Often the "I have done programming since I was 8 years old" guys horrible fail in CS. CS is not about programming but about algorithms, analytical thinking, etc.

Indeed. I fell into precisely this trap in college. I wanted to learn programming so I became a CS major. While I did manage to pick up and do well enough with the algorithms and analytical thinking, but my university required what seemed to me to be too much electrical engineering as part of CS. Since I had neither the interest nor the aptitude for that, I promptly failed out and returned as a German major. ;)

Lesson Learned: Find out what you're getting yourself into before you commit to it.

-rattus

__________
He seemed like such a nice guy to his neighbors / Kept to himself and never bothered them with favors
- Jefferson Airplane, "Assassin"