Having gone to two of the top five cs schools, I haven't really learned much about computer science from either. The lectures were boring/unintelligible and not

Having gone to two of the top five cs schools, I haven't really learned much about computer science from either. The lectures were boring/unintelligible and not motivational (foreign researcher prof., you know what I'm talking about). The MPs were great, but they're not something you really need to pay for. These days you can find technical challenges for yourself anywhere. Read a book. The biggest benefit was forcing me to learn things on my own, otherwise I would have never forgiven myself for flushing hundreds of thousands of dollars down the toilet. All of my best CS experiences were when I individually worked on machine problems meant for two or three people, learning a lot through the struggle. At the end, I learned how to learn a little bit better, but I didn't learn much about CS. I thought I was the hottest thing on the block once I got into the job world, only to find out I knew nothing. That was THE ONE thing that greatly motivated me and pushed me to learn everything I could about the domain. Once again, it wasn't college that did it.