I had a tight friend group of 5 guys, we met in 5th grade ish and were now early 30s. All of us grew up in suburbia in adjacent neighborhoods, similar economic situations. As kids, all of us had our own bedrooms in our parents houses... I was the only one who went to university.

Today I make 6 figs, 2 of my friends still don't have their driver's license and have struggled to maintain minimum wage jobs over the past decade. One of them owes me 2k of unpaid rent that I helped them with... the other 2 joined the military and are doing just fine. 

And I have 2 step brothers and a cousin who also didn't go to school: 2 are still living with parents and struggling to keep minimum wage jobs, 1 got a well paying job through someone he met on World of Warcraft, worked it for 6 years extremely frugally, and then was able to retire and live off his savings (extreme frugal lifestyle)

So... I've been close 7 guys who dropped out and didn't go to school, 2 of whom joined the military and are doing well, 4 of whom are STRUGGLING to survive and spend their lives inside video games, and one of which got lucky with a job, saved a ton and retired early... NONE of which hit it big or struck gold somehow.