How was your High School experience and why?

Question

MCheetah · Accepted Answer

By 9th Grade, I was still the most popular kid in the neighborhood and still athletic. Although I went to a school I didn't like. I hadn't grown whatsoever and had been the same since age 10, but I wasn't that worried yet and still thought a growth spurt would be imminent.

By 10th Grade, I entered a neighboring school and was still popular there. I had four childhood friends, and two of them went to a poorer school, while one of them was in this school I was now in. I joined track and field there and the wrestling team, but still hadn't grown yet, as my growth spurt was overdue. I started to worry.

By 11th Grade, everything changed. My three friends, one of which was in the same school, had all fully grown to adult age. ("D" was 6'4", "J" was 6'1", and "C" the female of the group, was 6'0".) I started seeing a doctor every other week to see what was wrong with me, but the idiot couldn't help me. I had done the SAT's, but after that, started to lose interest in school work and grew more depressed.

By 12th Grade, everyone had now reached adulthood size and I never did. My best friends betrayed me and I felt super depressed and moody from it. I stopped caring about everything and my popularity had disappeared completely. I became the "moody" kid no one dared messed with. Unless they were new to the school, like this one wanna-be bully was. I rammed him against a locker, shoved my elbow into his windpipe, and threatened to follow him home and kill him in his sleep if he dared try to f*ck with me. I was suspended and told to see the school counselor. My depression had fully blossomed, even if I had never grew an inch since ten. My former best friends graduated high school having transformed into confident adults and I had regressed.

I'd spend another 13 years fighting depression, in addition to the one year of 12th grade. So in short, I started high school at the peak of the social ladder and ended it suicidal. Mostly due to Precocious Puberty being something I was stuck with all my life.

nightdrot · Accepted Answer

Loved it!! I often think of my high school and college years as some of the best of my life.

It was that time when you started having a social life independent of your parents. In my case, it was when I started developing the interests that would carry through into my professional life and career. Oh, yeah, and there was girls, too.

For my part, although I did not think of myself that way at the time, I guess I was a popular kid. I worked on the high school newspaper and threw myself into it with gusto. In fact, there were months - it came out monthly in those days - when I was literally the whole editorial section of the paper.

Some of the friendships I made have lasted to this day. When I am back in my home town, I still have lunch or get together not only with some of my friends from those days, but even the teachers.

In many ways, it was the typical high school experience. Homecoming, prom, the occasional sporting event - my younger brother was more the athlete, I was more the scholarly guy - but I would go to a football or baseball game with my girlfriend.

Of yeah, I did mention my girlfriend. I dated - briefly - several gals until I met this one. We just hit it off and dated all the way from my junior - her sophomore - year till my sophomore - her freshman - year of college.

She had a large family and they lived on the lake and every Independence Day would throw a huge party. It was that night - again between my sophomore and junior years of high school that... well... let's just say that I became a man!!!

Add it all up... and I could go on and on and on and on... and it was a great experience that shaped me in many ways and gave me friendships and interests that I hold to this day. To be sure, the years that followed had many great things - my college years, the birth of my children, etc. - but I like to think that my high school years were the starting point of a really good life.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

My freshman and sophomore year was AMAZING. I went to a private school, had a great group of friends, was social, got good grades and loved going to school. It was like a second home.

My mom sent me to a private school that only had 100 students grade K-12 for my junior and senior year. My graduating class had 7 people. It was a Catholic school that had extreme views, had girls dressing like nuns, etc. I remember begging my mom daily to not send me to this school and cried everyday that summer. I had no friends, sat in the bathroom during lunch, had depression, became an emotional eater, gained 100 pounds, she never let me see my friends, etc. It literally changed who I was and was the stepping stone to why I’m the way I am today.

