[amznbyebyebye]

It doesn’t have to be. Ideally it should be some time boxed mix of (1) finding yourself (2) once you find yourself specialize in that (3) make friends (4) get some work/research experience

Obviously that’s not for everyone. You don’t need to go to college to do any of that either. It’s a signal that you may have learnt something and may have some smarts if you went to a good school. Beyond that if you’re sharp and GSD on the job, that ultimately outweighs everything else. How you get there - doesn’t have to be via college.