Im a second year mechanical engineer at University of California at Irvine. Im learning a lot, but I think my school is too theoretical. The material is really interesting (right now Im taking dynamics, materials, and a class on line integrals). I'll tell you how a degree helps in 3 years
I think I have an unfair advantage on my classmates because Ive been working on cars for a good 10 years, but I wont complain. I think having real experience helps a lot in what we're doing, but I know if I took a couple of years off to wrench on cars and went back I'd forget how to integrate... SO right now I'm a 19 year old second year on a five year plan.