I dropped out of high school at 16. You can still get into good colleges sans a high school diploma. (Though it's much more of a fluke to get into a top-tier

I dropped out of high school at 16. You can still get into good colleges sans a high school diploma. (Though it's much more of a fluke to get into a top-tier school – but honestly, I wouldn't have had I graduated from my podunkville high school either.) Like many things, a high school diploma is a check in a box. If you deviate from the standard path the onus is on you to demonstrate that you can still cross the bridges that are laid out before you: people will be skeptical by default. If you can make up for that with accomplishments far more impressive than walking across the stage at 18, nobody after you're 19 will care that you didn't.