Rather than chime in on usefulness of college for learning programming (a reductionist way to look at it), I'll take another approach. A strong CS program in a

Rather than chime in on usefulness of college for learning programming (a reductionist way to look at it), I'll take another approach. A strong CS program in a university (e.g., one of the top-20 for CS, which is actually very a different list from the usual "brand name" schools) is where you learn that your aptitude and previous programming experience won't suffice: you'll also need to apply yourself, handle stress, manage your time. It's harder than many industry programming jobs (which is not only better job preparation, it's also strong incentive to find a position that isn't seen as boring, i.e., one that pushes you). Draw your own conclusions, but I'd suggest speaking to a CS graduate from Berkeley EECS, Stanford, Harvey-Mudd, CMU, University of Washington, UWaterloo, et al about what their program was like. [Disclosure: I didn't attend such a program myself and I turned out okay. However, have I had a chance to do it over again, I'd have attended one of the above mentioned programs -- not because I'd be in a different spot professionally, but because that experience is intrinsically valuable.]