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Graduating from high school is no easy feat. After all, it’s tough spending day after day in the same building, going from one class to another, handing in tasks and assignments on time, all while trying to navigate your path in life. For four years straight, your hormone-overruled brains try to figure out dreams and make detailed plans for the future. However, it doesn’t take long to realize one universal truth — life is completely unpredictable.

Just because your classmate got straight A’s, doesn’t mean they’ll strive for a Ph.D. Or if your buddy moved through school with no academic success, that’s not to say they won’t do a complete 180 in the real world. To prove that you never know where people will end up, Redditor VirusMaster3073 asked: "Which high school friend took a path you didn't expect?"

The question resonated with many people as thousands immediately jumped to the comment section to share the surprising journeys their friends ventured on after graduation. Below, we have gathered some of the most interesting responses from the thread to share with you, so enjoy scrolling, everyone! Be sure to upvote your favorite replies and let us know about your own stories in the comments.

Psst! If you’re interested in even more high school memorabilia, check out Bored Panda's earlier pieces about the best and worst transformations seen during school reunions right here and here.

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#1

Super outgoing kid at my school, always wore suits, drove a classic Caddilac, straight A’s—absolutely fantastic guy. Never not smiling and skipping and dancing around. Star athlete too—state champion runner a couple times, had a full college ride to some D1 school.

Two years into college tries to [take out] himself 30 times, evidently has a ton of mental health issues that he also had while he was in high school that he dealt with by smiling over them.

Good part is though, that he’s in AA, getting proper therapy, and has a ESA cat that sits on his shoulders everywhere he goes! He hasn’t attempted suicide in like 8 months and now can smile for real.

—he’s also actually me

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Laura Warren
Laura Warren
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So happy to hear you are getting the help and support you need!

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#2

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends I knew a girl in high school who was very sweet but very shy. She had very poor eyesight, had some tough dental issues, was overweight, and lived with a foster family in a trailer park. She wasn’t particularly close with anyone in school; I got the sense that she was just trying to make it through —- head down, get it done. But she was always kind and I would talk with her a bit here and there. Mostly she kept to herself and seemed to want to just not be noticed at all.

After high school, we lost touch.

Twenty years later, I get a Facebook request from someone with her name but the picture looks nothing like her. Not even a vague resemblance.

I accept because I’m curious.

Well, it was indeed her!

It turns out that she worked her way through/paid for community college, ended up getting a good job with a family company and worked her way up the ranks there. She saved all of her money. By her late 20s, she saved enough money and had good insurance for eye surgery and dental surgery. She also started really focusing on getting healthy. She said it all boosted her confidence so much that she started traveling around the country. During those travels, she ended up meeting a great guy. She and her husband have a nice family, good jobs, and live in an affluent community.

She acknowledged that her early years were tough and she had such low self esteem that she had a tough time making friends. She thanked me for always being kind to her.

She ended with “I may have blossomed late, but it was worth the wait”

I’m so happy for her. We keep in touch.

Krissyeeen , Pexels Report

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#3

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends Myself actually. 10 years ago I was racist, misogynistic, and homophobic. Now I march in the pride parade, Iv been openly dating a trans person, and have found a new understanding and way of life.

In high school I thought I wanted to stay in the Midwest and become a mechanic. Now I’m a wildland firefighter. I never wanted to travel in high school, now Iv hitch hiked the US and been all over. I’m even planing a motorcycle trip to Panama.

I’m happy I was able to leave my small town, and grow as a person. Change is a good thing.

Tired_Thumb , naeimasgary Report

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#4

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends Girl in my high school was a terrible human being, selfish and totally self absorbed. I couldn’t stand her. One of the shallowest, nastiest people I knew.

20 years later she sacrifices her life trying to help save three children, unknown to her, from drowning in a rip current at a local beach.

StandUpForYourWights , wileylong Report

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#5

I think in this scenario I’m “that friend”.

