It is the present reality, and if I could do it over again, I would have tried to go to a top-tier school right out of high school and ground out a BS with honors in 2.5 years
Well, on the other hand, if you secure grants or scholarships, you can take the 4 year pace and use the extra time to pursue your own interests. This has a bad rap (Underwater basket weaving, anyone?) but nobody says you can't be spending that time in a lab with a professor, or in the library, or any number of countless opportunities to explore. For example, I still wish I had made the time to learn a little about quantum physics and general relativity (both out of the scope of my studies). I can still learn about those things now, but at a university you have classes, professors and students all at your disposal.
You might think that sounds senseless now, but you already know what interests you, and have probably already explored other territory.
I did exactly that and can't recommend it highly enough. I finished the CS major in my first 2 years and then spent the next two years taking "independent study" courses and just generally hacking and doing research for a few different faculty members.
Protip: you can take "freshman physics/chemistry" as a senior if it's not a pre-req for anything else you need. And by then, you'll have learned to study more effectively than when you were a freshman and it'll be ~2 hours a week of work.
Yeah, I did something like that -- put off a digital electronics lab course until my last semester. I was so engaged in my pet project by that point that I almost completely blew off the lab course. They were very generous to give me a D so I could graduate :-)
I just graduated and did a similar thing. I wrapped up everything but my thesis before my senior year and spent those two semesters taking fun courses I didn't need like Intro to Nanotechnology and rigorous philosophy classes. The only regret I have is that I didn't take those classes earlier and thereby missed out on upper divisions in those departments.
That said, at my university your major only takes up 1/3rd of your overall credit hours so I had tons of time for electives and courses far outside CS.
Well, on the other hand, if you secure grants or scholarships, you can take the 4 year pace and use the extra time to pursue your own interests. This has a bad rap (Underwater basket weaving, anyone?) but nobody says you can't be spending that time in a lab with a professor, or in the library, or any number of countless opportunities to explore. For example, I still wish I had made the time to learn a little about quantum physics and general relativity (both out of the scope of my studies). I can still learn about those things now, but at a university you have classes, professors and students all at your disposal.
You might think that sounds senseless now, but you already know what interests you, and have probably already explored other territory.