It might not have been a universal experience, but most folks probably remember “that one person” from school who was just way ahead of the curriculum compared to their age. After all, in a grade-based system, it’s very, very easy to see who is doing well, who isn’t and who should probably be bumped up a grade or six.
We’ve gathered the “where are they now?” stories about various netizen’s “school geniuses.” So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote the most interesting examples and be sure to share your own thoughts and stories in the comments section down below.
#1
My school’s genius was painfully awkward and socially inept, but still a pretty nice guy. Perfect score on the ACT and the SAT’s. I have no idea where he chose to go to school. He owns his own lighting design company along with his wife who is an interior decorator.
They just bought their 3rd vacation home.
Image source: vixiecat, Zinkevych_D / Envato
#2
Kid who made high grade explosives. He was a little weird, socially awkward. But a nice guy. At the age where you d**k around with firecrackers and match heads? He was the same, except he was smarter (not wiser) than you or me. So he ordered various chemicals from the internet… and ended up triggering the online companies into informing the Police.
Armed Police kicked his family’s door in at 3am and stormed the place. Army Bomb Squad examined the stuff he’d made -apparently, it was pretty much stable plastic explosive – but still had to take it out in to the fields behind his house and destroy it.
He got away with little more than a caution and court ordered counselling.
Fell out of touch with him, but Facebook stalking reveals – he went to Cambridge to study Physics, he now designs the software certain companies use to trade on the stockmarket, married the daughter of a Hong Kong investment banker and splits his time between his apartment in Hong Kong and house in London.
Image source: nousernameusername, katchanatsarin / Envato
#3
I went the middle school with an incredibly intelligent boy. Super smart, very attractive, was the adopted son of the wealthiest family in town. Died from a brain tumor when we were 13. That was about 40 years ago and I still wonder how his life would have turned out.
Image source: debunkerFL, simonapilolla / Envato
#4
We did. She was one of my best friends. She went through a stoner phase, drinks like a fish, married a s******r, and now works insurance.
On the other side of the spectrum, the kid who nearly failed every math class and was literally kicked out of college now makes nearly 100K a year doing web development.
Life’s a f****n trip.
Image source: mxmnull, stockbusters / Envato
#5
My school genius got a 5 out of 5 in calculus 2 AP when he was a junior in high school. He was a cocky m**********r but no one denied the kid was a genius. Loved learning, and loved being smart. He had completed most AP classes by the time his senior year had started.
He got accepted to MIT for physics.
He got drunk one night during graduate school* scaled a building on campus with his friends, and fell off, k**ling himself in Darwinian fashion.
It’s truly one of the most ironic things I’ve ever seen: the smartest person I’ve ever met died in the dumbest way I had ever seen.
Image source: anon, lmbrtt / Envato
#6
He wasn’t a genius. He was a socially awkward, uncharismatic, and most importantly didn’t like authority. Everyone expected him to fail. The girls in class used to say he will be living with his parents until he was 50. He was going to die alone, he was going to be a pedophile or commit s*****e.
I remember some people shooting paintballs at him when he was walking home. This was when they were around 16 to 18 years old.
Turns out he can play the stockmarket and has a mind for business. He bought his third house recently and posted about it on facebook.
A lot of the people that bullied him and treated him like dirt started treating him like royalty. They talked about how they were good friends, fun times, etc. He didn’t buy it for a second. One of the girls tried to sue him for sexual harassment/false r**e claim.
He won easily because he has not had any physical contact with anyone from the graduating class because he flew across the country and didn’t want to see any of them. Our HS keeps trying to invite him back to do a speech, talk, or just tell anyone the secret to his success.
He told them to f**k right off. When they said they were going to open a new building and name it after him. He told them they better not because he refuses to give his name to that school in any kind of capacity. The school quickly backed down.
I wouldn’t say he is a completely 100% happy person. He is very defensive and doesn’t trust others openly. He has a few friends and from the looks of things that’s all he needs.
Image source: Lady_Otaku, YuriArcursPeopleimages / Envato
#7
Got a job right out of high school, for the best gaming company in our country (basically our local google). His starting salary was bigger then my parents who’ve worked the same job for 10 years.
