I'm just about finished with my first year here at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and I'm coming to the realization that this is not the place for a software entrepreneur who grew up on the west coast. I've got a few summers of experience working for startups under my belt, and I'm trying my best to live vicariously through YC News and other sites as I slog through high school and college. It gets old.<p>My question is this: Where should I go from here? I've been unable to find cofounders I can mesh with here, but I've got the experience and competency to be a productive member of a startup. Should I transfer? If so, where? Should I even be in college? What's the cost/benefit being in college in the first place? I'm fairly committed to leaving RPI, but I don't know what direction to take from here.
Start or become a key contributor to at least one open-source project. For one, this gives you experience and a good base for answering interview questions. Two, this makes you more "Googleable" (I have my current job because my employer found <i>me</i>, through a site that wouldn't have existed if not for my open-source project!).<p>College is important, not just for tuition. For example, I was able to teach myself HTML and aspects of Unix about 10 years ago while I was a student, primarily because I had a student Unix account with 'net access (still not that common off-campus). This turned out to be at least as important for landing the job "meant for my degree" (computer engineering), even though I'd taken no courses for the extra skills I'd acquired.
>I've got a few summers of experience working for startups under my belt<p>You can always go back to school...<p>Have you considered working for a startup in Europe? (broaden your worldview - old cliche: if the world is a book and you don't travel, you've only read a couple pages..)<p>Read the "4-hour Work Week". It might give you some good ideas.<p>Kolbe personality test - Slightly expensive and comprehensive - may give you insight into yourself (<a href="http://www.kolbe.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.kolbe.com</a>)
This advice might sound a bit "old-school". I would recommend you stick with college for at least another year or two. Being a recent graduate myself, I can understand how the stuff you learn in college seems pointless and may not be applicable to what you really want to do/accomplish. However, college really helped me learn how to learn things fast. And that, is a valuable skill to have.