Funny to come to a college board, to ask about skipping college? Strange place to source. I’d ask someplace you find less college people, or reddit perhaps. The people here who didn’t go to college or finish may be some of the parents and times are different when they were college age. Many people who didn’t finish college start careers and maybe did fine, but some always have a monkey on the back because it is embarrassing compared to peers. harder when they want a promotion, and troublesome when you switch companies, get laid off etc.
Why this timing when it is too late to apply to most places? And only negative things to say, nothing about what does interest you if anything. Have you had a depression screening?
Your decision for now doesn’t have to be forever. It is just easier to get school set up and financed when you are first out of high school. And it is easier to get good first jobs based on your potential when you are a new college grad. Sometimes people have to mature before they see the benefits and then it is harder but they may be more focused.
College can be a time of exploration. My kid didn’t go off to college with a profession in mind but has a good one now, a flexible one that lets her do things she likes that are unrelated. A friend studied chemistry but taught English in China and now has a certificate for that. Another went to Haiti and worked in higher education programming. College isn’t like high school. You have a more flexible schedule. If you said you had an intellectual bent, you could look into special colleges for exploration like Deep Springs. Or there is a college for younger people Bard at Simon’s Rock where you can transfer out when you have it figured out. To me, people who are bored are just boring people. They lack motivation and interests (depression screening, again?)
Statistically, people who don’t go to college fare worse in the scheme of things. There are outliers, sure. And there are those who get into the trades and do well.
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/