"If you're really interested in your subject you don't need people telling you what to learn and not to learn." Only if you don't mind spending 5 year on what

"If you're really interested in your subject you don't need people telling you what to learn and not to learn." Only if you don't mind spending 5 year on what could have been done in 1 if only someone had told you what to focus on, where to start looking and every now and then points out some connections that you missed yourself. Of course it's possible to learn the same thing somebody learns in university on your own. Whether you can learn it as efficiently - that's another question.