He spent every paycheck on video games, and was fired after like 3 month’s for being lazy.
Edit (more info): He decided to take a break year, mostly stayed at home playing video games. Actually met his current gf playing Counter Strike, so he has that going for him.
Image source: anon, seventyfourimages / Envato
#8
So my high school was a gifted school. With the exception of scholarship purposes, we all went to top 30 universities. But still…I didn’t meet reeeeeeal genius until I went to college. This guy, one year above me, went on College Jeopardy and annihilated everyone. He was 10s of thousands of dollars ahead of everyone every round. He won overall. Graduated from our school, then went to our rival, MIT, and got his PhD. And now he’s a?/the? principal engineer at Intel. One of my friends knew him personally. He said he was weird as s**t. But being weird as s**t is kind of normal in nerd haven.
Image source: anon, wosunan / Envato
#9
I’m still friends with the smartest guy in my school (and pretty much that I’ve ever met). His uni entrance score was the highest my high school has ever had before or since.
He’s married to a great woman and has a couple of terrific kids. He is a VP in a global chemicals company. And he’s still a terrific bloke.
Image source: Dapper_Presentation, voronaman111 / Envato
#10
My friend Ian was the smartest kid in school. He was two grades above me, got a perfect score on SAT, and actually wrote the skeleton of a play for the drama club, me and some other people higher up in the club all sat down with him and our drama teacher and did some editing like made lines shorter, easier to memorize (he used really big words) added or changed characters so we could use more people in the production. He jokingly applied to Yale just to see what would happen. He actually got in and they really wanted him to go, just not enough to lower prices enough for someone from Hicksville, MI to go there. He ended up going to Michigan Tech. I don’t remember what his major is.
Image source: Pondwater29, mstandret / Envato
#11
There was this one kid who was autistic. He could memorize basically anything in seconds, but is practically impossible to communicate with unless you were someone close to him. Don’t know how he’s doing now, but from what I’ve heard he still needs full time support from his parents.
Image source: Swagidizzle, guyswhoshoot / Envato
#12
My school have one, a freaking genius that excel at every scientific subjects and entered one of the best university in my country for medical profession. Everyone in my school thought he would become a surgeon or something like that.
Well, he did graduate university, but never got his lisence to be a proper doctor. Apparently during university, he found out that he really, really, really like and good at boxing.
Currently, about 5 years after he graduated, he had become professional athlete in boxing and won a few championship. The dude has one of the best minds I’ve ever seen, but apparently nothing make him happier than boxing.
Image source: penguin_ag, Image-Source / Envato
#13
I went to school with Nigel Short. I’m not sure what his ranking is nowadays but if I remember rightly he’s a big name in the chess world.
Image source: importantmaps2, Przemysław Jahr
#14
Yup- my best friend. She’s still freakishly smart. Just got a STEM PhD from Harvard, and felt guilty that it took her “so long” to finish.
She finished in six years after skipping a grade in school. She’s 27 and has a freaking STEM PhD, and feels like she hasn’t done enough.
That girl is gonna cure cancer. She’s going to cure cancer, refuse to patent the technology, and do everything in her power to make sure it’s a super low cost d**g everybody can afford. That d**g will save millions of lives. She’ll win every prize ever.
And then she’ll be sad that she couldn’t make the miracle d**g cure cancer *and* diabetes.
Image source: _Green_Kyanite_, nd3000 / Envato
#15
School genius was an absolute Sweetheart, and still is. He recieved 98% on the IB (International Baccalaureate) and went to Oxford to study law (we are Australian, so that is a BIG deal!) He has since returned and become a corporate lawyer earning huge amounts, met his now wife at a corporate event, and at the age of 36 has two beautiful little girls.
His parents were extremely well off, but he also worked his A**E off to get to where he is today! He is one of those “rich white guys” that fortunately dosen’t take anything for granted, and KNOWS how lucky he has been, but can also hold his head high because he has worked hard for everything he has.
Image source: Lalsdragon83, insta_photos / Envato
#16
We had a kid that came from China. He skipped three or four grades, so he was like 12 in 9th grade. He carried all of his textbooks in a wheely suitcase. All of the dumb jocks adored him, he was their mascot. He went to Harvard Business School and now works at a VC firm in LA.
