That sounds like a nice route. How was it from a socialization perspective. When you go straight to university you’re with a group of people the same age and same experience - I wonder how coming in 3 years later impacts that?
Many people follow this route - especially if they’re Swiss. It works fine for socialisation. It turns out that those who’ve followed the university route when they’re in the internships, are less socialised having never really been in a place of work.
My daughter did get frustrated with some of the younger students who had no idea about good laboratory practice and safe working. Strangely, some of those straight from gymnasium looked down on those who’d been apprenticeships. But they were soon corrected of their ways and learned a bit of humility. 
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Gymi and apprenticeship take roughly the same time.
Depends when you drop out of Gym. My daughter did it after two years. Also the apprenticeship either takes 4 years if it includes the BM/Passarelle. Three year apprenticeship, you still need another year of study before you can start your Bachelors. Of course one year age difference doesn’t matter much. Many of the lads will have done military service after Gym.
Primarschule, Sekundarschule, Beruflehre, BMS, FHS.
Once she had her bachelors from FHS (the FHNW) she c
ould have done her masters at university. But chose to stay with the FHNW, as one of her professors is a great fan of hers!
Alternate route: …Berufslehre, Passarelle, University. One of my friends daughter’s did an IT apprenticeship, did the passarelle and is now studying medicine at Basel University.
The thing is, many people, including teachers, don’t know how flexible the education system is. It may take time, but eventually you’ll get there, if you want to.
My other daughter just did a degree through the open university, having dropped out of FMS. https://www.open.ac.uk/
I would have let him to take the drums lessons if this was his interest, he would have learned to keep the rhythm at least. One of our children’s friends is playing drums (quite good) and he actually has the real thing at home, in the basement. Guess who is the most popular kid in the neighbourhood… 
I got the impression that he wanted to play the drums because a friend was, and because it was cool.
I had never seen him drum out a beat using his fingers or anything like that.
When he gave up the piano, I did ask him whether he would like to play the drums and he said no.
Compare that with another son who, on visiting a music department in a school open day when he was about four and being asked which instrument he would like to try, he pointed straight at a violin without saying anything.
He’s still playing, and having lessons many years later. (still sounds like a cat being murdered but that may just be me).
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I was ‘forced’ to play the piano. I really wanted to play the violin. A few years after I started working, I got the idea to try to learn and bought a violin. I quickly learned that:
- It takes quite a lot of practice to even play the violin badly; and
- I had absolutely no talent for it
I sold the violin years later when I realised that I didn’t have all the time in the world to do the things I wanted and had to start being realistic about what I was going to do. Learning the violin was definitely on the ‘never going to happen’ list.
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But this is how it works in quite a lot of cases when they pick up a hobby, it’s either because their friends like certain things too or because it’s “cool”…or both!! Sometimes they realise they don’t actually like it (my older one realised she doesn’t actually like tennis that much, she prefers volleyball) later on, but I found it’s much better to let them try whatever they like even if it’s for the “wrong” reasons.
I went to Uni at 29 - was friends with everyone, but did better because I didn’t go out drinking every night.
You missed the opportunity to develop the most important skills taught at university, social skills
I worked in aviation for 6 years after leaving school, there was as much partying etc as any uni.
As I worked my way up the totem pole there was plenty of partying too. In Aviation as well.
Later in life I interviewed a number of MBAs fresh out of school. Most couldn’t find their rear end without a map. I hired one, he didn’t last the three month probation.
Are you suggesting that this is linked to the lack of partying? Hmmm.