Being deemed a “gifted” child can be a blessing and a curse. It can be a great confidence booster to hear you’re excelling in school and that your teachers see a bright future ahead of you. But it can also come with immense pressure to exceed expectations and have all the right answers. And what happens when these kids grow up?
Redditors have recently been discussing where their most promising classmates ended up, so we’ve gathered the juiciest replies below. From changing the world with scientific discoveries to dropping out of college and abandoning academics altogether, enjoy reading through these surprising stories. And keep reading to find a conversation with Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Vicki Botnick!
#1
She opened her own cafe in a neighboring town and employs people with disabilities. She graduated as valedictorian in high school and later, top 10% at Yale.
Image source: diveintomysoul, Brooke Cagle / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#2
I’ll break the mold here from the burnt out gifted kid sterotype.
He got a PhD from a very prestigious university, worked for Google on one of their flagship products, married a Medical Doctor, quit Google and semi-retired. He’s mostly a stay at home dad now and does some occasional consulting work part time.
What, I’m not jealous… you’re jealous. Seriously though the guy deserved every bit of what he has.
Image source: WanderingTacoShop, Brooke Cagle / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#3
She’s winning awards for her work mapping the human genome. No surprise.
Image source: pickanotherusername, National Cancer Institute / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#4
He became the surgeon general of the US.
Image source: every1pees, United States Department of Health and Human Services
#5
The smartest kid in my class was also very disciplined and emotionally stable. I lost track of him in the last 20 years, but a quick Google search says he graduated from Stanford and started a biotech company.
Image source: Seemose, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#6
I was the smartest kid in my class. I did ok academically in the end, I have a bachelor’s and two postgraduate degrees.
Professionally, I did absolutely terrible for many years until I started my business recently. Things are looking up professionally.
I also have a wonderful husband and children, so I consider myself in an amazing position, best I’ve ever been in in my life.
My childhood was s**t (a*****e parents, very poor, and socially inept weird kid with no friends) and so was most of my adulthood (still socially inept, lonely, no family support, partners in my life could easily take advantage and abuse me), so I feel like I deserve the happiness I have now.
Image source: anon, Wesley Tingey / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#7
Full scholarship to Harvard, track and field star, opera singer, fashion model, actually funny improv comedian, and now she’s an environmental lawyer or something. Also has a husband and kids now. I don’t know how a real person can achieve all this and I can’t help but feel like my life is inadequate.
Image source: elizabethcrossing, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#8
The same thing happened to the two smartest kids in my class, a guy and a girl. They both got accepted into Ivy League schools and then had to dropout after they developed serious mental health issues. I imagine the high stress environment must have flipped a switch in their brains to make them go off the deep end.
They were such cool people, I was really rooting for them. :(.
Image source: Moal, Daniel Martinez / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#9
There were two of us.
J had rich parents and went to an Ivy League school, got a law degree, spent some time working for the AG of Guam and while I have no idea what he’s up to now, he’s very successful.
I was poor. They took my Ritalin away, my grades dropped. I became depressed, got profiled because of my depression as a potential school shooter in the wake of Columbine, and eventually dropped out of school. I only finally went back to college because of the pandemic, where I’m working toward the goal of a doctorate in psychology.
Image source: miikro, Giulia Squillace / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#10
There were 2 geniuses in my class. One became a neurosurgeon, the other opened a candle store.
Image source: discostud1515, No Revisions / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#11
He went to a top university and struggled like f**k because everyone was clever and he realised he wasn’t the special unique snowflake that his mum told him he was.
The guy was one of the most arrogant twats I’ve met so I feel karma worked its magic here.
Image source: RobotGoatBoy, Guillaume Issaly / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#12
He went to university studying math. After a while he decided that the teachers didn’t know math like he did. They did not respect and love it. He got furious and quit. He got some good jobs in investment banking, quit them because they did not respect the math.
Last I heard he was some sort of janitor at a research facility. Apparently very well liked since he can solve any ones math problems. Guess they respect it enough.
I think he is on the spectrum…
Image source: DrMcDingus, Gil Ribeiro / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#13
He got bored of school, joined the navy, and never grew out of his love for trains.
Image source: sortaseabeethrowaway, Luemen Rutkowski / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#14
The smartest I never heard from again but the last time I saw him he learned fluent Chinese as his third language. The second became a hard left activist. The third smartest became a dentist.
Image source: anon, Stephen yu / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#15
I work at a pet store, highest GPA voted most likely to succeed, almost skipped grades but I was extremely socially inept and parents thought that would only make it worse. IQ tested at 164, was tested for eidetic memory (don’t have one just insanely good recall). Went to college for Physics and Mathematics. Junior year I had a series of psychotic episodes and was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. Dropped out of college, found that animals help with my anxiety and depression, keep me a bit more leveled overall so I stuck with it. It would be pretty cool to have my own store but economy is s**t so ya know just kinda cruising.
