Yeah, the second one is definitively a risk. I was able to go back to school after mine and passed with flying colors, but I was mentally so done with it (there were other factors though) and I was older than OP/not a first year student. And it did "wake something in me".

I did have a friend who dropped out maybe a month into her first year, went to the UK for a year, and came back way more motivated to start uni again. She said she saw the jobs that were out there for people without diplomas and understood that she had it easy being a student. She was one of the best in class and went on to become a diplomat but she's an exception. The case you've seen are likely more common.