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As much as we would like to believe that school is a safe and welcoming place for all students, I think we know that’s not often the case. Unfortunately, one fifth of students report being the targets of bullying, and anyone who’s set foot in a school lunchroom knows that it can be a brutal place.

But thankfully, many of the hierarchies that existed in school vanish after graduation. And anyone can go on to be successful, regardless of how relentlessly they were teased in school. Redditors have recently been sharing what happened to the “losers” from their schools, so we’ve gathered their juiciest replies below. Enjoy reading through this list that might make you grateful to be done with your education, and be sure to upvote the posts that stand out to you!

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#1

30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now I was a loser in high school. Stinky clothes, wore plastic grocery bags on my feet under my shoes when it rained, sometimes went to school barefoot. Pretty hungry a lot. Slept in a church youth room I had gotten a key for and would sneak in after hours. Some people were cruel to me, but I was pretty naive about it, so it didn't stick and I don't have any hard feelings about it.

There were some really nice people, too.

I was in a band, but that failed after 9 or 10 years. Failed my marriage after about 5 or 6 years. I pursued a dream of opening up my own music lessons and recording studio, but that failed too after about 8 years. Pretty spectacular failures, too. Very humbling. Back to square-one style, destitute, stealing food from the grocery store level failure.

So these days, I've been doing ok. I've worked with special needs kids for the last 10 years. Got my braille certificate, got a bachelor's degree in elementary education, working on my masters in EdTech right now. Literally doing what most people are doing in their 20s, 20 years too late. Better late than never, I guess.

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Manana Man
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

High five to another late bloomer. All that experience has no doubt taught you a lot.

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    #2

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now She’s a published author of multiple books and crushing it in the explicit romance genre. She used to let me read stuff she wrote in a deeply boring class we were required to take and shared a two-person table in, and it’s the only thing that got me through. She was really talented.

    I’d have never said she was a loser though. Just a very earnest girl in a larger body whose social development skills hadn’t really kicked in yet. But she was smart and sweet and gentle. I asked her to come sit with my friends at lunch a lot but she’d never come over. Just ate alone every day, scribbling in notebooks. I’m really glad she found her path to happiness and success. Romance books aren’t my thing, but I preorder every one of her books as a show of support.

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    Samantha
    Samantha
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    What a lovely sweet story and thanks for being such a good friend to her x

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    #3

    If by "loser", you mean the malnourished, abused and neglected kid wearing dirty, torn clothes? That was me. I ran away from home and went to my grandparents. I was an outsider at my new school but made friends and graduated with a 3.6 GPA, then joined the military. Now I'm a 61 year old combat veteran and partially disabled. But life is great now. I have a wonderful, loving girlfriend and 5 cats who genuinely adore us.

    Life balances out.

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    Samantha
    Samantha
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Sorry to hear about your childhood, sounds dreadful. Well done to have come this far, all the best.

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    To find out how this conversation started in the first place, Bored Panda reached out to Reddit user Cirquedusoleilfan, who posed the question, "Where is the ‘loser’ from your school now?" The author was kind enough to have a chat with us and share what inspired him to make this post.

    "Do you know these AskReddit TikToks? Where they put a picture of the title in the video and then show one of the answers with these satisfying videos playing in the background? I have a lot of those on my For You Page and saw a specific one about where the popular kids from their school are now," Cirquedusoleilfan shared. "And I thought about making one about what the so called 'losers' were doing now."
    #4

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now He has an Emmy.

    He was made fun of by everyone, including me, for being incredibly passionate about photography and film and having the humongous balls it takes to continue putting his stuff out there.

    He’s far and away the most successful person from my class, and gets to do what he loves everyday. I’m super happy for him.

    Edit: The Emmy was for his work on a News production. He’s not famous. Lol.

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    #5

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now It's me. I'm the loser. Married 26 years, 2 awesome kids, own house and God willing in five years, collecting a pension. If I could just go back to kid me and tell her school isn't real life and it was going to be ok.

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    andrew-w00197 avatar
    Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het
    Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That last sentence, louder for the dįckheads claiming "school days are the best days of your life. "

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    #6

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now After taking a 20 year detour with a lot of d***s, psych wards, rehab and a bunch of dysfunctional relationships… now have my dream job in the medical field

    High school can really f**k someone up lol

    Took me years and years to get a good sense of self and become confident after being the “loser”.

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    We also asked the OP how popular he was in high school. "In my first school (the 'Grundschule' which goes from grade one to six) I was not, not at all! Spent the breaks alone getting bullied and was just an outcast all the time," he shared.

    But thankfully, he noted that things are much better in the school he's currently at. "I am still not really that popular, but it is a lot better. I have two close friends but go out with pretty much everyone else too. And I'm totally happy with that."