Throughout my entire school career I was advanced, including high school where I graduated with honors and an advanced diploma and went to a private college on a handsome academic scholarship. I was also a two-sport athlete and got along with every “group” of people. Everyone had me pegged for future lawyer, politician, or business executive. Something where I could use my intellect and likable personality to my benefit.

A month before graduation I started smoking weed and hanging out with s**t heads (disclaimer: I’m not making the claim that smoking weed makes you a bad person or unsuccessful, I’m saying the people I surrounded myself with and lifestyle I chose to adopt were... not optimal). I left college after my first year and, after a semester-long stint in community college, I was done with education altogether. I got fired from a decent job for something that was truly not my fault but it was for the best. I worked with a bunch of s**t heads too. I spent a few months unemployed with no direction for the first time in my life. I started working in loss prevention for a big box store and really got along well with the cops who would come when we caught shoplifters, which was odd given my lifestyle but not surprising given my personality and ability to get along with anyone. One day I decided I was gonna turn over a new leaf and be a cop. Everyone thought I was joking. I had picked up a possession of marijuana charge in my travels and people thought I couldn’t come back from that. Nobody took me seriously but me.

I’m going on 5 years in law enforcement now. I have spearheaded many community policing initiatives aimed at reaching at-risk youths. I get out of my police car at Section 8 apartment complexes and talk to everyone. I use my discretion often to favor people who made a dumb mistake instead of ruining their lives with criminal charges. I still charge people, don’t get me wrong, but I use common sense and remember who I was not that long ago. I love my career and I’m glad to have the privilege to do what I do. Yes, there are still good cops out there, plenty of us.

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#6

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends Low achiever, used to goof off in class all the time. Bit of a class clown. Used to tell everyone that her goal was to be a trophy wife so she could watch TV all day.

Has shown her designs at Paris fashion week and has dressed several celebrities.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I was flicking through a copy of Vogue Australia on my lunch break and there was a 4-page article on her in there.

I was so happy, she always had a heart of gold and I feel like her teen self was a reflection of what her family thought for her, she deserved to be much more than someone's wife.

848Des14 , Arturo1203 Report

Final score:
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#7

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends Very plain looking nice but quite girl I went to high school with, NEVER would had thought she would go on to become one the the top 20 supermodels of all time. Married a very famous rock star.
She’s a sweetheart. One of my dearest friends and checked in on me almost daily for close to a year, when I lost my daughter.

Puppyismycat , Pexels Report

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#8

There’s this girl I know from H.S. who struggled a lot with depression and anxiety. Her freshman year she tried to [take out] herself and ended up in a long term treatment center. She now has a Masters degree in social works and works in a high school with kids like herself. It’s pretty cool.

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BetterBitterButter
BetterBitterButter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So she got help, turned her life around and is now helping others like her? Amazing!!

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#9

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends Probably the smartest guy in class but never actually paid attention or did his homework. Was always sleeping in class or doing his own thing or goofing off

Recently sold his startup for 8 figures and is now back to goofing off.

ellean4 , StartupStockPhotos Report

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Corrsfan
Corrsfan
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would have expected exactly this for someone with the combination of smart + goof off 😋

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#10

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends On of my best friends was Arab but didn't give into her parents traditional ways. She would tell her mom that she was going to backpack through Europe when she turned 18, that she wanted to be a police officer, refused to wear a hijab although her parents kept on telling her to. Of course her parents disapproved of all this and told her "hell no" to traveling or becoming a police officer. Two years after high school she became very religious and married some guy in his late 30s and already has two kids and only hangs out and talks to people in her Muslim community circle.

I don't really talk to her anymore because I'm a guy (although I'm gay) because her husband disapproves of it. She also told me she doesn't support me being gay "because it's wrong" although throughout high school she was very supportive and was there for me when I came out to my parents and they didn't take it well.

I don't know what caused her to 180 and fall in line with her parents wishes, but I do miss who she use to be.

