What did your school friends/year end up doing?

[Trampire]

Not quite an AIBU, hopefully it doesn't come across as a goady thread.....but I got thinking back to my school days recently after talk of planning a reunion was mentioned on FB.

Sometimes on MN there's a few Private v State threads where sometimes it's said that some state comps are described as having no ambition for their students and the students don't achieve their full potential etc.
So, as my youngest dc is about to go to our state comp in Sept, it got me thinking.
I think my friends and acquaintances from school have done quite well. I left in 1990. I have no idea if it was a 'good state school' as we had no concept of that. However, I suppose it must have been.

I'm still in contact with.....

2 MP's
Doctor
Architect
Actor
Fairly well known TV Presenter
4 x Primary School Teachers
5 x Secondary School Teachers
Nurse
Hippy (but happy) Dropout in Thailand
Award winning Author
BBC Radio Producer
Owner of Greeting Card Company
Carpenter
Astro Physicist
Product Designer
Independent Pre-School Nursery Owner
Veterinary Nurse
Stand Up Comedian

Obviously there's a vast amount of people I'm not in contact with anymore who could be doing awful stuff!

I'm quite proud of 'us'. But AIBU to think that it's not that unusual? I think my bunch have done well in a vast variety of subjects. Maybe not and my view is skewed?

Just interested to know others experiences.

Private education including VI form at a mixed public school and 12 years at an all girls school:

1 professional rugby player and 1 ski professional, 2 actors/performers, 2 opera singers and 1 BBC choir singer, 1 professional violinist and 1 music producer, 1 primary school teacher, a pe teacher and 1 history teacher, several in middle management in industries like telecoms, IT or retail supply, 5 or 6 Drs, an nhs manager and someone doing an ecology doctorate and an entymologist, a mercenary for hire type, 2 army officers and an MoD administrator, 3 or 4 accountants, 3 or 4 in digital media, tv research or pr type jobs, an economist, a couple of people with generic office jobs including a para legal and a head receptionist, one flash git in Dubai, two guys who co-own a recruitment company, someone who owns a cafe in Australia, a trolley dolly, a globe trotting private language tutor, a buyer at Selfridges/part time stylist/blogger, a food blogger, 3 lawyers, 2 different performing arts schools owners, a shop assistant, 2 estate agents, a gas fitter at British gas, a gardener, a chef, a nursery nurse, a school nurse who works dolly hrs because she's a WAG, 2 paeds nurses and a paramedic, a vet nurse and a vet, a hospice fundraiser, a writer and a care in the community facilitator. We're a pretty mixed bunch!

1 is now dead. We're 28 and he died at 26. He was a darling man and is much missed.

My old geography teacher fell down victoria falls and died.

Of course if there was a single state school that had produced 2 sitting MPs the head teacher would be banging a drum....so name the school then.

I went to a state school but live in a reasonably affluent area, lots of family money with the odd council estate thrown in. I haven't kept in touch with many people from there, but have the odd classmates on FB.
3 architects
a financial consultant
5 doctors
a head chef
sports coach(s?)
few teachers
one owns a cleaning company
Chinese translator
male cheerleader
a reasonably big music producer (who started out whilst at school)
detective
an author
piercer
lab technician
mostly seems to be general admins or IT workers/shop assistants/construction workers/carers/bar workers
and a few 'full time stay at home mommies'

Not sure if anyone has been to prison, no one has died.

Some if these are fascinating.

Sorry to hear about some deaths and suicides 😢

5 doctors Eyycarumba, that's very impressive.

I get people don't believe me about the MP's.

It's honestly not a lie. If I name the school I'll out myself and I haven't name changed. I don't really want to do that.

You can believe me or not. I don't mind.

I'm not in touch with that many from primary/secondary school (state) and some have had career changes but there are:

a lawyer
someone who was a lawyer but is now a will writer
a nurse
a radiographer (who started out in IT)
a teacher (who started out in engineering)
a SAHM and I don't know what she did between uni and kids

A few others I am connected with on Facebook but I am not sure what they do, one works for an investment bank but I don't know in what capacity

in my year at school:
properly qualified solicitors (not leg exec/paralegal) x4 that i know of, 2 at huge national firms
university lecturer
too many to count primary school/ secondary school teachers
doctor - nhs
pharmacist
postman

i dont know many people so there could be some mind blowing successful people!!

state grammar school.

From my secondary modern school there is a mixture

Teachers
Civil servants
Sahm's
Selling juice plus/overpriced oils etc
Office work for a charity
Working in a supermarket
Nurses
Selling cars

We are all 35/36 now and the age range of our children is massive, from 22 years old down to babies, bumps and "planning on having dc at some point". My ds is 12 so I'm somewhere in the middle.

I went to an all girls private school in the 80s.

