I don't know the specific curriculum but I would caution that being a competent programmer does not directly translate into academic success. Yes, the author will have a massive head start but but that does not necessarily mean they will find studying easy.
At least that was my experience as a self-thought programmer. The first weeks were super boring for me but also lulled me into being complacent until I suddenly found myself in deep trouble. Just because you understand the practical side does not mean you can will automatically grok the academic side of things.
Fully agree on that. In my first year I started discussing with the professor during a lecture that for sure java strings are not immutable because you are still able to access the memory behind it and proving it to him, while completely missing the point of the concept of an immutable object and that he was fully aware of that.
At least that was my experience as a self-thought programmer. The first weeks were super boring for me but also lulled me into being complacent until I suddenly found myself in deep trouble. Just because you understand the practical side does not mean you can will automatically grok the academic side of things.