Image source: beesknees9
#17
This guy was beyond “genius” I mean just knew a little bit of everything valedictorian etc… He was rather sheltered by his own choosing. Got a full ride scholarship to MIT. In his first semester he discovered he really really liked s*x and alcohol. Ended up dropping out after that first year and had a pretty f****d up life for a decade or so. Something, I don’t know what, woke him up and he turned himself around and is currently an executive for one of the world’s largest construction firms.
Image source: Hades-Cerberus, Getty Images
#18
Both k**led themselves. One because he was only measured by his achivements, not his personality, even at his funeral. The other one must have had mental issues no one was aware of.
Image source: mr-cafe, Pablo Merchán Montes
#19
He went on to college and became a veterinarian because he always loved animals.
Image source: jackbigbot, Getty Images
#20
I had the school genius in my class. She always had the best grades in all school. Could have gone to med school if she wanted. Went to law school because her parents were both lawyers. It took her almost twice the time to finish it ( where I’m from it’s 4 years for the degree, and she took 7), and is currently working as a shop assistant at Primark ( a clothing shop in Europe). I heard she had a major meltdown in uni, because her grades weren’t top of the class, and she didn’t know how to handle it.
Image source: anon, Ekaterina Tyapkina
#21
Yup. She was a literal genius and had the papers to prove it. And despite being ridiculously ahead of everyone in the school, she was so nice. She didn’t mind helping us idiots. She was also very pretty and popular with just about everyone. I have no clue where she is now in life. Hopefully not depressed or wasting away.
Image source: Dxzstar
#22
I went to a small high school about 70 kids per grade in Kansas the genius in the grade above me works at the Large Hadron Collider in Europe.
He was a really good dude. The best story that stuck out for me is he used to hang out with another guy Erik who was pretty hardcore football player and wrestling no one wanted to mess with. One day I heard a teacher say jokingly “ It’s scary they hangout together because ****** is smart enough to build a bomb and Erik is crazy enough to use it.
Image source: Qmnip0tent
#23
My school was literally started for him. His parents had homeschooled him and while they were both extremely intelligent they wanted him to have a high school for some reason. So they got a charter school started his freshmen year.
I have no idea where he is or what he’s doing.
Image source: slws1985
#24
I was one of the top kids in my school, projected top grades in pretty much everything, I seriously wanted to be a nuclear physicist when I was about 12. This was in a rough sink estate school that really wasn’t expected to churn out anything but factory drones.
At 13 I discovered alcohol, then d***s, and f****d the lot up. Spent the next 30 years on and off h****n, amphetamines and other d***s, I basically ruined my life and any career prospects. I managed to accidentally get into IT during a clean phase, and stuck with that for nearly 20 years, with absolutely no interest in it, but was p**s-easy, paid very well and you could be a functioning a****t while doing it.
Currently clean, (apart from prescription opiates) and pretty seriously (and permanently) ill, making scratch money restoring vintage motorbikes.
Ironically, I’m the happiest I’ve been in decades.
Image source: L1A1
#25
We had one, but he committed s*****e shortly after highschool when his college fund fell out from under him.
Image source: Nkechinyerembi
#26
She married an amazing guy, they both got their phd’s. She was then asked by several universities to teach the course she got her phd in.
She got pregnant and died during child birth losing the baby.
Image source: Twuggy
#27
The f****r went and died and left me to journey the rest of my days on earth without my best friend.
Image source: DINGLEBERRYTROUBLE
#28
Couple. One got rejected from MIT (supposedly because they had too many Asians), ended up going to Cal Tech and now works at JPL. There’s actually an interview of him going around talking about one of the Mars rovers. He’s still comically awkward.
Another went to Harvard on a full academic scholarship and was a VP of a Fortune 500 before the age of 30.
Image source: NotAPoshTwat, Clay Banks
#29
Guy I went to grammar school with had an IQ equal to Albert Einstein’s (this is at the school that Isaac Newton went to), and he was a complete d**k. Went on the news saying ‘all my friends call me genius’ which was total bollocks resulting in the nickname ‘penius’ for a few years (kids are cruel). Pretty sure he became a stoner and went into graphic design or something.
