16 Straight-A Students Who Ended Up on Paths Nobody Expected

School years leave us with warm memories and sometimes a misleading belief that our grades somehow determine our future. However, life often writes its own scripts that turn out to be far more fascinating than any textbooks. Fate scatters former classmates along the most unexpected paths. In this article, yesterday’s nerds find happiness behind the wheel of a bus, while promising doctors suddenly become boxing champions.

• At the class reunion, I met Maria who used to be our straight-A student. Dressed in high fashion, a chauffeured car, a business — everything seemed to be going well for her. But then we bumped into each other in the restroom, and from just one detail, I realized she was pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes.
  Dozens of credit cards fell out of Maria’s purse. I helped gather them all up, but didn’t show that I’d noticed what they really were. But then she burst into tears and admitted that she was so sick and tired of living in debt.
• At a class reunion, our top student pulled out a button phone held together with duct tape and placed it on the table. We exchanged glances, thinking of chipping in for a new phone. Then he received a text message. He read it, grinned, and tossed the phone away.
  He pulled a box with a brand new smartphone from his backpack and explained that he’d promised himself to stick with the old phone until he sold his startup to a large corporation. The money had just hit his account. He paid for the entire party himself.

• I’m walking through the market, and I see our top student Helen with boxes of vegetables in front of her. I felt a bit sorry for her. I approached and asked for 2 pounds of potatoes. She smiled and said, “These aren’t potatoes, and they cost $50 a pound.” I was taken aback.
  It turned out these were the rarest truffles, which Helen had learned to cultivate in our climate using her own technique, and she was at the market not to make sales. She was waiting for the chef of the city’s best restaurant to personally present her goods.
• My school had a freaking genius that excelled at every scientific subject and entered one of the best universities 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 license 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 a professional athlete in boxing and won a few championships. The dude has one of the best minds I’ve ever seen, but apparently nothing makes him happier than boxing. © penguin_ag / Reddit
• I graduated school with honors. Then I went to college, and after that, to the university. I studied there for a total of 7 years, which included a master’s and a postgraduate degree. Additionally, there were 3 more years of another higher education.
  Now I have 2 diplomas, in law and philology. But I’m not working in my field. For a year now, I’ve been doing manicures, taking clients at home, and loving it. I earn from doing nails. I’m happy! © Caramel / VK

• One of our top students got his masters in a really cool subject, but pissed away his 20s and 30s playing an appalling amount of video games and is now angry that he’s in his 40s and has absolutely no life experience outside of holding an Xbox controller. © reddittheguy / Reddit
• The daughter of our friends dreamed of becoming a bus driver. Her parents smiled until they realized she was serious. The girl was an honors student in school. After graduating, she declared she was going to take courses, but her parents stood their ground.
  So she enrolled in an economics university, graduated with honors. She came and handed that diploma to her parents saying, “This is yours.” Then she went on to take bus driver courses. She’s been working happily for many years now. © Lyudmila R / Dzen
• I was a C-student, always copying off our straight-A student. I was telling him, “Hey, A-student, let the C-student copy your work, and one day he’ll employ you.” But that’s not what happened!
  After college, he returned to the village and cleverly took over the former rundown farm with all its assets. In 4 years, he built a good business on its base. And I’m his driver. © Overheard / Ideer

• I had a classmate who graduated with honors. A nice, quiet guy. He got a higher education at a prestigious university and now works at an embassy. Not sure what his position is, but he lives quite well.
  There was also another straight-A classmate. She played the piano and participated in competitions. Our parents insisted we should be like her, so we didn’t really like her much.
  Eventually, she had a hard time getting into a drama school, but dropped out later. She appeared in a TV show in a minor role like “dinner is served,” then returned to her hometown. Currently, she works as a salesperson. © Pavlovna139 / Pikabu
• At the class reunion, our star student Irene barely ate, discreetly gathering leftovers from the table and putting them in her bag. We kept exchanging glances. Could she be struggling financially? It was awkward to ask.
  The evening ended, we went outside. Then Irene took out her container. Out of the darkness silently emerged a huge, beautiful fox, followed by two more. Irene crouched down and began to feed them by hand.
  It turned out she works as a leading zoologist at the reserve where our restaurant is located, and these foxes are her charges, whom she has raised since birth, and they only trust her.
• My friend, a straight-A student, dreamed of studying at the veterinary academy. Her parents forbade it. She studied to be an oceanologist, got married. Her parents hadn’t planned for their daughter to marry before turning 30, but it happened anyway.
  I recently met her, and she happily told me she’s going to study to become a cynologist and is quitting her teaching job she hated. © VareSilvana / ADME

• A businessman I know dressed up quite specifically for his class reunion just for fun. Nobody even asked him about his life. The women ignored him, and the men just looked at him sympathetically, thinking, “Wow, fate wasn’t kind with our top student!”
  But they were all really shocked at the end of the evening when a Bentley arrived to pick him up. He left a hundred dollars as a tip for the waiter and asked, “Who needs a ride to the airport? I can give you a lift.” © Cool story / VK
• A classmate of mine graduated with honors. His parents insisted he either go to law school or study economics, since “you can’t earn money with any other education.” But he went ahead and trained as an auto mechanic.
  His parents were furious and stopped communicating with him, but the classmate later opened a small local chain of auto repair shops. It was only after this that his parents decided to reconcile, but he flatly refused, since he was “just some unworthy mechanic.” © Almaz Perfecto diez / Dzen
• She’s an absolute star! I’m lucky to still be good friends with our high school valedictorian 16 years after we graduated. She’s a professional flamenco dancer and is getting her doctorate now. © countpupusa / Reddit

• At the class reunion, I watched our former straight-A student Helen. She was in a suit, answering calls with precise phrases. Definitely became a boss, bossing subordinates around!
  After the celebration, we spilled out onto the street. A jeep arrived for Helen, and then 3 children of different ages tumbled out of the car. She suddenly beamed with such a gentle smile, one we had never seen in school, and hugged them all at once.
  It turned out her “subordinates” were actually her children. She indeed became the chief executive, but of the happiest family “enterprise.”
• At the class reunion, our straight-A student Marina was sitting quietly in a corner. Someone asked, “Where are you now?” She replied, “Oh, I’m still at school.”
  Everyone began talking about their companies, trying not to look at the “loser.” She handed out her business card, which read “Marina Karlov, Founder and Head of a private STEM school network.”

These examples once again confirm that true success is measured not by grades, but by the ability to find your place in life and enjoy it. The main subject — searching for personal happiness — doesn’t have a strict grading system, and anyone can pass it.

And here are more stories about class reunions.