Were you incredibly bright at school?

[Pruni]

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my Dh is a lot more intellegent than me, he had scholarships tp private schools and then went on to do genetics degree, virology msc and a molecular biology and genetics phd....he know works as a manager for comet as he said he hates science labs after too many years in one!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes - always did well at school right from the word go. Always around the top of my class at infant and junior school.

Did well in my GCSE's and 'A' levels without really working hard.

But at uni, couldn't get away with that, and so came out with a 2:2.

Found it very hard to discipline myself into working hard, when everything had always been very easy for me in the past.

DH was the complete opposite, didn't do that well at school, left after 'A' levels, and went back to uni as a mature student - came out with a 2:1 (narrowly missing a 1st). Very hard-working and disciplined.

(I'm a SAHM now, and I think my brain cells are slowly dying)

maybe he likes being a manager at comet?!

KS while doing his phd he did lecture part time to adults returning to uni which he really enjoyed but is just fed up of science after a levels and the degrees.

I was top of class in most things

deputy head girl

won lots of prizes

got into music college

got a first class degree

got MA

met the man who is now dh

that was the end of standing out at something, as I got this bizarre idea about working in an office and was really bad (did do well in my night school courses though).

Yes, been miss staright A's and B's all my life with the odd C here and there.

Graduated with a 2:1...

Not as bright as my sis tho..... she has NEVER even got less than a B in anything ever (not even silly class room tests) She has NEVER failed anything....

she has straight As / A*s for GCSE's and A levels and a 1st at uni.... (which was almost garanteed before she even took her finals.... would have had to almost fail them to get a 2:1!)

Aloha,
the reason for it all
like others I never had to try at school so when I left I was unprepared for the fact I had to try at life. drifted into and out of this and that always able to turn my hand for a while before getting bored. could never really work out what was the point.

19 months ago DD was born, epihany ,slaps head, oh right I get it now.

God Pruni you sound a bit like me. I was an imaniginative child, top for reading and spelling in my class and a good all rounder (apart from maths) until I reached my A levels. I barely scraped these but still got to uni and ended up with a 2:2 in English Lit. Now I work in Sainsbury's and have completely wasted my degree. I shelf stack for a living now (nothing wrong in that) but I didn't think I'd be doing it.

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yes, Pruni, Im another one! high achiever at school, sadly I didnt realise at the time that my O level results would be the peak of success in my life!

(up til now - I still have ambitions )

think this highlights the fact that success is down to lots of factors apart from intelligence. Ambition, persistence, street-wise-ness, luck etc.

sorry should read "material" success, before someone asks whether I dont consider my dear little babies to be my greatest achievement in life....

I was but am very stupid now

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erm, you wouldnt want my degree result then!

the american idea of having a vote which person is most likely to succeed is an interesting one (do they still do it?) I imagine that it wouldnt be the class swot that would get voted for!

does anyone know if 18 year old classmates are good predictors of success?

Yep - did really well without trying at all. Was so f*cking bored at school, never stretched at all. Got A & Bs at GCSE despite doing zero revision and spending my exam time discovering what debauchery was all about.

Set the tone for the rest of my academic life really, put the same amount of effort into A levels and degree, did very average at A Level and very badly at degree.

I lack the drive and ambition to every have a high flying job but still got a quite interesting reasonably well paid job which I was happy with. Am now a SAHM and love it, love being my own boss.

Dh is the same, although he did take his O and A levels early at school and got to Cambridge. He's a bit of a lazy git too!

Bright enough to know how bloody average I am Not bright enough to be able to do anything about it

I was considered bright at about the age of 4 or 5. It all went downhill after that. Did ok at school, better than expected.
I come from a pretty academic family so not much was thought of me. I have done pretty well career wise but I'm sure my family think I am making it up when I tell them about my latest promotion.

Funny it doesn't matter how successful I am in my career I always feel a bit of a failure. This has made me praise my DS at every opportunity not push him but praise any academic success he has.

I was bright but bored at school, did very little work at uni and came out with 2:1. Went to work and worked like stink for 15 years Became very young director in large multinational and then gave it all up after DS2. Gone from superwoman to scummy mummy. Much happier

I was clever - always the top of the class. But once I'd got to high school, I didn't want to work. I wish someone had pulled me up and made me realise how stupid that was. But I thought I could swan around and still get top grades. Which I did for 0-level, but came a cropper at A-level. Don't regret it exactly - still went to uni, dropped out, worked, went back a couple of years later but even then didn't stretch myself. Ended up with a 2:1 which is fine but if I had pulled my finger out I could have got a first.

I hope ds will learn how to work at a younger age. Makes life a lot more straightforward.

I wonder how much of all this unfulfilled potential is down to personality rather than unsuitable schooling? Sounds like there's a lot of laziness being described here (or uneven application, if we're being kind!) along with the brilliance, regardless of type of school. I was moderately able but extraordinarily uneven in application throughout school and college and seem to have continued on that trajectory ever since.