Image source: Stuart_98_
#30
My school genius was a bossy know-it-all. Like a badly written Lisa Simpson. She was bullied a lot.
I was the runner-up smart kid. Smart enough to be smarter than everyone else, but under the radar enough to avoid daily hatred.
I went through a rollercoaster relationship with her. We were friends, then we weren’t. Then we were, then we weren’t. It was my fault, really. I was an a*****e of a kid. ):
Her mum was really overbearing about her studies and extra-curricular activities. To the point that even other KIDS would whisper about it, and the poor girl had multiple breakdowns.
I don’t know what happened to her after primary school.
I don’t even know if she’s still alive tbh. Poor girl was destined to be one of two things: a genius, or a statistic. That kind of pressure can really damage a kid. ):.
Image source: anon
#31
Quite a few actually we were all in the “help with the answers” group. Smartest guy is probably the one that did a stint at cern as a partical physics student. Always a down to earth guy even though he probably had double my intelligence.
Image source: anon
#32
Perfect score on SATs. Only applied to Harvard. Didn’t get in. Went to Community College. I don’t know why he didn’t go somewhere else. And maybe he eventually did go to Harvard but d**n that must have been a humbling time in his life.
Image source: Propera
#33
My schools genius was class clownish, odd, and popular. They used to help my do my math homework and hang out a lot. We went on a few dates but their d**g dealer showed up to one and I was like nooooope.
After a downward spiral with lots of d***s, she is now transitioning and has a boyfriend and seems very happy!
Image source: FabulousCrow
#34
Not from my school. But there was this kid who is my mom’s friend son. When I was young, my mom would tell me stories of how good is he at studying and how his a gifted student and probably going to be a doctor/lawyer and earn lots of money (Maybe as a way to compare me to other kids to motivate me in studies). The way that they praised him, I legitimately thought as a kid that his going to be a future president or something.
Fast forward many years later, that guy decided to drop out of school and went to be a tattoo artist. He has full sleeves on both hands too. Heard that his parents were disappointed that he turned out that way. But hey, at least his doing what he loves right now and not be forced to be what his parent’s vision of him.
Image source: icyboy89
#35
I was friends with one of the smarties guys in the entire district. Perfect SAT’s, gifted student, the whole nine yards.
Got a free ride to Kent State. Stayed for one semester and immediately dropped out to live at home. I can only imagine he couldn’t handle it and ran as far away from a secondary education as he could.
I ran into him at Walmart years ago, he was a pack a day smoker (he always detested smoking when I knew him) and he asked me to come to my house and demo a vacuum cleaner. I politely declined.
Image source: Namrepus221
#36
There was a girl whom was known for straight A’s and studied a ton. She had a hard time paying for college after highschool though and started working at a stripclub.
Image source: Alexastria
#37
He went to college. Graduated C*m Laude. Was a high level manager at a branch of some multi-billion dollar corporation, and last I heard he retired at 28 or 29.
Now he just works part time at a restaurant because it makes him happy and he works with people he enjoys being around. Less stressful apparently. .
Image source: th3capone45
#38
He’s a professor at an ivy league school.
Honestly he’s a really nice guy, I’m happy for him. .
Image source: CaptainFartHole
#39
I randomly saw him on PBS creating a respirator out of recycled parts in a 3rd world country for the underprivileged. He’s a published doctor at a top university now. He has a beautiful family, and is one of the best people I know.
No one here expected the wholesome end, did you?
Image source: IGNSolar7
#40
Smartest kid in my graduating class here.
On paper, I’m living a comfortable life with a well paying job, completed a degree from a great university, happily married, and moved overseas to explore the world around me.
Introspectively, I’m depressed and felt that no one will ever truly understand how I feel, even the people who I love the most. I’m always in high pressure environments and I wish I can isolate myself from the world to find my inner peace. I feel lonely all of the time and I have a hard time opening up this emotional can of worms.
Part of the reason is having the privilege of living a great life on paper. My personal troubles become less important overall, and oftenly I’ll receive advice of “look at what you have… appreciate it”. They’re not wrong, but that also doesn’t help me feel better.
