I'm sure the range of answers on this one are going to be widely varied, but I'll give you my perspective (basically option 1). I graduated Cum Laude with a CS

I'm sure the range of answers on this one are going to be widely varied, but I'll give you my perspective (basically option 1). I graduated Cum Laude with a CS degree in June. Going into school I had ~30 math and writing credits from HS so by the time I started my Sophomore year I was at the point where 12 credits/term (we were on quarters) would allow me to graduate on time. I held a job the entire time I was in school (just noting an additional time commitment) and having less credits/classes each term was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. Stress levels drop extremely when you don't have to worry about multiple tests a week or have more than two finals on a single day. It allowed me thoroughly enjoy my college experience (ie. partying whenever I wanted, generally just doing whatever I felt like that day, etc) and never worry about having to pull all nighters or rely on adderall binges to finish assignments. I probably could have spent my time more productively (working on side projects or something similar) but basically college became 4 years of social fun with classes littered in-between. I would say it really just depends on what you're trying to get out of your time at school. At the time I wasn't looking to differentiate myself from everyone else (I had no clue what I wanted to do) and just had a bunch of fun (which you'll never be able to experience something like 4 years of minimal time commitment and tens of thousands of other 20-somethings with no supervision anywhere else). If you want to stand out to employers post-graduation, I definitely wouldn't suggest doing what I did. I was turned down for multiple jobs due to lack of experience, but I eventually managed to land one with a startup in SV.