The computer science program I went through also had a capstone project requirement. It was administered by a faculty member who was not super engaged. (To be fair, most of the students were also not super engaged.)

I have mixed feelings about the process. We had very limited support and education about the tools we were expected to use. (At that time, my program taught nothing about source control, nothing about web services.) They pretty much just said, "Go build a cool app on top of Sharepoint" and let the four of us spin for a year.

I learned a fair bit, but I also learned that in the college team project atmosphere, folks are gonna get carried and you'll be graded on the total possible output of four people.

Would I have preferred it to a massive test at the end of the year? 100% yes. Trying to build something practical was a great experience. I learned a ton that wasn't covered in my classes. I just wish I had more support/mentorship/pair programming along the way.