I had the opposite problem. I took my degree because I was hoping to become a CS academic or at least be involved in theoretical work. I ended up with a vocational course. I was/am extremely unhappy.
I had the opposite experience. I went to study Software Engineering (in 2009) and during first semester I happened to attend a class Programming Paradigms (topic was Functional Programming that day).
The lecture was being delivered by John Hughes, one of the researcher & designer of Haskell. In 1 hour class he blew my mind and I was sold to Computer Science in general and Programming Languages in specific. Next day I registered myself in Introduction of Functional Programming class. The Haskell language broke me from inside out and I failed the course. But I got one of the biggest pleasures of my life. It was about thinking in terms of mathematics, lambda calculus and building a life long love for mathematics.
I then studied courses in Logic, compilers, and frontiers of programming language technologies. I started job during the education and couldn't complete my masters degree but that 1 year of studies in CS changed my mind forever. And I'm very thankful for the 1 hour I spend with John Hughes.
I've had similar feelings over the course of my education. Many students show up wanting to be taught how to do game dev, web dev, iOS or what ever the "hot" thing is. It is unfortunate because technologies (like Rails or iOS) aren't difficult to learn (in the grand scheme of things). Though a detailed understanding of CS both from the theoretical and engineering standpoint is something that is hard to impart.
The lecture was being delivered by John Hughes, one of the researcher & designer of Haskell. In 1 hour class he blew my mind and I was sold to Computer Science in general and Programming Languages in specific. Next day I registered myself in Introduction of Functional Programming class. The Haskell language broke me from inside out and I failed the course. But I got one of the biggest pleasures of my life. It was about thinking in terms of mathematics, lambda calculus and building a life long love for mathematics. I then studied courses in Logic, compilers, and frontiers of programming language technologies. I started job during the education and couldn't complete my masters degree but that 1 year of studies in CS changed my mind forever. And I'm very thankful for the 1 hour I spend with John Hughes.