If I had stayed at my first school, I know my life would be so much different. I’m 24 and the happiest time in my life was my freshman and sophomore year of high school along with my senior graduation because I got out of that school. I don’t know what happiness is anymore honestly. It sent me into a spiral of depression, emotional eating and now an eating disorder that I have never been able to get out of.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I 100% standby saying that going to my high school was the hardest I have ever worked in my life during a concentrated period of time...and I graduated with honors from university. I went to a high school where medicine was their specialty so it was designed to prepare you for med school. The workload was absolutely relentless. From the moment we started freshman year, on average we did about 4 hours or more of homework a night, we had endless rounds of medical terminology we had to memorize and practical's to do that we had to ace. We were all taking advanced math/science classes on top of mandatory college prep courses and more volunteer hours than the average high school. It didn't even end in the summer, because we were given assignments to do during our summers. I once saw a documentary on the rigors of the Korean educational system, and I was like, "relatable!" My social life was not great because of the constant workload but that insane school made university, jobs, life problems, seem a lot easier having gone through it all, so I'm not bitter about it.

jgokgotit · Answer

High school was miserable for me. My mother was in the Army so the high school I went to was not even where I grew up. I knew nobody when I started high school. My first fight in high school was because a bully decided to try to choke me. When I beat him up, I got suspended too. However, that fight also revealed that I knew martial arts, which made my life even more of a living hell because everyone wanted to beat me to prove themselves and the teachers used my knowledge of martial arts as a reason why I should not be fighting. The teachers basically said that I should just take the beating because I'm tough enough to do so (never mind that I was outnumbered and the other students had weapons yet I received the same or greater punishment than them). NOBODY (talking about other students) ever stood up for me or tried to help me. When I went home, my mother was an abusive alcoholic (had good reasons for it, but that did not help me) so going home was no relief. The only happiness I found was my first job. I loved going to work both because it was a relief from the hell of school and home and because my coworkers felt like family (I still keep in touch with most of them today). I would have dropped out if it was not for ONE teacher in my corner. I'll never forget her and her kindness. She NEVER wrote me up or got me in trouble. She would actually listen to me and try to offer me helpful advice. She never made me feel like I was a waste of space. She was the ONLY reason I graduated, which allowed me to join the military.

Willoughby23 · Answer

I had a lot of fun with my friends but at the same time I was kinda depressed because I was too afraid to pursue girls and I felt like I was the only virgin in my school. I decided I was never going to approach any girls I went to homecoming once without a date and never went to a school dance again. Never had a date or a girlfriend in high school let alone sex, didn’t go to prom and accepted the fact I would be a lifetime virgin. Aside from all that I still thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with my guy friends smoking weed and getting drunk with them. But my inability to get girls definitely was a huge bummer and mental burden. Kind of taints all my good memories. I didn’t lose my virginity till like eight months ago. Before that I really had a mindset that no women would ever find me attractive. I was fully prepared to lose my virginity to a hooker. Im a lot better now, I have a friends with benefits thing going on with this one girl and im having fairly decent luck on dating apps. All in all high school was ok, but I do wish I could of had at least had one girlfriend in high school

McKellar · Answer

Absolutely hated it, & I wish I had never attended to the one I had gone to. The education material they have in their system is just pathetic. There was always fights happening all the damn time and I mean ALL the time. Some of these students acted like bullies practically treated the high school like it was jail or prison, some of these bullies acted like they wanted to be a gang leader/"shot caller" & "hold the keys" to the school & the school field. If you didn't so called "put in work",.. you would get your head smashed in/"wig-split". If you some how pissed off the so called bully gang leader/"Shot Caller",.. he would "order a hit/put a green light" on you.

Teachers were just pathetic. Every time these stupid kids wanted to kick off a "jail or prison riot", their so called "best solutions" were to just ignore them. No wonder why they all merely had an education degree & not a criminal justice degree. This was beyond their scope of work. The teachers never gave you the education that you needed to advance yourself in life considering they always thought it might be too hard for you regardless if you were interested or not.

There are times I even thought if it was best to just drop out of that program considering there wasn't a good deal amount of education value in what they taught.

The girls at my old high school,... good lord! Talk about pretentious snobs.

Anonymous · Answer

A real living hell. Most people that had an amazing high school experience were either the jerky bullies that were taking joy on making the others suffer, or some lucky popular kids that were popular for not apparent reason. High school is a nightmare for most teens cause you get judged and belittled in your most insecure period of your life and where you’re the most mentally vulnerable, most of your classmates will try to make fun of you for no reason, and the teachers most likely don’t give a fuck, and can even be a part of the bullying. That was my experience tho.

exitseven · Answer

It was miserable. I was a fat kid that everyone picked on and I got into weight training in 9th grade. This was 35 years ago when nobody was training with weights. I lost weight and got in shape but was still the same fat kid to everyone else. By the time I was in my Junior year the football coach asked me to go out for the team. I was an angry kid and wanted no part of any of it. I didn't have many friends and I didn't go to the prom or went out on dates. I was an average student. I was happy to graduate and never look back.

ananias55 · Answer

I was extremely short and skinny in HS. I weighed 120. So I was often a victim of bullying and when I would hit on girls it lead to dozens of reactions. One girl told me. "Sorry, I like my boys with some meat on my bones."

