I sort of get that, in this day and age, it would probably seem a bit unusual for someone to show up at Stanford or MIT and be like "I've only ever used a computer to play video games but I think I'll major in CS." On the other hand, I also don't think programming had to be an all-consuming passion for the past 10 years as some seem to deeply believe.

I think there actually may be some of this. Both of my kids are in college right now, but I knew a lot of high school kids and their parents through the extracurriculars that my kids were involved in. The kids knew what the "hot" college majors were, including CS.

But they also knew the precise formula for college entrance, and were laser focused on getting into an "elite" school. Any activity that didn't contribute to that process was eschewed.

I'm not sarcastic.