Current Events > Did you know any high achievers at school, that are utter failures now?

(+) Yeah! (+)

People who you thought would go far, but are either working retail, cafe work, fast food, low level factory, or are long-term unemployed? The kind of people you had high hopes for, but have basically amounted to NOTHING?

Well?

Ugh, this hits close to home. I fit this description myself. I'm working in a low-level office job and have held similar jobs more or less since I graduated from college.

How old are you? What was your GPA?

I was in honors classes and only make $40k a year now. It's enough for my area but if I kept up with shit I would have been making way more

I know a super smart, able dude who wrecked himself and fucked off somewhere

utter failures? no.

but i know a lot of kids who had a 4.0 GPA, were involved in tons of extra curriculars, went to our state's flagship school, and now work a thoroughly average job making a thoroughly average salary that they could've accomplished with far less effort and headache. really confuses me.

Like life long failures? No but a lot of drug addictions

Sunhawk posted...

How old are you? What was your GPA?

I'm 33. My GPA in high school was between 3.9 and 4.0; I don't have my transcript here where I can check it right now. Anyway, I was valedictorian of my class. I also performed pretty well on the ACT. My composite score on it as a seventh grader was 23 (70th percentile for a high school senior) with a 29 on the English section (94th percentile). The last time I took it, my composite score was 31. I also managed scores of 35-36 on the English and Reading sections (99th percentile) the last couple of times I took it. (The Math section brought down my overall score a little.)

In college, my GPA was 3.87.

itachi15243 posted...

Like life long failures? No but a lot of drug addictions

This is also something I've dealt with. I've been sober for almost six years, but I dealt with a lot of anxiety during and after my college years, plus a lot of depression once I entered the workforce. I self-medicated for a few years.

Actually yeah.

There was this super articulated teen who won tons of high school awards, came from an equally eccentric yet stable family, and was heavily invested in both the arts and political programs on campus. He also wasn't a bad looking guy. Girls crushed on his fashion sense, his hair, and artistic mystique. The guys respected his status and pull. He was that super productive male student who was of few words outside of classrooms, but even the bullies knew not to mess with him because of the potential uproar. Everything about this guy said he was on track for a successful future the rest of slacker were never going to achieve.

I moved away and finished my final years of high school in another town. Few years later, I came back to visit a school friend in the same town this guy was known. I was waiting at a transit station there for the next train and this tattered sickly looking guy poked me in the arm saying my name. He said he remembered me from school, which made sense, my face barely changed. He was not that lucky. I had no idea who it was until he connected the dots for me proving he was Mr. Impressive from high school.

Apparently the eccentricity of this guy's artsy fartsy parents had lead him to depression after he graduated and his childhood goggles came off. It caused him to resent them and himself to the point he turned to hard drugs. Things broke down between him and his parents, leading him to disappear on them as a homeless addict. This is a big shock to me because I once envied this guy in school and even resented him a bit for being a super perfect elite with school staff bowing at his feet. It was eye opening to see how fragile his reality actually was just like the rest of us. I never expected he would have such an awful fall from grace I would feel bad for him. It was crazy how life could drop such a curve ball.

I took him out for a burger, helped him jot down some aid numbers, and let his family know he was drifting nearby in town. I knew that would be a rough reunion, but I wanted him to at least have a shot at having a family again. Never saw him after that.

ClockworkHare posted...

Actually yeah.

There was this super articulated teen who won tons of high school awards, came from an equally eccentric yet stable family, and was heavily invested in both the arts and political programs on campus. He also wasn't a bad looking guy. Girls crushed on his fashion sense, his hair, and artistic mystique. The guys respected his status and pull. He was that super productive male student who was of few words outside of classrooms, but even the bullies knew not to mess with him because of the potential uproar. Everything about this guy said he was on track for a super successful future the rest of us slackers were never going to achieve.

I moved away and finished my final years of high school in another town. Few years later, I came back to visit a school friend in the same town this guy was known. I was waiting at a transit station there for the next train and this tattered sickly looking guy poked me in the arm saying my name. He said he remembered me from school, which made sense, my face barely changed. He was not that lucky. I had no idea who it was until he connected the dots for me proving he was Mr. Impressive from high school.

Apparently the eccentricity of this guy's artsy fartsy parents had lead him to depression after he graduated and his childhood goggles came off. It caused him to resent them and himself to the point he turned to hard drugs. Things broke down between him and his parents, leading him to disappear on them as a homeless addict. This is a big shock to me because I once envied this guy in school and even resented him a bit for being a super perfect elite with school staff bowing at his feet. It was eye opening to see how fragile his reality actually was just like the rest of us. I never expected he would have such an awful fall from grace I would feel bad for him. It was crazy how life could drop such a curve ball.

I took him out for a burger, helped him jot down some aid numbers, and let his family know he was drifting nearby in town. I knew that would be a rough reunion, but I wanted him to at least have a shot at having a family again. Never saw him after that.

how long ago was that? That is sad

Quite a few, actually. It's actually kind of funny looking back, remembering how they were and seeing them now.

Most people I know who did well in school are super successful now.

Me.