So I realized I wasn't what women wanted so I got fit, very fit. And now my confidence matches my body type. I was always confident but now I attract a lot more women because I have meat on my bones.

HS was a learning experience that forced me to become who I deserved to be.

Alwayreckles93 · Answer

No on my graduation day this stupid idiot class clown crash behind my car that I had spend 4 years saving up. That jerk I had to deal with his clownish behavior ever since 3 grade. I hated that kid with a passion and still do to this day he is a old grown married man now. When I go to Forthwort his stupid face still apires in town. Also remember there so much drama and way way to much competition , Who wear the best clothes who drives the best car. I remember well I went to high school is n Texas and teachers would just hand you packets not interact with you they would just sit around texting or long on the computer watching YouTube. No I am good now.

MarkRet · Answer

For me, it was like a long prison sentence. I was very backward and withdrawn, had few friends, got bullied a little, got made fun of a lot, didn’t get involved in any activities, and just had a long depressing time. I just showed up, stayed as invisible as possible, did my homework, and passed on to the next grade.

Kayla45 · Answer

High school was so much fun, I met lifelong friends, and learned a lot about life. :) I was a super nerdy type of kid but I genuinely enjoyed high school, as to why I liked it is mostly because of my awesome teachers who really cared about their students, a quality that's hard to find these days!

hela1110 · Answer

I'm still in high school, it's my third year n here we have 4years to graduate...
My experience was literally bad, I'm not so social person plus I'm friendless and I feel everyone is childish around me but by time it turns out I was wrong I don't like fun and I never started a conversation even people who try to talk to me I push them away so now everyone is scared of mingling with me...
Thank god I still have two friends but they r not my besties we just hang out and talk n spend most of the time together...
Anyway 60% of high school time was spent at home since we had corona for almost 2 years n the lockdown thing and reducing days of studies and stuff...
So it's not a great story to be told

Anonymous · Answer

I was a popular, quite, helpful, teachers pet, shadow/invisible.

Everybody at school knew who i am, because i did make a lot of great things, gave good advices to other students, helped out many times, i was everybodys friend, although i stayed away from many people and trubble. Said no to many drunk parties. Books were my escape comfort zone.

Even though i was someone anyone can feel comfortible talking to, i only hanged out with my only 2 close friends, because they were introvert and chill.

AaronKrieger · Answer

It's been alright so far. I've struggled with grades in math/science majority of the time, but other than that it's been.

Socially, I do alright. I'm a tall pale lanky kid who wears black a lot and is often sleep deprived, so I can come off as intimidating to people. Just going off of what people have said for that, but soon as they talk to me they realize I'm very friendly lmao

electromagnetic · Answer

I quite enjoyed my time in highschool. I went to a Waldorf school so I spent elementary, middle and highschool with the same students plus minus a few who moved in or out. It was in the same building with the same teachers. My graduating class was 11 people including myself.

Apple1996 · Answer

It was pretty great even though I got pregnant and ended up graduating early so I could be a stay at home mom. I can honestly say that I could have lived my adult life without my diploma so I'm not sure it was worth all the hassle of acutally graduating.

SaraSmithishere · Answer

Not typical. I'm from Los Angeles and our public school system is terrible, one of the worst in the nation. As such, parents make a lot of sacrifices to send their kids to private schools, so I went to a private school filled with the kids of CEOs, top lawyers, etc. Everyone there was future and career-oriented and being a nerd (not a socially challenged one, though) was normal.

