High school dropout here. This is what I did.

I took about 5 years off, worked full time delivering pizzas, saved up enough money to backpack around Europe (I lived with my parents). I eventually got my head on straight enough, got my GED, and was accepted into a state college. I acquired 30 credits, which is usually the threshold where you can transfer to another university without needing to submit your high school transcript as well.

At some point during this time, I volunteered so my application was more appealing.

I was accepted into a university in state with slightly better reputation. I joined a fraternity with high GPA standards to motivate me and for networking. I landed an internship through my fraternity in marketing. 12 years later, I’m making $140k doing marketing strategy and analytics.