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it was a lot of fun at times. being in such close proximity with a bunch of guys (or girls) roughly your age can definetely be cool in some respects (no gay jokes). of course, it can also be really irritating at times.
the quality of the education is probably better than what you might otherwise get (depending greatly on where you live though). more than that, however, the competition is very fierce and it forces you to raise your game, so to speak. this will give you something of an advantage in college (although how much depends on where you go, and the rest catch up pretty quickly).
if you're not from the northeast (like me), or you're from a not-so-affluent area, you do learn something about a type of person/culture that you wouldn't otherwise be exposed to, and it forces you to adapt somewhat. this may actually be the biggest advantage, actually. i see a lot of people at my college now who've lived fairly homogenous lives (grew up in same town, knew all friends since kindergarten, chose the college that would most closely replcate their high school experience etc.) and i kinda wonder what they're going to do when they're forced out of their comfort zone. seems like a lot don't really do much of anything because they're scared or intimidated to go somewhere different than what they're used to.
you become more disciplined and self-reliant. a lot of the stuff i see people doing now i got out of my system long ago.
those are the main ones i'd say.
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