ArrowheadSW · Answer

High school was OK but not spectacular. I did very well but I wasn't involved with much, like student politics or anything like that. I studied and got good grades and was the best student in many classes, but I didn't even know who the student president was. Turned out he was someone I knew in one of my classes but I didn't even know it... LOL

Libbers · Answer

I loved it all. It was so much fun. Hanging out and being with friends. Doing what teens do. The it ended and covid came. And since life is at a stand still. We grow old and move forward but don’t get to experience the things we should have. So. Yea. I’d love to go back. Just to be able to be normal again.

zed-789 · Answer

I loved high school. It was filled with after school bonfires at friends, going to the beach and having sleep-overs after with sand still in our hairs, falling asleep in each other’s mom’s cars on the way back to ur own house, 4 hour threeway conversations on how we’ll all be famous, cafeteria hang outs, funny group projects, bathroom karaoke, group crushing on boys just for the fun of it, school dances, school clubs, changing ur style every week, etc. It was such a care free time where

NamerOfStars · Answer

Awful. The American high school system is set up to give you the knowledge you need to pass standardized tests, and not much more than that. If you fall behind, there's some programs in place to catch up, but if you move ahead, you'll find yourself pulled back. And if you openly defy it... hoo boy, you'd better be ready for a helluva fight.

Anonymous · Answer

Awful. Thank God it finally ends. All my school years were awful. I developed social anxiety and agoraphobia really young, so school was always like hell to me. I was reallyyy lonely in high school. I only spent one year having some friends. But they were mentally ill (two of them self-harmed). They were not honest and I didn't share any common interest with them.

Nobody was interested in talking to me. Most girls didn't like me. And generally people at my age could not relate to me. And as for relationships, I didn't experience anything with the opposite gender, in relation to many teens in high school. It was a time for me to focus on my studies.

Dontaaa · Answer

It was alright, I had a normal experience.

I was well liked, teachers and staffed liked me as well as my peers.

Made friends, had girlfriends, and did well in school.

Nothing much to complain about, didn't get into fights and had fun.

I will say that in my 9th grade year I was a depressed piece of shit that didn't do any work n stuff and that did damage to my gpa, but other than that...👍

DarcRefractions · Answer

i dropped out lol. loner jock -nerd i went to school for English class. because I was good at it. and to play basketball and Yugioh cards. got my GED at 17 and kept it pushing.

i looking back I was depressed and looking for meaning. parents was not happy.

Anonymous · Answer

I had a horrible sleep schedule... well... it wasn't even a schedule and hardly got any sleep.
I don't remember much from my classes and I didn't hand in most of my assignments in certain subjects.

I really regret my High School time, because I did not get much out of it because of where I was mentally and the total lack of sleep.

Anonymous · Answer

Mixed. It was good because I was a really good basketball player, and I had fun with my so called "friends". But sucky because the people who were considered my "friends" weren't really and I also got bullied at some point too. Senior year I was basically a loner and had no friends haha.

AFellowWeeb · Answer

I used to push people away and distancing myself from others, i think i used to do this as a coping mechanism, i always cared a lot about the way that others would see me, so i would feel awkward on big groups.
One of my closest friends was extremely social, and he would be the one always trying to make me talk to others. I liked that guy a lot actually.

rievious · Answer

I changed schools bc I didn't want to live with my dad. (Divorced parents by the way) After a few days at my new school my dad threatened to sue the school for helping me stay away from him. I return to normal school under intense stress and everyone else gave me weird looks like they wanted to help me but held back bc there was no helping me... also I didn't have friends bc they would've been dragged into my world.

Birdlegs · Answer

Pretty great honestly. I had a glow up my freshman and sophomore year and started getting attention from the girls I was a star athlete that everyone knew I could talk to absolutely anyone my teachers loved me. Not much to complain about

TacosRAwesome · Answer

Crap. My friends were a lie, I was unwelcome in most places and my family was a dick both about me talking to any males and not dating.

shadowlunitic03 · Answer

I'm still in it, been home schooled for over a year now, boring, haven't been in touch with old friends, lonely. Before quarantine; unsocial, kids were musty, kids were loud, fooled around, dealt with peer pressure. Yeah nothing is really memorable about my experiences but I still got one more year tho.