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    #7

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now I’m actually really proud of him and I always knew he had great potential. The typical high school “loser” with a trench coat he literally got out from a dumpster would be bullied daily. Today he is a professional special effects artist for costumes and sets.

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    #8

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now He joined the Air Force at the same time I joined the Navy. Thirty three years later he retired a two star general.

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    #9

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now I'm an operations manager for a unicorn startup in New York City. The girls who bullied me are still in our podunk town.

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    We were also curious about what Cirquedusoleilfan thought of the replies to his post. "Well, with 'where' I meant where in life, you know? But a lot of people thought the place," he shared with a laugh. "I got a lot of comments like, 'I'm right here scrolling through Reddit!'"

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    "But the comments went in a lot of different directions. Some of them died from an overdose, are still working on their rap career, hop in and out of jail or are homeless. Others are very successful!" the OP continued. "Like finally opening their tattoo shop, becoming rich, married with 4 kids, published multiple books, or having a good career in general. Because of that variety, it was a lot of fun reading them. One that stood out the most to me was someone who is a hacker for the NSA now."
    #10

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now He runs a successful dental surgery clinic and has 2 sons in the NHL.

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    #11

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now Dudes an aeronautical engineer now, we recently talked online and talked about where we are both now. Bro hit me with the "time flies" quote, genuinely happy for him.

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    #12

    This kid in my high school was by far the smallest and skinniest. Hung out with us nerds (before being nerds was cool), but otherwise kept to himself. Was very quiet and hid in giant hoodies and generally tried to disappear.

    After high school, he joined the Army. Got ripped. Became a drill sergeant, and later, attack helicopter pilot. Married a gorgeous Hooters girl. She just got her M.D.

    Wish I could have been a loser like that kid.

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    Samantha
    Samantha
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Aww. that is quite an image and made me smile, good for him :)

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    Finally, the author shared some wise words for anyone who's considered the "loser" at their school. "You might hear a lot advice like, 'Just be yourself!' I don't know what to think of that, because for me, it didn't work, like at all," Cirquedusoleilfan told Bored Panda. "I don't even know why I am more popular right now, so I can't really tell you more. Maybe there is someone else who is always lonely? Maybe you can try talking to them? Good luck!" he added with a smile.
    #13

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now One owns his own tattoo shop, doing alright. Another who was a massive stoner ended up being really great at selling cars and is quite wealthy.

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    bolcsvay avatar
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Friend of my sons was a complete stoner, everyone thought he would not get anywhere. He now designs irrigation systems for weed groing facilities & makes boat loads of money. I guess he followed what he loved

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    #14

    I went to school with this kid who lived with his single dad- dirt poor, greasy hair, socially awkward…I think most people would have classified him as a “loser”. He’s now a multimillionaire bitcoin tech guy. I’m so happy for him and it makes me smile to know he’s doing so well.

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    THE COOL ZACH
    THE COOL ZACH
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    4 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It’s always great to hear stuff like that, and great job dude!

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    #15

    It’s me, poor kid… “cootie kid”… all that s**t

    Beautiful wife and kids , successful business, never looked back.

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    #16

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now There was a kid in our class who would cry every time he was asked to read out loud or say something in front of the class. It was always very painful to watch, and some kids would make fun of him. He also would frequently eat his own boogers, when he thought no one was watching. He moved away after 6th grade (1978) and I never saw him again. I looked him up recently on LinkedIn and it turns out he got a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford and made a fortune on patents he got with Silicon Graphics (SGI). He didn’t reply to my LinkedIn invite.

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    Jessica SpeLangm
    Jessica SpeLangm
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    4 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Were you one of the kids that made fun of him? If yes, then you were a bully and I applaud him for keeping you and people like you out of his life.

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    #17

    I'm an RN who would save my bullies' lives and then show them the old picture of me in our yearbook.

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    #18

    In federal prison for blowing up those blue postal boxes with pipe bombs. Genius could have blown up trash cans and since no one got hurt, it would have been a misdemeanor. But tampering with the mail is a *federal offense.* and each individual letter destroyed is a *separate count.*

    *And*, he got caught by leaving an unfinished pipe bomb in the back of his friend’s dad’s car. And this friend’s dad was the *Fire Marshall,* and had been consulting on the case. 🤦‍♂️😆🙄.

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    #19

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now Define loser in high school.  The fat socially awkward guy? Oh he’s rich, married with 4 kids in a good career.  

    The guy with the lowest grades, he’s bouncing in and out of prison.  

    The guy who was doing hard d***s in high school? He’s dead.

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    athornedrose
    athornedrose
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    d**g dealer from our high school, now a cop in a well off waspy neighborhood....

