Seems like it's something you might regret missing if you don't go, even if only because it's a large milestone in life. *shrug*
Oddly enough, this mostly seems to be the opinion of people who actually went. Everyone I know who skipped it doesn't seem to regret anything at all.
* GlyphGryph shrugs
I forget what I did instead, but I
like dancing and dances and didn't bother going because it seemed like it would be halfway between a boring drag and a drama-fest. (Which, from secondhand accounts, was a pretty accurate assessment).
Now, breaking into the abandoned insane asylum that same year,
that was something I would have regretted missing! Another crappy school dance, to mention a stupid expensive one? Not so much.
Roughly 1 in every 4 student skips prom, and to be honest I've never really heard anyone complaining about it except for the (every few) people who REALLY wanted to go but couldn't because of some other obligation. So it comes down to how badly you want to go, I guess. I have heard a bunch of people complain their prom was terrible, though!
Of course, the average student also manages to spend $807 frickin' dollars on prom night, so... yeah. I think that's counting the people who don't go. It seems like saving the money and spending it on a REALLY fancy but significantly more personal date with someone you like would be a better investment, to be honest.
Also, most of the big cities in the US at least throw "adult proms" pretty regularly, which I've heard are far better than any high school prom.