WesBrewer · Answer

Still in it, and it’s lame, homeschooled, no phone, essentially no friends, not the high school life I asked for.

ceciliamrs222 · Answer

i’m still in high school but i hate there it’s so annoying the drama and some girls yelling in the school like bruh isn’t for me this shit just wanna drop out lol

PrettygirlLana · Answer

It was okay. In my country we stay in the same group of people for all school years. It wasn’t no real bullies among them so everything was peaceful. I didn’t have many friends but I was on good terms with everybody. It wasn’t anything special though. School is school

postempestas · Answer

Shit shit shit until the last year where my bullies repeated the year and fell behind. Then it was just shit bc everyone was so fake and looking for stuff in return.

MademoiselleAtalanta · Answer

Sad. I was bullied a lot and I am not sure why. Guys were nice to me but most girls weren’t. I was so bored of other girls bullying me that I preferred to isolate myself and now I have just a few friends from high school left. Sometimes I would like to talk with some of my friends but most of them are guys and we lost contact when we got into our universities. Now they have their couples and I don’t want them to misunderstand me.

IAMNathanael · Answer

It was good. Despite how much a loner I was I still managed to have good experiences and have friends. The best classes/extracurriculars were Art, Japanese, Mythology, English, xcountry running team.

Anonymous · Answer

Awful. I developed early and was kind of gullible and slept with some guys too early. All the girls hated me and all the guys only wanted to be with me because they thought I was easy. Because I was afraid of being alone I’d have sex with them and do whatever they wanted and they would still treat me like garbage so I would try harder and do more and they would just treat me worse.

Bellatris · Answer

It wasn't pleasant, mainly because I was really messed up mentally. Having a terrible acne condition didn't help either.

This_is_my_username · Answer

I hated high school with a passion. I always felt older than all the kids, and I despised all the prettiness. I was so happy to be done with it that I didn't even attend my graduation.

whatdoyouwantt · Answer

Terrible, I was always this girl without friends who people loved to bully.  I did change though and they stopped.

friendlypelican · Answer

absolutely loved it! lots of drama but you meet tons of people, build good social skills and gain good contacts and tips from your school.

IveGotNoName · Answer

Well... half of it was good the other half was online. In my country the closest to high school is gymnasium which is not entirely the same thing, but yea

have_a_good_day · Answer

I was the popular kid and everybody loved me... and I hated everything about it.. because I just wanted people to leave me alone

cjeezel · Answer

For me it sucked! No one liked me. and I don’t know why... fine example I ate lunch in the bathroom stall and books were my friends

lovedejj_xo · Answer

I went to an all white school there was literally 10 black kids out of almost 1000. It was pretty difficult but I managed especially with doing sports but a lot of discrimination happened.

Avicenna · Answer

It was pretty good. Lots of nice girls to meet and date.

Pink_sky16 · Answer

I was the new girl and popular all the guys wanted to talk to me but I was quiet and only a few close friends

Dinklex3 · Answer

Had a great experience because I had great friends.!

ChrisMaster69 · Answer

Fairly crap school wise spent a fair bit of it in counselling, the rest of the time fucking about.

Anonymous · Answer

Not that good. I was labeled a racist, almost went to juvie, got suspended, lost 3 girls, was friendless for a year, got into a few fights, and my gym teacher found out I had a crush on there.

Very good times

Anonymous · Answer

I live in a country that school bullying is barely a thing, also genders are separated till graduating from high school. And for me it wasn't anything special tbh.

sheikalana · Answer

I hated high school and hated being a teenager. I spent most of my teenage years really depressed.

mrkdvsn · Answer

Slightly better than my Junior High School "experience". I never got involved in anything, or made any friends

ThisAndThat · Answer

They wanted to force me shave the Moustache area which caused me serious medical problems. Mine experience was very bad.

OddBeMe · Answer

I don’t remember. So many people feel it’s their high point in life. Maybe I just had forgettable experiences.

Anonymous · Answer

Not really much of an experience since we are in the corona crisis

zagor · Answer

Not much fun. It had it's good moments, but I was kind of a loner so didn't do much.

hippio · Answer

Still in it , no doubt i am popular in my school but i think my parents hate me

Fuentes · Answer

I went to like 6 high schools lol got kicked outta two

Wise4myage · Answer

I was an outcast, but I did manage to make some friends.

Texasguy99 · Answer

Overall I think it was ok. I played sports and had decent grades. I was bullied by seniors as a freshman but my time got better

How was your High School experience and why?

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said