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    #20

    Well the school mascot is in charge of a navy submarine in the Atlantic. When people were freaking out about the Russian Sub all I could think is... The start of WW3 might be down to Tony who wore the banana suit during spirit week... 


    The trenchcoat kid... Who was actually super nice.. has a business 3D printing sex toys. 


    And me? I'm in manufacturing in Cleveland 🤗.

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    Lyoness
    Lyoness
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Now all I can picture is the Frosted Flakes mascot with his hand (paw?) on the red button to launch missiles. Not Gggrrreat!

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    #21

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now It's me. Everyone else from my class went on to get a professional career and family. Meanwhile, I got cancer, had a stroke, my disability payments got wrongfully stopped and I'm going through an appeal right now. So all my old school friends are living it up in nice houses with their families with hope for the future, while I'm starving, in danger of losing the roof over my head, sick and suffering side effects from my meds, all alone, and with nothing to look forward to. So yeah I was considered a loser in school because I liked rock music while the other kids liked r&b and Boyzone. Now I'm a loser in real life, as multiple people have delighted in telling me. I don't even join my old school's Facebook page because I'm too embarrassed to let them see how my life has turned out.

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    #22

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now Living in a van down by the river.

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    #23

    Everyone is going to say that they were the loser but I actually was. By the time junior year rolled around I had no friends, I spent my lunchbreaks walking around aimlessly or eating my lunch in a bathroom stall. I blended into the background (on purpose) unless someone decided I was an easy target to publicly mock or to make up school shooter jokes. My clothes all had holes in them because we were poor and lived in a trailer, I had severe acne as well and nothing over the counter worked. If I accidentally made eye contact with a girl I would get laughed at and be on the receiving end of "that look." I had terrible grades and failed 10th grade so the other kids made fun of me for being stupid on top of my looks, etc. My teachers openly disliked me, especially the female ones. From what I can gather pretty much everyone in my life back then just expected me to kill myself.

    I am now a mechanical engineer making far more than the household average for the area I live in. I own multiple sportscars and motorcycles, I have traveled overseas for recreation and am in extremely good physical condition. I have gotten cosmetic surgeries and turn girls down that approach. Things are far from ideal but I feel like I've clawed up from a pretty precarious situation. The thing is I still don't forgive anyone from back then.

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    Stephanie A Mutti
    Stephanie A Mutti
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    "turn girls down that approach". It's always refreshing when someone who was bullied becomes the same thing that tortured him. So the cycle can continue...

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    #24

    I was pretty much a loser at school, only had a couple friends, terrible grades, pretty much spent my time f*****g around and gaming whilst being socially awkward.

    For all intents and purposes that guy is dead now, moved country to where no one knew me, changed my whole personality, got into uni as a mature student, hit the gym, started taking care in my appearance, made a load of friends and have a great girlfriend.

    Even if I accidentally ran into anyone from back then I doubt they would even recognise me anymore.

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    #25

    He went to a good university, got two degrees, and lives at home with his parents. He is broke and can hardly muster the energy to pull himself out of bed every day. He has no friends and a dwindling support system, and his mental health is dangling by a thread.

    Dear reader, he is me.

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    Aileen Grist
    Aileen Grist
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Sounds like my nephew. Got a Phd in physics - worked for a year at Cerne whilst getting his Phd - finished the course, went home and has pretty much stayed in his bedroom ever since.

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    #26

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now It's me. Teacher now, life's pretty great. Staying in my lane. Took the boys to Disney yesterday. Summer break ftw.

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    Subaru645
    Subaru645
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If you can afford Disney, you’re definitely the wealthiest one out of all the stories posted

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    #27

    He was me. I was the loser of my high school who had hardly any friends and was overweight and constantly bullied.

    8 years after graduation I now live in a big city, have a 3 bedroom apartment right in the middle that overlooks the entire city, a good job with good benefits, a good group of friends, has plenty of time for my hobbies and passions, lost a ton of weight and got my a*s in shape by toning out and gaining muscle and now I’m constantly getting compliments on how great I look, and I have an active enough sex life that I feel content.

    So he’s doing pretty damn great lol.

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    Samantha
    Samantha
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Pat yourself on your back, you have done most excellently well indeed.

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    #28

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now I’m a lonely alcoholic, no friends or family and I do construction.

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    Brian Droste
    Brian Droste
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Doesn't construction pay pretty well? Doesn't still make up for being lonely though.

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    #29

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now I think he moved to Spain and works mowing lawns.

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    #30

    30 People Share What The Most Unpromising Kids From Their School Are Up To Now I’m working at Arby’s.

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    Jessica SpeLangm
    Jessica SpeLangm
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And....you consider yourself a loser because of that? At least you are working. Might not be the best job, but are you good at your job and not causing problems with your co-workers?

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