Although I've dropped out in my first year, my honest advice is: - Learn everything, but do just enough to pass - Also learn on your own time what YOU think is important, make pet projects, build portfolio - Work in parallel to study, if a good opportunity is available, otherwise focus on learning - Network, meet peers - Find more interesting courses / groups, switch courses if you think a better one is available - If there's an opportunity to be an exchange student in a more interesting university or even different country, take it - Try not to drop out, but if a better opportunity (e.g. career) comes, take it All of this changes if a university is not free. Any loan should be thought through, student loan is no exception: will you be able to afford it? But that's up to you to decide. The most value university provided to me was meeting new people and making good friends.