It seems that 80% of school up through the first two years of college is "learning how to learn".

As I was finishing my BS in Mechanical Engineering I took some graduate classes as electives. The evening graduate level classes were full of young guys dressed in "business casual" with company ID's clipped to their pockets. I figured I might as well finish the job instead of coming back a couple of years later, so I banged out a no-thesis MSME in one busy year.

Looking back I should have either skipped it or got the MS in Electical Engineering, as I am a self-taught EE anyway but have no credentials to show for it.

Anyway, learn how to learn. Be able to take the manual home one night and come back in the morning able to do something new. Get lots of hands-on experience - I learned as much about engineering working on cars with my dad and building things as I did in a classroom. Read, read, read (non-fiction). Books, and now also the internet, are the keys to the kingdom of knowledge. Remember that smart people are not always good students and vice-versa. If you're smart, be a good student anyway because it is easy and it is a gateway to a lot of other things.