Image source: WirrryWoo
#41
I hung out with a crew of them. We all played D&D together. Those were good times. These were wildly bright kids and they all came from good homes.
One is a commercial airline pilot now.
Two work for NASA.
One flew fighter jets in the Air Force.
One got a full ride to MIT and is doing some kind of engineering work last time I checked.
One is a successful graphic designer living a comfortable life with his lovely wife and five kids. The wife posts a little too much on facebook but she is good people.
One is social justice lawyer or some such, and a successful one at that.
Then there’s me. I was the poor kid in the group. Even if I was the dumbest one of them all I’m still probably somewhat smarter than an average joe. I ended up working at a big box department store to help my family pay the bills while I watched all of my friends go on to have wildly successful careers. By the time I did go to college I felt like I was already way too old. I won some prestigious national scholarships that took me to some interesting places but I chose a degree that nurtured my soul, not my bank account. I own that one and I don’t have any regrets but I don’t have any money either. So now I’m unemployed, going on 32, and I just feel tired all the time. It’s like I’ve had the best years drained out of me. I own my own blame for my choices but I think being poor had a lot to do with where I am now. My girlfriend and I just broke up last Sunday. One of the deciding factors was that we were in two different places “life-path wise”. What a s**t show.
Image source: countmeamongthem
#42
I knew a genius in high school who jumped two grades (He was 12 as a freshman). He was first seat in Symphony Orchestra, attracted all the girl’s attention, and excelled in every class including Calculus AB and Physics II. This kid was pretty humble and introverted, but showed signs of mental illnesses like schizophrenia. I saw him last year in high school just randomly shaking his head and arm and returning back to normal like nothing had happen.
Image source: anon
#43
We had at least three or four and they all went on to Ivy League colleges (except the one I knew as more than just an acquaintance. He went to an in State college for the tuition and now works for NASA in their Jet Propulsion laboratory and as a Langley Intern).
They were all VERY nice people. One of them used to stop me in the hallway like a creeper, but it always turned out to be for real nice, lovely reasons (like when he got a ton of chocolate for Valentine’s day and hated chocolate so when he saw me out of class for a bathroom break, he whispered my name a bunch until I turned around and went, “This is awkward. But do you like chocolate? Because I have a ton and I…I don’t like chocolate.” We ended up standing by his locker, chatting while I nibbled chocolate). Another is also working at NASA, but I forget which department/division. Finally, one’s a doctor in Massachusetts who does a bunch for charity and does doctors without borders all the time.
I don’t know why we had an abnormal amount of geniuses in the years I went to middle/high school, but we were slammed. Still, they were the nicest, most humble people I ever met and 10/10, would sleep next to them in Chemistry again.
Image source: rivlet
#44
Went to university for statistics, switched to philosophy, got job at Quiznos, married ugly woman who took all his (inherited) money, haven’t heard from him in years.
Image source: TheGillos
#45
He ended up working for google, as some sort of senior programmer I believe.
Image source: farkwadian
#46
Girl who graduated at 14. She was really pretentious and arrogant then. Now she lives in California and works at a tattoo shop. A few friends say they’ve talked with her and she’s still super arrogant.
Image source: Crowskull38
#47
General in the U.S. Army now. Dude was always compassionate to other people, motivated, wicked smart, and he carried his single-mother family on his back by constantly working as a teenager and young adult.
Weirdly enough, one of his sisters was born mentally deficient. The other is just dumb as f**k for making stupid-f**k decisions, like being a single teenaged mother at age 16.
Not sure how he turned out to be the ace, but he certainly rose out of living out of a dingy double-wide trailer without a father to do great things. Life is this dude’s oyster.
Image source: anon
#48
He was my frenemy. Got a full ride scholarship to a Division 1 school for legit academic excellence. Had a 7 figure job as eventual head of his family’s company waiting for him. All he had to do was finish college.
Quit college 2 years in. Ran a business his parents bought him into the ground. Soon after, DUIs started, driver’s license now gone, ostensibly for life. Now works as a crappy bartender and plays in awful bands. His kid’s baby mama lives with him and their terror of a kid in the 4 bedroom almost-mansion his parents gave him after it was revealed he could no longer drive.
