Dealing with bullshit. That's what it all comes down to.
In the academic world, you invariably run into people who not only have explicit control over your success, but are possibly unreasonable and malicious. The fact that someone has a degree proves that he had enough dedication to stick with it and conquer (or at least fare) the propagators of bullshit.
Anyone intelligent can sit in the library and learn to code; not everyone intelligent can code AND deal with adversity.
In the academic world, you invariably run into people who not only have explicit control over your success, but are possibly unreasonable and malicious. The fact that someone has a degree proves that he had enough dedication to stick with it and conquer (or at least fare) the propagators of bullshit.
Anyone intelligent can sit in the library and learn to code; not everyone intelligent can code AND deal with adversity.