Image source: Naula-H, Veronika Jorjobert / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#16
She was constantly stressed out by her family pressuring her to get a 4.0 GPA and get a full ride to a good school and then immediately did nothing with it because then she was pushed to marry some guy who was a total washout but got a job through his dad.
That family was s**t and I kind of stopped checking in when I moved away from the area. No idea what came of her in the end. She was very smart, but I don’t think I ever saw her happy.
EDIT: Sad to say there were also a lot of cruel jokes about her among the class cause she was so busy with church stuff and studying she never had time for friends and never seemed to know what to do with other people. Poor girl was basically a spectator sport in high school. Not very proud of that now.
Image source: Lord0fHats, Pablo Merchán Montes / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#17
I was sure he would become a scientist however he got into music and toured with The Who as a musician and sound guy for the past 20 years.
Image source: SyntaxError_22, Polina Kuzovkova / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#18
My brother had a friend in elementary school who turned out to be a super genius and skipped a few grades. That kid graduated in my highschool class at 13 years old.
4 years later and he’s already got a Masters, co-wrote some papers, and is leading a nano-tech project at a VERY reputable university.
Image source: Sea_Risk_2637, Jakob Rosen / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#19
The smartest lad got addicted to d***s and overdosed (his parents we’re apparently really over bearing) and the smartest girl became an onlyfans model and also an escort.
Wild ride I guess.
Image source: anon, Jayson Hinrichsen / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#20
He became an attorney, a well known member of the local LGBTQ community, and was my very best friend for 28 years. He died in a horrible car accident two years ago. His legacy lives on in part by an LGBTQ scholarship for the law school he attended.
Image source: QuesoLetsGo, Hannah Voggenhuber / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#21
He went on to become an eye surgeon. He married the most beautiful woman in San Francisco and they had three amazing boys.
Image source: Book8, JC Gellidon / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#22
It was often me, so I’ll tell ya
I got depressed, turned into a smoker/alcoholic, and dropped out of high school.
Then i worked s****y restaurant jobs, continued being a smoker/alcoholic, and did a bunch of d***s. I also got my GED.
Then i went to rehab
I moved out to the country and the only things that have changed are that i dont do d***s, weed started giving me panic attacks, and i dont have a job.
I never properly learned how to drive. I have zero social skills.
But i can cook fairly well and I’m planning on going to community college in the fall. I’ll be 24 when that starts.
Essentially, life got to be too much even without responsibilities and i turned into a deadbeat do-nothing
The person who wasnt inherently smart but worked her a*s off to get good grades and learn things? Extremely successful comparatively and is now a newscaster on one of the big stations around here. I envy her. But she also grew up with a stable family and decent support and social skills, so.
Image source: LongShine433, Jonathan Borba / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#23
They studied Maths and Psycology, wrote the master thesis about Maths in English (not our mother tongue) and now works at a uni renowned for their Maths department.
Image source: anon, Andrej Lišakov / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#24
Before he passed away he was a computer programer with a sideline brewery business.
Image source: finallygrownup, Shamin Haky / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#25
He got into med school, hated it and then dropped out. Then he became a Drag Queen for a short time. Then he joined some kind of non-profit organization for troubled youth. Then he moved to Paris with his husband and got into modeling. Now he works for OECD in France.
He’s done pretty well by all accounts.
Image source: DruidWonder, Natalia Blauth / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#26
The smartest kid in my class denied a full ride to Harvard to become a priest only to die 1 day after becoming a priest (got hit by a car).
All of the top 10 smart kids stayed in our hometown and are making less than 50k a year or are d***gies.
The bottom 10 of my class are all successful, making over 100k yearly.
Image source: DRealLeal, Josh Applegate / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#27
He dropped out of a prestigious, very expensive college junior year because he didn’t understand why he was going into debt for a piece of paper. He joined the navy. Had the government pay him to go get his undergrad and masters. There were lots of sucky years on a submarine, too, but now he’s pretty high up in rank working in the pentagon. Smartest guy I’ve ever met and is beyond hard working.
Image source: LivingWithATinyHuman, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#28
He moved to the states to play soccer and ended up going to Penn State. He is a software developer and is doing quite well.
Image source: mr_kenobi, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#29
Texas public school. He went to Yale and got a degree in economics. Works in DC now for a state rep. Getting into an MIT asynchronous then in person graduate program.
He is/was my best friend.
Image source: unsmartkid, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#30
Hopefully he got his lights punched out at some point. He was always was pulling, “Oh, you got 82 on your test? I only got 98. I suck.” humble brag horses**t.
Image source: ClownshoesMcGuinty, Ben Mullins / unsplash (not the actual photo)
Follow Us