AdrienD11 , nasiklababan Report

Final score:
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#11

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends Me. I had a 4.357 GPA. Was always in gifted classes, AP classes, nerdy and quiet on the track to get into any university of my choice to become a doctor.

I got pregnant right before my senior year by someone terrible and even though I graduated, I ended up working at McDonalds for 5 years and married to a drug dealer.

Luckily I’ve turned my life back around and am doing ok now.

crasslardass , Foundry Report

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#12

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends Went to high school with Post Malone. He and I had a mutual friend in middle school so inevitably in high school we became close. I remember listening to him play guitar in his garage and telling him "you're gonna be big one day." But I didnt expect him to reach the fame level he did.

tylerjordanm , The Come Up Show Report

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#13

Best friend in high school. His step dad was a district attorney and apparently they didn't get along at all. This was the bible belt south east. I met him in the tenth grade as I smoked weed and he happened to sell it. He lived in a trailer park and financed it with his weed sales. My parents hated him. After he graduated from high school while living 100 percent on his own, he did two years of collage before getting accepted in a major medical university program that actually paid him to be there. He is now a pharmaceutical engineer living in Switzerland. My parents were surprised to hear that.

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Garcsa Brooks
Garcsa Brooks
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't see how they were surprised, he's always been into selling pharmaceuticals

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#14

Our class valedictorian, who was also a star soccer player, ended up turning down numerous full rides to major universities to basically travel the world doing random volunteer work in 3rd world countries.

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#15

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends The quiet, kinda nerdy guy in the back of my AP Calculus class is now the CEO of Playboy Thailand.

chel8 , ernestoeslava Report

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#16

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends A friend of mine was a decorated student in high school. Top cadet in JROTC, top 25 out of 500 students, got a scholarship geared toward any STEM major, gifted chemist, and on top of that he joined Army ROTC in college to get in track to become a U.S citizen (he is undocumented).

So what happened?

He gave up everything to sell Herbalife and Amway thinking he will be a millionaire in 5 years.

So much f*****g potential... gone.

SgtBigPigeon , victoruzihben Report

Final score:
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#17

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends Friend got brainwashed by Fundamentalist Christian group. Has 14 kids now.

PunkAssBabyKitty , StockSnap Report

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ThatBiBookLover
ThatBiBookLover
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh god- I mean, if he/she’s happy, who am I to judge 🤷‍♀️ (Poor kids tho)

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#18

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends Every school had the certified junkie, our was some real skinny guy named Avery. He not only was a junkie, he was a terrible student. He never did one piece of work and always talked back to teachers and it was an everyday thing for him to get kicked out of class. I'm pretty sure he was at the very bottom of our class. I saw him at Wal-Mart a few years ago and he did a full 180. It was very visible he was off drugs completely, he physically looked better and he was now a youth pastor. I check up on him ever so often on social media and it seems he's still doing fine.

jesus_crimmity , Grace Lutheran Church Report

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#19

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends My best friend since I was 5 yrs old, smartest person I ever knew. She went off to college and got into heroin. She is now serving a life sentence for first degree murder.

bourbon78 , falco Report

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#20

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends A guy I was friends with in drama club became a professional drag queen. No one knew he was gay. I almost dated the guy. We made out once on a school trip.

Emilimilee , StockSnap Report

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Nicole Weymann
Nicole Weymann
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good for him! Though I don't think being gay is a requirement for drag queening (or vice versa).

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#21

My female bully developed alopecia and lost her hair.

While I don’t wish that on anyone, I appreciated the irony of someone who was so focused on looks/social standing going bald.

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Glitterati
Glitterati
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wish that on my high school bully and I’m forty years old. I’d still be secretly delighted.

