I actually just told this story to a friend earlier today. I knew my college was right for me when they asked about the whole failing multiple classes and not graduating thing and I was like "high school sucks, I'm tired of people telling me what to do, just leave me alone to read books about ancient sumer" and they were like "relatable! your acceptance is in the mail"
anyway the right orgs/institutions/communities won't make you prove yourself, I'm certain I would hate it there
@shauna is one of the reasons I wound up at Ericsson. Nobody strokes their credentials like smegol and hisses about those of us who have few; it is about the engineering! hope you've managed to find as accepting a place.