[jrockway]

I had one good class: https://cr.yp.to/2004-494.html

I will also say that I went to a good high school (IMSA) and a mediocre university (UIC). High school prepared me to be very bored in college. I had already taken calculus through "multi-variable calculus", number theory, 4 years of Japanese (including living for a year in Japan), physics, organic chemistry, learned 4 programming languages, wrote a tiny OS, etc. Most of college was just rehashing all this again, and then in your fourth year you get to learn new stuff. I wasn't willing to be bored for 3 years so that I could spend one year learning new things, so just quit. It helped that I found a security vulnerability in the school's registration system as part of that MCS494 class (100% sanctioned by the professor) and they decided that was a violating of their computer use agreement, so I was no longer allowed to use any computer systems, including the registration system. I am sure I could have fought it, but I decided it was a waste of time and got a job instead.

15 years later... I wrote a book, I've taught classes, I worked at Google for 6 years... so I am not sure I missed out on much. I would never tell anyone else not to pursue higher education, but it wasn't my thing. If I'm interested in something, I can spend a week teaching it to myself. Not everyone is like that, so college is great for them.

[musicale]

Sounds like you were ready to start some graduate courses and research in those areas rather than rehashing undergraduate material that you had already mastered. Graduate courses and research can be pretty interesting and rewarding.

Or perhaps ready to investigate some other subjects. For me many of the most beneficial and interesting courses and learning experiences are far afield from my primary work areas.