If you were a high achiever in school, what's your life like now?

[Marsmon]

Just curiosity. A lot of the students who won all the prizes at school and were champions in this or that have fairly mundane lives now. Me included.

Whereas I look at those from school who've gone on to do some fantastic things, like run large companies or have a series of books published, or work at the forefront of Covid epidemiology and lots of them never achieved much while in school.

What about you? Does your achievement level in school match how successful you feel your life has been as an adult?

@thingymaboob

High flyer in school. Very academic. All As, very motivated. Made bad choices in uni - friends, booze & drugs and had depression and anxiety. Had a breakdown age 22. Went home to mum at 22 to sort myself out mentally and worked in my local pub. Moved out again after 6 months. Same pattern. Another breakdown, applied to ambulance service in another city on a whim to escape life. Surprisingly got in! Moved to new city alone and trained to be a paramedic. Life changed! Became focused and my previous issues with addiction and mental health definitely made me a better paramedic. I love my job but not sure if people think being a paramedic is successful - we earn slightly over national average and it's very gritty job. Nothing glamorous about it. I have 2 DC, a nice DH and a lovely house and live in a lovely area. Now I write it down I realise I've done ok but would love to make more money for sure!

Well done to you - sounds like you have a wonderfully enriching life, well balanced and a career with a sense of purpose. Can I ask what do you think was behind your problematic drinking and depression? Don’t have to say specifically if you don’t want to but was there a difficult background or trauma that is now resolved or is it something like ADHD which is complimented and thrives in your chosen career? As just read a thread on here yesterday about what careers ND people thrive in.

What is nice now is that whilst I'm not retirement material yet, and earning easily in top 10%, I have scaled back work to 4 days a week. A fair number if senior colleagues are doing similar to enjoy life whilst still fit and able to....seems to be an increasing trend

@StillMedusa

I was a high achiever, went on to get a good degree... Now work as a TA in a special school ... so I don't think anyone would describe me as 'successful' if we are talking in career and monetary terms However... I have a 30 years + marriage, four happy (and for what it's worth MUCH more successful) children, including one who was never expected to be able to have a job (autistic, special schooled) and does.

I am able to work part time, which enables me to look after my baby grandson, take long walks with my dog and I have a home which suits my needs and budget.

So in money terms no, in life terms.. I've been very lucky!

I like this answer. I suppose by my rubbish school's standards I was a high achiever. Got in to Oxbridge unaided by school and no one had ever thought to apply before.

I now work part time so don't earn much money. But I love my job. I wake up every day thinking, 'Oh good - this project, that project.' I have loads of free time to exercise, walk, read, see friends, go to theatre and gigs. Life is very stress free, so DH and I have an extremely happy marriage and we are very close to our DC who went off to uni in the last couple of years.

I think sometimes the school high achievers either had pushy parents and once that momentum is lost, they find their own natural, slower pace, or they see that the hours and stress of high-flying lives are not what they want, and they make early peace with that.

Define "success", I guess. I was top of almost every class in my grammar school and my parents lamented the fact that I did not have any "higher" ambitions than becoming a teacher. If you look at my career, I am slightly higher than average at best.

But I don't see success like that. The drive, determination and hard work that I developed in school through the positive feedback loop has given me the skills I needed to see me through some extremely hard and challenging times that would have knocked most people to the ground permanently. I had choices I would not have had otherwise (e.g. studying abroad at my chosen university).

Being someone who was always "up there" on the stage or in front of the class has given me the confidence to set my own goals, determine the pathway, try out new things and ultimately succeed in everything I have ever wanted, even through the many knockbacks I've had in my life.

The bullying that came with being a swot has ultimately helped me gain the thick skin needed in conflicts with others who tried to take advantage of me.

Were top grades needed for my career? Not as such. But the skills gained were invaluable.