Re: what motivated you..
I liked Mathematics (Pure Math to be more specific) and Business Studies... those were my strengths in high school (A-Levels)... just the thought of going for a degree in Business didn't go all that well with the folks at the time, and I opted for the next best choice w.r.t. my aptitude i.e. Software Engineering.
I had an o.k. time during my undergrad - most of the stuff I learnt, I actually used at some later point in life. As per the "experience", I'd say 30% of the experience was pleasant... baaqi ro ro ke degree poori karr hee li. Then I got interested in professional certs and got Cisco, IBM, Novell, Sun and CIW while I was studying. This was a way for me to earn a good living while studying as I'd learn new technologies and help companies implement it and also train their staff in it. So that was a good practical aspect related to what I was doing in school.
In retrospect, I made the right decision cuz I went for an MBA later and with a Software Engineering background, this gave me the diversity of thought, multiplicity in practice and variety in knowledge.
O.K. jee break over - back to cramming.