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#22

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends Elizabeth the bad-a*s party chick. She was the brilliant and quietly rebellious type. She was pulling and getting away with s**t that most of the guys branded as trouble makers in school could only dream of, because she had the sense and savvy to not show off to the world. She wasn't doing s**t for the attention, she was just doing it because that's what she wanted to do. So smoking, heavy drinking, some drugs, staying out all night, whatever. She could out-do anyone else.

Anyway a little over 10 years later I caught up with her and found out she was a tri-athelete and overall health nut.

Link-to-the-Pastiche , Pexels Report

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Jo L.
Jo L.
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People with "extreme" personalities often end up like this - they decide they want something and they just go for it. This totally fits, imo. My sister quit her job, got really into weightlifting, became a stripper and started making bank, and dumped her husband for a guy she met at the club. Fast-forward a few years, she meets an ambitious younger guy at the club, who she married last fall, and they started a very successful company together. I subcontract a lot of work to them in my business and it's been great. I would have been perfectly happy for her if she wanted to continue in her previous line of work if she still loved it, but it's crazy to see how fast she's realized her other ambitions.

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#23

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends high school meth dealer and local lunchroom pot/cigarette vendor ended up being roomates senior year. two months after graduation they both joined the las vegas PD.

pythonic_nonsense , fsHH Report

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#24

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends A really nice and shy guy who liked Queen and played guitar a bit. Became a bass-guitarist in #1 rock band in Ukraine.

Edit: it's Okean Elzy. He's not in the band anymore, but has been playing for first 10 years.

alteredxenon , Pexels Report

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#25

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends The son of my teacher was a football player, had a beautiful gf (they broke up before he graduated though), and was a procrastinator. Once he graduated, he went to work at a restaurant for a year and as far as I knew, he was going to attend college the next year but he had no idea of what his major was gonna be. I just found out two weeks ago he got accepted to a local seminary and is going to become a priest! I was shocked to say the least

anon , SPOTSOFLIGHT Report

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#26

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends Guy who sat behind me in hometown. Was a good student, but not an intellectual superstar by any means.

After I relocated to Eastern PA, turns out he was in Western NJ. Multi-millionaire, former CEO of a pharmaceutical company.

Great guy, super happy for him, but truly unexpected.

Lightning_lad64 , pexels Report

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#27

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends When I was 10 I sat next to the sweetest boy in our class. (All the other boys I had sat next to in junior school were mild a*s-hats). I remember I lent him my Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory vhs and he lent me The Muppets Take Manhattan.

We went to different high schools when we were 12. I heard that at 16 he had been arrested for armed robbery. I still can’t believe it. What the hell happened to that kind and gentle boy between 12 and 16?

FloppyEaredDog , 4711018 Report

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Cashme Outside
Cashme Outside
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

lol good job boredpanda w illy apparently needs to be censored…

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#28

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends One super shy quiet dude is now doing time for blackmailing girls and posting their nudes.

anon , StartupStockPhotos Report

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#29

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends A girl I knew was a strict Christian and floated between groups of friends. Her judgmental side came out from time to time. Once I remember her telling a girl she was going to “burn in the depths of hell” for having sex. I only know this because I was the lucky girl sitting between them when the other girl jumped over me to punch her...

Anyway, after high school, I heard she met a guy, stopped being a Christian and wrote all sorts of over sharing sexual statuses on Facebook. They got engaged and were hooked on drugs. She pawned her engagement ring for drugs and lived above a smoke shop out east.

Good news! She’s now off drugs, married and has a daughter. Still posts over-sexualized photos and statuses on Facebook. We’re good on seeing you in lingerie suggestively laying on your husband...

anon , Pexels Report

Final score:
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Amber.exe (She/They)
Amber.exe (She/They)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wow from telling a girl to burn in hell for having s*x to posting sexual pictures on Facebook

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#30

30 People Reveal The Best And Worst Transformations They’ve Seen From Their High School Friends 20 years later our class valedictorian was working at a Chick-fil-A

TheBimpo , Tony Webster Report

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