Yes I came in to say something similar. I would of absolutely loved to attend MIT or Stanford but went a shoddy 3rd tier state school. All this talk about research opportunities and connections with renown professors does not apply to students in universities not in the top ~50. Modern universities are extended high schools with more parties and social events than actual studying.

I think if you can get into a Carnegie Melon or Harvard then you should definitely attend, but there are over 2500 universities in the US. I, like many others, did not have any direction in high school and ended up attending a local state school where most of the professors were grad students more preoccupied with their own course load than with their students being able to understand the material.

Heh. Usually that criticism is even worse at higher ranked universities since they're research focused.

Lower ranked ones tend to be teaching focussed.

I'm glad you are motivated enough to give yourself a complete college education with an internet connection, and smart enough to parse all that information in a vacuum without advisors/peers to help.

Not all of us are as fortunate as you are.

Most people likely have not tried teaching themselves anything. It's like learning anything else-- it's hard at first but it gets easier as you practice. You can teach yourself to teach yourself.