Everyone knows those people who, during school, seemed like they were the kings and queens of the universe. They were liked, respected, everything in the world seemed to be going their way. But high school isn’t the real world, so there is no blanket rule for how success in this field carries over to university and jobs.
Someone asked “What happened to the good-looking ultra-popular kids that had it all in high school?” and people shared their stories. So get comfortable as you read through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own tales in the comments section below.

#1

Popular guy went to MIT and shortly after got disowned by his parents for coming out as gay. He was popular for being smart, charismatic and a genuinely good guy. He and his husband are doing well for themself nowadays.

Popular girl went to a prestigious university and became a nurse. Similar to the popular guy, she is a genuinely good person so everyone still loved her. I’ve run into her several times over the years and she’s still the same nice person. She could model if she wanted to but she really does care about folks and considered it a personal mission to help others via healthcare.

We had several self-proclaimed popular people in our high school who were self absorbed a******s. The 3 most notable is the guy who got kicked out of college when he tested positive for steroids and m*******a. He was also on a full ride scholarship before getting kicked out. He never completed any higher education to this day and has fallen into addiction.

A girl who was very attractive and also self-proclaimed popular became an escort and eventually married a wealthy client. Husband recently attempted to run for Mayor of the city and lost big time.

2nd girl who was also very attractive became a model, got knocked up without knowing who the father was, got into an abusive relationship, ran away, got knocked up by another guy who left shortly after she gave birth and finally she decided to get her s**t together. Last I heard she’s finishing college to become a nurse and she lives with her parents.

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#2

Prom king and queen got married shortly after high school. Forty years later, they live within 5 miles of the farms where they grew up. They made some athletic, attractive kids along the way.

Image credits: alegna12

#3

The most popular girl in my graduating class (and I do mean ***most*** popular; she made an effort to make friends with literally everyone), head cheerleader, is now the head director at the local homeless shelter.

She never married, has no kids, 37. Still an absolute babe.

Image credits: RsonW

#4

This girl was super popular since primary school. Really smart too, straight As student but also she got all the jock boyfriends., I don’t know how popular she was in university but she went overseas, came back with a law degree and then started her line of couture handbags. She was really living the high life appearing in fashion magazines, runways, VVIP parties, brushing shoulders with royalties etc. Suddenly she vanished from social media for about a year turns out she went to a rehab (a very fancy one by the beach). Then she started posting weird things on her Facebook, things that don’t make sense then turns out she has bipolar disorder. Now, she still lives with her mom.

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#5

A few became touring musicians. One became a commercial and b movie actor. One got fifth in the Olympics. One played minor league baseball, but d***s caught up to him. One woman became a p**nstar and died of an overdose. A few of the best athletes I played with committed s*****e because they weren't good enough to go pro.

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#6

She went on to become a world traveler and Buddhist and now runs a non-profit providing microloans to female-owned global businesses.

She was also my first real crush, and I’m so happy she lived up to my silent pedestal.

Image credits: HoraceBenbow

#7

She became a kick a*s nurse; she was on the healthcare professionals team who helped one of my friends give birth to healthy twins.

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#8

Deceased. Motorcycle accident. He was nice, funny, generous, and kind of a rascal. So basically everybody liked him. He was in med school when he died.

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#9

He went to Harvard. Works in finance and married a stunningly beautiful woman who works for Google.

They live in London. I’m not jealous of much in life, but his string of wins challenges my equanimity.

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#10

The very beautiful popular girl in my grade pulled a papertowns by dropping contact with pretty much everyone and moved to South Africa where she seems to live a fairly luxurious life now. Pretty cool move if you ask me.

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#11

Failed musician and cryptobro who spent the pandemic posting videos of himself arguing with store staff about masks.

Image credits: skizem

#12

The good looking ultra-popular kids in my high school went to good schools, got good jobs, and became really successful adults. One became a doctor, one became a union president, one became a toy exec and married an exec on a streaming platform, one was a professional football player for a few years. 30 years on, they’re still good looking and charismatic.

