I had a similar experience. After an 8 month internship making ~$30/hr full time I ended up roughly about where I would have been financially had I not done th

I had a similar experience. After an 8 month internship making ~$30/hr full time I ended up roughly about where I would have been financially had I not done the internship and just stayed in school. I was really upset when I went back to school, but now that I've graduated I look back on it and am just thankful that I was able to spend those 8 months living somewhere new doing something fun. (I would probably feel differently had I been unable to go back to school after the 8 months). That being said, I think it really is horrifying that our education system rewards those students who stay behind and attend summer school more than those who secure good internships. I've never met a talented developer or engineer who didn't have at least 2 summer internships in undergrad. I have, however, met a ton of shitty engineers who took plenty of summer classes.