Be careful about deciding this too early, and clinging to that decision too long.

When I was in 11th grade, my passion was electric guitar, and I was sure I wanted to be a rock star when I grew up. I have completely the wrong temperament to be a rock star, no stage presence to speak of, and a shitty sense of rhythm. But I really liked playing guitar, and of course it was the cool thing to do. I ended up learning a bunch of licks and building my own electric guitar as a senior project, but I'm no rock star.

When I was in 12th grade, I was sure I wanted to be a theoretical physicist. I'd taken a couple college honors courses in high school and doubled the class average, so I thought it was only natural. But once I got up to thermodynamics and quantum mechanics and had to spend 20 hours a week in the lab, I found I didn't really have the passion for physics. Staying in the physics major once I'd realized that my passion was for computers was probably the worst mistake of my life.

If you'd told me any time in the past 10 years that I'd end up working for a company with 20,000 employees, I'd've laughed incredulously in your face. I've wanted to do startups since I was about 19, and the idea of working in corporateland has been anathema since I was about 13. Yet here I am, excited about starting at Google, and I figure I'll at least give it a chance and see how it is.

If you're really passionate about entrepreneurship now, do it - now. But try some other stuff in college, and don't be afraid to switch your focus to them if it looks like that's really where your passion lies. Even if it means abandoning significant skills in entrepreneurship. There's essentially no risk to trying things out in college.

What's different? Not too much. I now have corporations begging me to drop out and work full time, and some really cool jobs lined up for when I'm done. The biggest tip I can give you is this: don't fuck up. You will at some point think that you are awesome and you can drop out of college - don't. Also, if you focus too much on work, business and software without an equal amount of partying and social activity with it, you will feel empty and eventually burn out - a lot of self-management is required here, because if this happens you either persevere in a depressed state, or take a break for a few weeks as you should.

While I'm certainly not "old" yet I've been told myself thousands of times by trusted people both in my family and in the world of work that I'm way too young to take things too seriously. When I'd take this at face value I would think they just didn't understand my passion, my craving to do this fun, exhilarating work. It wasn't until the Christmas party of one of the companies I worked that I understood, as me as my boss spoke for ages in a completely plastered state. There are things out there that are fun, exciting and new that you simply haven't experienced yet, and you couldn't understand how enjoyable they are without at least giving them a shot. This is akin to deciding which programming language is best after only trying one.

Luckily for me, I have been maintaining a balance - or rather, been threatened by my girlfriend of 3 years to maintain a balance "or else", however I can see how easy it would be to grow up too young and miss out on so much. There is no other time in our lives where we have the opportunity to learn, travel or try new things with such little holding us back in terms of responsibility or finances, so we must do these things too!

Don't quit HS/College early, and keep your passion; but the number one rule is maintain balance. Anyone who will hire you now based on your knowledge, work ethic and passion will absolutely hire you 3 years down the track, full-time. Any smart employer would. You will get tempting offers over the period in which you study, but you need to put yourself first, and have not only the degree you get from college, but the experience.

Also, protip: People will complement you over the next few years, over and over again. You will feel on top of the world, and then you will begin to feel superior. Don't. Most of the time this is a test, and you need to stay modest.