I attended an elite prep school, took two years off and then enrolled at my local state university. A few thoughts:<p>1. <i>You are the future leaders of America</i>: I heard this frequently, and never understood the import, really. I get uncomfortable when too many people <i>agree</i> with me, let alone <i>do what I say</i>. Why would we all aspire to leadership? And where does that leave me, stranger to my own cohort?<p>2. The gap years between high school and college were great. I met a Stanford-cum-Oxford philosophy grad who had dropped out and was traveling the world. I had just had a few philosophy classes in senior year. So while he rolled the joints, I asked about Hume, and Popper, and Watts. Yes, I forgot most of the details.<p>3. Any decent university will have a few excellent professors somewhere, starving for good students. Be one! On account of my time off, I tested out of all the lower-level requirements and went directly into upper-level seminars with at most 10 other students but usually 2-3. I attended and presented at conferences as a sophomore. It was <i>awesome</i>. I already had a decent education from high school, but damn did it get better.<p>4. Many of my friends and family were quite concerned about my choice of colleges. A middling state school? I often felt the need to explain or justify myself, though in retrospect it would have been better just to talk about all the exciting things I'd been doing, rather than apologize for poor appearances.<p>[edited for style]