Not high school, but a kid I was in grade school with became a famous actor with a beloved TV role. He was a really nice kid on top of being absurdly good looking and very popular. We went to different high schools but I ran into him occasionally and he very much fit the thread.

Edit: I never said any of these kids were rich. I’m not sure where you guys got that idea but it’s coming up enough I wanted to address it here. A long time ago there was a hill in my hometown where all the rich people lived. They seceded from the city and made their own city so their taxes wouldn’t be used to help the poors. Rich kids didn’t go to my high school.

Image credits: DeathByBamboo

#13

I graduated high school in 2019. The most popular girl in my high school won miss teen *our state* (her first beauty pageant) and now is a supporting character in a few box office horror movies. She was always the kindest person. Always had guys fawning over her. But worked at Dairy Queen all through high school and came from a poor family.

The most popular guy committed s*****e. Then his father pasted in a hurricane. And then his mother passed from cancer. Last I heard, his sister is in school to be a therapist and has a service animal for her panic attacks.

#14

My friend likes to send me the prom king’s latest mugshot.

Image credits: grieserl

#15

I got voted most popular at my high school. Prom king, Captain of the football team type stuff. myb8th grade summer the best advice I ever received from my older sister was to be nice to everyone when you start high school. Geeks, loners, punkers, jocks, band kids. I was nice to all of them. I’m 38 now and people from high school put on their best face when they see me because I treated them like a friend. My life is really good because I was kind.

#16

One went off the deep end and never was able to come to terms with the fact that he was gay. Lots of d***s, last I heard of him.

One still looks pretty good for her age but is a bit of a Facebook attention queen. Married the bowl cut dude who thought he was hot s**t.

One’s got a s**t ton of kids and does well for herself. Married the stoner football jock.

The other one was a POS and heroin laced with fentanyl got him. Good riddance.

#17

3 of them became chiropractors in my area. Nothing against the dudes, but I laugh hard every time I see an online advertisement from one of them thats local. His business name references alchemy which just is wicked amusing given the snake-oil reputation chiropractors have.

Image credits: Kimblethedwarf

#18

Went to Stanford, became a cancer researcher, founded a nonprofit, got a PhD and MD from Harvard + MIT, now works on rare children’s diseases. Solid guy.

Image credits: alpacaapicnic

#19

In my high school the popular kids were the ones who participated in theater and music and such, because it was just that kind of place. As such, the good-looking ultra popular kids at my high school grew up to be popular good-looking music, film and television stars. A couple are very well known names in film, one is a popular stand up comic and is on a popular TV show. Another is an incredibly popular DJ in Southeast Asia. A couple went on to be renowned orchestral performers. One of my best friends growing up has been a big name in local live theater for decades. So that kind of thing.

Image credits: tenehemia

#20

The popular quarterback at my school, had 3 divorces, 2 kids and works in a low end construction job.

Image credits: BillyBjornn

#21

The dude was amazing. Tall, good-looking and talented. Everyone thought he'd be in movies, a band, or both. He wasn't stuck up, and everyone liked him.

Had a psychological break due to undiagnosed issues, got into h****n and became homeless.

Image credits: Diafuge

#22

Miss HS married a banker who went to federal prison for fraud. Mr. HS had been married and divorced by our 10th reunion.

#23

After graduation, no one in the real world gave a c**p about who they were or what they did in high school. No one. Also, having attended a couple class reunions now, I’ve observed that most of the popular guys are now overweight and balding. The popular girls are no longer thin, and seem to have older-looking faces than the “nerd” girls. Back in high school, I never would have believed this would happen to them, but it has.

Image credits: gdgardenlanterns

#24

I’d do the split like this: popular and mean to others vs. popular and positive with others.
The popular and positive all did well in life and careers. The meanies lost whatever advantages they had in school to their own nastiness.

Image credits: bullfeathers23

#25

Became a stock broker, developed d**g and p**n addiction, got low, got clean, married a mormon woman. Got her addicted to crack. Continued to smoke crack with his mormon wife, get her pregnant, get arrested for fraud and sent to prison last I checked.

