Careful now, I didn't say anything about programming. In fact if programming is your goal, I highly recommend doing a bit of learning. You want to take high level programming courses for sure, otherwise you'll miss out on some important information. Alternatively, if you're self disciplined enough, teaching yourself through a book.
I took low level programming classes, which from my own studies was 'nothing new' for the most part. I never got the chance to take higher level classes, having gone to Activision right out of my brief two years of college. Once that job tanked, due to downsizing from the economy, I ended up in Law Enforcement.
Now I'm aiming to build my own game studio, as the lead programmer. However, over those years I've been teaching myself new things. I still need to call in my 'expert reference' now and then for some of the stuff they'd teach in high level classes such as the efficiency of different methods, nuances in the windows API, and small details I missed out on never having taken those classes, or researching in certain specific areas.
I will say that your skill as a conceptual programmer, meaning your ability to work with the tools you have to create a program to solve the problem at hand, seems to be entirely detached from these higher level classes. They simply add more tools to your box. Problem solving is a whole other thing entirely. I suppose I just have a naturally high level for it.