needhelpca

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably go see a therapist.

Since you dropped out your senior year, did you already have significant internship experience and contacts by then? Did that help you succeed?

I was planning to read a lot of source code, write a lot of code/contribute to open source, and study formal CS on my own. I think after 3-4 years I would have as much programming and formal knowledge as if I had stayed in college, and maybe more. I want to do this and would find it fun.

I'm wondering if the lack of a degree would hold me back significantly. That seems to be my parent's main worry.

I don't expect to get a job after dropping out. My parents will let me live with them at least. So I have a good 3-4 years.

I was planning to read a lot of source code, write a lot of code/contribute to open source, and study formal CS on my own. I think after 3-4 years I would have as much programming and formal knowledge as if I had stayed in college, and maybe more.

I'm wondering if the lack of a degree would hold me back significantly.

Thanks for the advice. I'm not someone who's been programming for years.

I just took multivariable calc and intro CS (scheme) this semester. I'm wondering whether self-teaching is realistic, and whether employers consider self-taught programmers.

I can get access to books on CS/MIT online courses/Stanford online courses and study CS. And there's a lot of source code I can read and learn from. Is this do-able?

This is kind of a fear related to financial aid. It's mostly irrational, but not completely so. And the little part that's not irrational has been bothering me a lot.

Thanks for the advice about the psychological help. I'll think about talking to a therapist. Apart from that, how serious would dropping out be? Just from an economical/career perspective..