I'm in touch with some of the women I wet to school with via FB, I think about 20

The professions/careers I'm aware of include:

Primary teacher x 2
Uni lecturer x 2
Teaching Assistant x2
Social worker x 3
Owner of a dress shop/boutique x 1
High flying business woman who's won "Women of the Year" awards x1
Insurance broker x1
SAHM x 1
Physiotherapist x 1
Radiographer x 1
Charity worker x 1
Clothes designer x 1
GP x 1

sadly one death and - out of a year of 50 - at least 3 who had breast cancer before the age of 45

This is a very interesting thread. I’m contemplating the state v private question at the moment for my kids. I went to a lower end of average comp. At that time, you went to your nearest school and didn’t think twice about it!

Most folks working in office jobs, retail or driving taxis. The smartest kid in our year went on to launch an IT company which I believe is doing quite well. I look around my “professional” work environment and see only privately educated folks in the senior positions which makes me a little sad, but I think is driving me towards private education for my kids. No MPs or doctors in my year. All still alive though I do believe.

State everything

Cambridge Uni lecturer
Consultant Psychiatrist
Solicitor
Vetinary nurse
HR director
Policewoman and a Policeman
Children's book illustrator
SAHM
Manager of own catering business
Personal Coach
Member of the royal household
Secondary maths Teacher
TV Editor
Primary teacher
Beauty Therapist
Hairdresser
Security Guard

These are the few I know about.

Most of my school mates have stayed fairly local to where we grew up. Mainly regular jobs, administration, nurses, chaplain, teachers. We're in our mid thirties so perhaps things might change in 10-20 years. One para athlete who may be our only hope of achieving great things within our year group. One is going into local politics so perhaps will be in national politics at some point. A few are in bands as a side job.

Forgot to say we're all state educated.

From expensive international school, I'm aware of the following from year of 50 people.

3 tech multi millionaires
3 postmen/mail carriers
5 TAs
Many SAHMs
Rest are lawyers and/or mangers

Our expensive private education didn't achieve all that much. Each of the tech millionaire's admit it was luck they ended up where they did.

Interesting. I went to a crap state school and here's who I can think of:

Administrators
Care Workers
Teachers
Paralegal
HR Director
Engineer
Civil Servants
Nursery Nurse
Academic

At least 2 police (both women)
Child minder
Nurse
Care workers
One Cabin crew
At least 3 West End/Broadway performers
One singer, moderately well known on the indie scene
One stand up comedian/actor
Several who have liveries/are horse breeders
Property developer
3 who set up a company together then sold it and became very well off in their mid twenties
Personal trainers
Hairdressers
SAHMs
Several in IT (including me)
Several in the local NHS as admins
One musician who is also a mental health support worker
Several supermarket/retail employees
School dinner ladies
A few teachers
One head teacher
A nursery nurse
A few in the military
One doctor (who weirdly used to get bullied because people thought he was a bit slow)
A couple of photographers
A folk singer
An artist
A local councillor and solicitor
A postman
A college lecturer
A missionary
A couple in HR
A gardener/landscaper
One who owns a cleaning company and employs a few of the others.

I'm not in contact with all of them, much of that is what I hear through others. We were at a state school, but one that consistently does well in the league tables.

From my uni days there are several lecturers/PhDs, a lawyer, a couple of GPs, an economist, two actors, a playwright and theatre producer, a diving instructor, a vitner, and several psychologists/psychotherapists/therapists/counsellors.

State school, left 1992. Those I know enough still to know their jobs are:
Nurses
Dental nurse
Gardener
Paediatric consultant
Vet
Electricians
Laboratory workers
Police
HR
Accountants
Lorry driver
Full time mum
Independent florist
Tech support

Everything from solicitors and architects to doing time for murder after decades of far more petty crime. No one in our year became famous but between us all, we have most jobs covered.

Ours was regarded as one of the worst schools in the country. There is a private secondary in the same small town. I would be really interested to compare outcomes long term.

I grew up in a really deprived area. Most people in my year group didn't show up to GCSE exams, and went down the teen pregnancy route, or continued to smoke weed and play Xbox ... now I'm 25 not much has changed. I moved away, but still read the local paper. It's rare I look at the page from the county courts and don't see someone from my year group in there. It's generally for dealing drugs, failure to pay TV licences, and a couple for theft.

As far as I'm aware, our year group has two hairdressers, a few nursery workers, a landscaper, and that's pretty much it. It's really sad, there was so much potential there, but so many were written off due to chaotic home lives. I really think our school and education system failed them all hugely.

Oh. And two suicides around three years ago. Forgot about that. Surprisingly, it was two that went on to uni and had amazing futures ahead of them

Pinstripe, that's so tragic. In every way. :(

Blimey some of you have kept in contact with a lot of people from school!

From my school I am still in contact with 5 people - they are:-

Midwife
HR Director
Something to do with publishing
SAHM (was a lawyer)
Something at Samsung in Korea