Anyone feel like their friends held them back in high school?
(Baboon, 139
Points)
on 8/11/12 at 7:20pm
I did very poorly in high school (though I picked things up now) and was always wondering why I did so bad. I was talking with my dad about it and he blamed the group of kids I hung out with and said it was a bad environment to put myself into and provided no motivation for me to succeed. The group of guys I hung out with weren't "bad" kids per say, just REALLY lazy and never took anything seriously.
Anyone else have the same feeling regarding their friends back in HS? Maybe I'm putting too much emphasis on them and just giving myself excuses.





I wouldn't say all of that
I wouldn't say all of that but I can see where you're coming from. Sometimes you have to ask yourself and test your strength mentally, because I had the friends within my group who were not going to do something even if 99% of us wanted to. Group thinking isn't the way to go.
Just a sophomore looking for an opportunity to start up this dream of mine.
friends or no friends it all
friends or no friends it all comes down to personal maturity.
If you are a mature person that is also smart and driven you will do whatever it takes to achieve your goals no matter what kind of friends you have. Some people don't develop this maturity until later in life when they really start to see the consequences of their actions.
I know what you mean, but
I know what you mean, but it's hard to agree because at the end of the day it's just about you allowing yourself to be influenced by them. I had the kind of group of friends that you'd look at and think they were hoodrats that would all end up in jail. And that's about right, but I didn't let them drag me down with them, thank god.
I can raise my hand to this,
I can raise my hand to this, although it really wasn't a matter of my friends so much as the environment that I grew up in. I attended a high school that wasn't really the epitome of ambitious thinking. Many of my classmates never went to college; of those that did, a majority stayed in-state and went to non-targets. Hell, I think I'm the only one of my 500 classmates that is pursuing a career in business. There are the few standouts that went on to do law, med school, politics, etc. But I would say that out of the 500 classmates of mine that graduated, about 200 went to college, and of those only 20-30 of those actually got anywhere in life.
It's no one's fault, really -- you can't blame it on your upbringing or your environment. I grew up where I grew up by chance, and I don't blame it for where I ended up. I had the good fortune to make it to a target; once I got here, that's when things got put into perspective and I realized that I was only a big fish in a small pond back in high school. That's when I started busting my ass - my freshman year, for every hour that my classmates studied I probably put in six, and even then I was failing exams left and right. Nothing else to do except work harder and work smarter.
Where we came from doesn't make us -- it's where we want to go and what we're willing to do to get there.
"Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."
Currently: quantitative marketing/business development
Previously: management consulting, investment banking
I definitely feel the same
I definitely feel the same way. I went to a preftigious high school in my state and made the bad assumption that nobody there would be a loser. Fell in with a crowd that did nothing but play WoW all day, and ended up going to a school well below my SAT/GPA level to stay near them. I figured "hey, we're all smart, we'll all get 4.0s in college and everything will work out." Now I'm shooting for Big 4 accounting because it's the best I can hope for; the only one I'm still in contact with is an unemployed stoner; and others I'm aware of include a liberal arts grad student, TTT law student, stoner working at Dairy Queen, guy living with his parents, and full-time babydaddy with a woman twice his age. At least I can say I turned out the best of my group of friends.
A lot of is it about straight
A lot of is it about straight up motivation. If you decided that you wanted to become a banker or go to a target school or whatever starting from day 1 freshman year in high school, then you would've done much better than your friends. I didn't make it to a target school but I wasn't pulling straight 4.0's and rather I was concerned more about sports/girls/parties and was happy taking the B+
Husky32: A lot of is it about
A lot of is it about straight up motivation. If you decided that you wanted to become a banker or go to a target school or whatever starting from day 1 freshman year in high school, then you would've done much better than your friends. I didn't make it to a target school but I wasn't pulling straight 4.0's and rather I was concerned more about sports/girls/parties and was happy taking the B+
I second that.
Like one of the posters above mentioned, if you saw my friends and i back in high school, we looked like delinquents and hood rats and i'm sure many people thought we were going to go down hill after HS. But I can honestly say, once we entered college we left the games behind and matured. Some of us went to targets, semi-targets, and non-targets but I can honestly say we all have cleaned up our shit and are on the right paths.
but had we dicked around less in high school, lord knows where we all would be today.
Just a sophomore looking for an opportunity to start up this dream of mine.
Lotin: lord knows where we
lord knows where we all would be today.
that's because Jesus knows everything
yes
yes
making career decisions too
making career decisions too early in life could be the worst career decision you ever made.
Maybe I held them back, after
Maybe I held them back, after all, they are the ones who haven't done shit in life.
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My WSO Blog
Yea, definitely had my
Yea, definitely had my friends to thank for that. The thing was, though, I brought it on myself. I was just an awkward/shy kid. They were (for the most part) pieces of shit though and that's why I don't talk to them.
Oh, honorable mention to my mother who pushed me into hanging out with them because they were "such great guys". Just another reason I love/hate my mother.
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer
melvvvar: making career
making career decisions too early in life could be the worst career decision you ever made.
Exactly. Glad I didn't do marketing.
The Auto Show
Here's the litmus test- now
Here's the litmus test- now they you are doing well, how many of them are you good friends with? The answer is probably a resounding zero soooo... yes.
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." - IlliniProgrammer
Senvik: Here's the litmus
Here's the litmus test- now they you are doing well, how many of them are you good friends with? The answer is probably a resounding zero soooo... yes.
well I'm in college now.
I actually stopped hanging out with those guys starting junior year. only hung out with them for 2 yrs in high school, and my worst/most important year (junior year) I actually wasn't with them.
Funny story. I had a 3.0 GPA in high school, ranked bottom half, 1290 SAT. went to a shitty school for a year after being rejected at the state flagship and transferred into a top 15 semi-target my second year after getting 4.0 in some easy classes. people said the fact i got rejected at the flagship totally saved my life. even if i did my best in HS i doubt i wouldve gotten into the school im at now.
yes
I went to a pretty
Agree that the people in my
“...all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
- Schopenhauer
Of my 'crew' from high
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
Maybe you're just a fucking
Under my tutelage, you will grow from boys to men. From men into gladiators. And from gladiators into SWANSONS.
My friends from HS; Law
The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee
WSO is not your personal search function.
Quite the opposite really: my
Flake: Maybe you're just a
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer
D M: Flake: Maybe you're
The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee
WSO is not your personal search function.
Flake: Maybe you're just a
I don't think anyone here's
JDawg: I don't think anyone
bfin: D M: Flake: Maybe
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer
ltohang: I had a 3.0 GPA in
"I'm the luckiest guy in the world, and when I die I want to come back as me."
-Mark Cuban
ChrisHansen: ltohang: I had
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer
D
"I'm the luckiest guy in the world, and when I die I want to come back as me."
-Mark Cuban
Kids who brag about slacking
People like that don't
--Money can't buy happiness. it can only buy orgasms.
--Who the hell says I want happiness? Orgasms all I need.
ChrisHansen: D
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer
D M: ChrisHansen: dude, I
"Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."
Currently: quantitative marketing/business development
Previously: management consulting, investment banking
chicandtoughness: It
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer
You ever here the saying "You
any of you felt like you held
I was in some jack-off
GBS
GoldmanBallSachs: *dude, 50
"Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."
Currently: quantitative marketing/business development
Previously: management consulting, investment banking
chicandtoughness: GoldmanBa
GBS
Back in the day, I used an IM
obscenity: Back in the day, I
GoldmanBallSachs: chicandto
"Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."
Currently: quantitative marketing/business development
Previously: management consulting, investment banking