated self-starter I think those who really strive to achieve their best and take advantage of the resources available to them will end up ahead of the self-educated. So now that I look back, I believe that attending a good college and putting forth 100% effort will give me both personal satisfaction and afford more opportunities than I would have available to me otherwise. What I'm trying to say is: if you don't care about performing as well as possible, you're not getting much of a career advantage from going to college. On the other hand, if you strive for your best you can open up opportunities that you'd never be able to reach otherwise.