[iratewizard]

The best option is not to go. I had also done full time programming for clients from age 15 on. 5 years after that I got opportunities to lead small projects. 10 more years after that and I was made VP of an engineering department. I've worked a lot with fresh graduates from "good" schools with good GPAs. I've always been thoroughly unimpressed by what they know and what they think is important for the job.

[kevincox]

This is basically what I did. The only complication were "quizes" which were just completion marks but at random times. So I would skip 4-5 classes after each quiz then come to classes and so personal programming in the back until the next quiz landed.

[eBombzor]

You sound like someone who thinks they're better than everyone else.

[gwbrooks]

Across virtually any measurable trait or collection of traits with a reasonably normal distribution, about half of the people will come out better than average.

Iratewizard may or may not be better than everyone else; but he/she is almost certainly better than average at a lot of things. We all are.

[adamisom]

Maybe they are. Better at programming and leading projects, that is.

[iratewizard]

Your skill at a job doesn't equate to your value as a person. A job is just a way I and most others contribute back to the world. It's in everyone's best interest if there aren't unnecessary barriers to that contribution. For instance, universities' poor curriculums and the way they predatorily pretend to be the gatekeepers of "prestigious" jobs.