Image credits: Starscream4prez2024

#26

The only one I knew well ( I was in the Art/Theater/Music crowd) was class president and a basketball star in high school, went to state college, married young, became a pilot.  Very nice human. 

I ran into him in a bar about 15 years later. He was in his second marriage and seemed to be doing OK.  

He told me high school was the best time of his life, which made me sad for him. .

Image credits: Any_Assumption_2023

#27

She became a b-grade celebrity, came out as lesbian and was lauded for her bravery, started a social justice campaign for the rainbow community and against bullying until it was revealed that she’d also been the worst bully at our school, especially towards lesbian and bi girls. She’s kept her head down since. .

Image credits: LadyBloo

#28

They are a bartender at a small town bar in the middle of nowhere that still let’s you smoke cigarettes inside. I was very surprised when she asked if I wanted an ashtray with my drink.

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#29

The guys became lawyers with daddy’s firm and are all rich now. The women mostly married rich lawyers. They seem to have done quite well overall.

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#30

Most of them were good-looking and ultra-popular because they came from stable if not affluent financial backgrounds. They got the acne treatments they needed, were able to buy nice clothes, were much more experienced navigating social situations, etc. So plenty of them just kept that momentum going and had good successful college experiences, and entered successful careers. Anecdotally, when I’ve met these people now I always get this weird intuition like they’re not fully self aware?

Plenty of others peaked in high school though, and their lives went downhill afterward. And plenty of them lived privileged lives that self destructed after a point. There are some particular karmic situations I’ve seen.

I dunno…everything happens to everyone. I was at my lowest point ever in high school, so I get to experience life as only getting better from there :).

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#31

I’m from a small town.

So most of those people still live within an hour of that small town. Just doing regular person s**t.

The most successful person was probably the co-valedictorian. They were not pretty or popular. Last I saw on LinkedIn they were Chief of Medicine at some hospital on the west coast.

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#32

They went to college or the workplace and found out they were just average.

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#33

I believe he runs a hedge fund now. Or is high up at a hedge fund.

#34

MLMs. So many MLMs.

#35

Most went to college, got good jobs, bought houses, married other attractive people and the cycle continues.

#36

I’m in my early 30s now and I can’t even remember off the top of my head what the good looking ultra popular kids at my high school were named. If I had to guess they probably got good jobs and have successful lives, but those people had so little impact on my life that I couldn’t begin to care less.

#37

2 Doctors, 1 dentist, 2 engineers and one in sales no one did anything huge but they live good lives.

#38

He became a stock broker. Married a pretty woman, they had good looking kids. He’s still married, posts pictures of his grandbabies on Facebook. Still a good guy.

#39

They’re having some really nice lives, surrounded by their loving extended families, making enough money to own giant homes and three giant trucks and SUVs.

#40

One of them put a catheter in my wiener when I had surgery.

#41

Ran into him years after school, he got fat and lost much of his hair.

#42

Good looking girls? Mostly flight attendants and married to pilots.

The rest were into high end jobs.

#43

One looks exactly the same and is a teacher married to a doctor. They have a huge house in the city and four kids. She was just a pretty, smart, socially capable but not aggressively popular girl with professional parents and became a similarly respectable adult. I’d like to feel bitter about it but I can’t— if I were a successful doctor who could have his pick of women, I’d marry her, too.

One became a teacher at our high school. He was funny and class president and everyone legitimately liked him. I guess it’s kind of strange he found his place where he was successful as a kid and just stayed there but I think his genuine love for the place probably adds to his appeal to the kids.

#44

I lived in a town known for it’s oil refineries and chemical plants. Most of the popular kids I knew got hooked up right out of high school with good jobs at the plants and are now in high-level management positions making high six figures. Some of them went to college and are entrepreneurs for various things, like one dude has his own fitness supplements and another guy has a marketing consultancy.

Nearly all of the popular girls left Houston and went to college in Dallas. I don’t know what they went for. They are now all in real estate or are housewives, and the majority of them married much older men. Several of them have been “grandmas” since they were around 30.

#45

They’re lording it up in that same small town. Their last names got them everything in nowheresville, they couldn’t hack it in a real town or city.

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