I’ll never understand why he didn’t at the very least finish college. But since he apparently has a huge safety net made out of money, he will likely never have to be accountable. Ever.
Image source: anon
#49
He killed himself during his first term at uni. He was so, so clever. Just an amazing brain, but had no social skills. He couldn’t make friends very well and just studied continuously when he wasn’t in lessons.
He couldn’t cope with the social side, and the less structured aspects of university life. He jumped off the Clifton Suspension Bridge. He was only 18.
Image source: shinyhappycat
#50
Our school genius wasn’t a genius at all. He would have been above average at a larger school, but the problem was this was a class of 80 in rural Missouri. He’s a fairly successful lawyer now. Most people from the class are on welfare or work labor jobs.
Image source: billintreefiddy
#51
Clare is now an astrophysicist and I’m still living with my mom.
Image source: Lloydy12341
#52
He was basically perfect. He was an amazing writer, a respectable musician, the school’s star track athlete, and the valedictorian. He was also popular and well adjusted. He had perfect scores on all of the AP tests and near perfect scores on the SATs, ACTs, and everything else.
He went to West Point, graduated, and is probably going to be a general one day. After that, he’ll run for political office and will eventually become president.
Image source: anon
#53
Harvard > hedge fund > invested in a bunch of restaurants > moved to Asia
Seems to have gone full blown sociopath and thinks everyone is inferior to him, plans to never marry and just bang prostitutes.
Image source: anon
#54
I was in band class and ok at what I played. We had a guy born with tourrets (sorry bout spelling) and he was born with perfect pitch. Google it for a quick explanation but that made the guy a absolute savant in music. With 1/3rd the practice he could play nearly every instrument as well or better then our best players. And I played the baritone horn for 3 years and after 2 months he was much better then me. As far as I know he doesn’t do much. No college no work (maybe works not sure) and he’s been homeless briefly due to family issues he’s not a druggy and he does lots of gigs to get by. I genuinely hope the best for him because even tho he was a god at anything musical he was a genuinely nice guy and support everyone.
Image source: cat111222
#55
Yes. Dead. Brain tumour. He was a f*****g champion human being.
Image source: anon
#56
Yes, not many people knows him, I know him because he tutored me Physics for free.
Nice senior, won a game developing competition by creating a VR game when everyone else just created mario clone. Won National Economics Olympiad. He tutored everyone who does Physics Olympiad as well.
For god’s sake, he’s tutoring the best people who joined Physics and Computer competition when he himself focus on Economics. After winning the Economics Olympiad, every best university offer him scholarship, but he refused them all to join one of the best university in Nuclear Physics.
Image source: mayor123asdf
#57
We were never friends so I don’t know what her aspirations were or what shes currently up to. She was always cool and nice though. Everyone who knew her pretty much respected her as the top student of the school but also a good friend to others. She wasn’t frightening but her intelligence was a bit intimidating. I liked her and everyone had high hopes for her. I don’t know what shes doing but from what little I’ve heard, I’m glad shes doing well still.
Image source: anon
#58
By the third month if seventh grade he had finished all of the math workbooks that were to last until twelveth grade. He waited until grade nine to take on calculus and physics. Graduated with high honors and dropped out of college in his second year to play diablo 3. Afaik he still lives with his parents.
Image source: FD4L
#59
He committed s*****e. He said he was too smart for the world.
Image source: abcohen916
#60
The smartest ended up a surgical nurse.
The one I find most interesting was either the 2nd or 3rd in line as smartest. Anyway he went to university for a medical degree like his dad. He decided to take some time off, went to Hawaii and loved it so much he stayed! He’s still there. He started in construction and last I heard he owns his own construction company now. I love that he was smart enough to be a doctor, but being in the trades and living in a beautiful environment was better for his soul. Not to mention he was always a super chill guy. Very popular, QB football, but was just kind to everyone. Not the typical popular jock stereotype.
Image source: katielady1313
#61
Drank himself to death before he finished College. The pressure he put on himself was insane.
Image source: AnnualDragonfruit123
#62
One was offered a job at NASA before high school was done.
One started a business and last I checked was worth $500 million.
Image source: harkoninoz
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