I think the assumption is that, without a degree, you will not be able to find equivalent experience from which you can draw out the same "how to think like an engineer" perspective.
Who would suggest skipping college? Yet, if you have a clearly great opportunity lined up, it's not a bad thing to leave. And if you get yourself kicked out midterm like I did, you have great motivation to make something happen in the non-college world. When I was at college, there were many stories of guys who flunked out and ended up doing interesting things. Then I became one!
I know you're kind of joking here, but the answer appears to be "yes", you probably could get away with quitting school. It's not like law or medicine where you're useless without the actual degree. Dropping out of whatever degree program you're in seems to be a time honored way to the top in the high tech world (gates, jobs, ellison, allen, dell...)
But do you really want to take that risk? Nobody gets to the top without finishing something. Maybe part of "thinking like an engineer" involves wrapping it all up.
That was my reasoning for finishing college, and in hindsight was probably the right choice. Remember that Gates, Allen, Jobs, and Dell had all started and run profitable businesses in high school (traffic counters, payroll software, blue boxes, and stamps, respectively). If you have that kind of background, you really don't need college. If you don't, you might want to build it up before attempting a startup.
Who would suggest skipping college? Yet, if you have a clearly great opportunity lined up, it's not a bad thing to leave. And if you get yourself kicked out midterm like I did, you have great motivation to make something happen in the non-college world. When I was at college, there were many stories of guys who flunked out and ended up doing interesting things. Then I became one!