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PaperclipPerfector  14hr ago (text post)   521 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 29, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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We know the common cliche of a guy (or girl) who's "the brain" at their school but has a major crisis when they find out they're merely average compared to everyone else when they start university. I'm curious how many folks here were nothing special in elementary and high school but went on to achieve something substantial academically?

I did mostly decently in school but was never anywhere close to a top tier student. Barely got into the high school I wanted, ie. the one with the shortest distance from my home (Finnish high school entrance is determined by your grades in 9th year). Had to settle for my second choice in university (EE) because I couldn't get in to study CS (and the actually hard to get in programs would have been right out). I went on to publish a couple of semi-influential papers in a subfield and AFAIK my professor still considers me one of his star students even though I never ended up doing a PhD (and let me tell you it's really fucking weird to keep receiving fan mail about a publication for a full decade from random people who've gone to the effort of figuring out your twice changed email address just for a single message).

First, Congrats! Hopefully the weirdness is offset by the enjoyment of being seen as important. For what it's worth I'm one of the people that will dig a bit to say "Thank you" when a piece of art or science transcends the mundane. I pretty much never receive a response but I figure people get negative feedback so often on things it's a way to put some positivity out there.

I was unable to meaningfully achieve anything academically. My ascent from a mediocre student to decent mid-level professional guy was a happy surprise. It's still crazy that the company I "co-founded" is still around almost a decade later and making $40m a year from $0.

I thought school was a monumental waste of time and hated nearly every minute of it. Now that I'm an adult, I'm even more miffed at all the people around me who tried to gaslight me into thinking it wasn't. I was absolutely fuckin' right about that.

Compulsory education is a repulsive mockery of genuine scholarship. I hate the people who defile the noble legacy of academia with this metric-chasing midwittery.

Had to settle for my second choice in university (EE) because I couldn't get in to study CS (and the actually hard to get in programs would have been right out).

What were the hard programs?

and let me tell you it's really fucking weird to keep receiving fan mail about a publication for a full decade from random people who've gone to the effort of figuring out your twice changed email address just for a single message

Were these, uh, Indians?

What were the hard programs?

Industrial engineering (think fast track to management for people who know math) and industrial physics (which for obvious reasons attracts people who are really good at math and physics).

and let me tell you it's really fucking weird to keep receiving fan mail about a publication for a full decade from random people who've gone to the effort of figuring out your twice changed email address just for a single message

Were these, uh, Indians?

No. Random people in the field and the occasional amateur interested in the topic. Eg. a few years ago I got a Facebook message from a German guy working for a prominent company in the same field saying he was a huge fan of my (then over 15 years old) work.

I’m curious about another scenario. I went to a private school in NYC where not everyone, but probably 40-60% of people were pretty smart. It wasn’t hugely selective but because it has or at least had at that time a reputation as being more academic than the hippie private schools, had a large contingent of smart kids. I did OK, maybe 70-80th percentile but outside of English and History was never top of the class. I went to a competitive and selective but again not HYPS tier college.

So I have the interesting but probably common experience (including professionally) of being mostly in ‘my league’ my whole life intellectually. I meet people both smarter and dumber than me all the time.

I meet people both smarter and dumber than me all the time.

I clearly move in the wrong circles because it's fairly rare for me to meet people who are obviously smarter than me while unfortunately the other end is not nearly as rare. I've arranged my life so I can mostly deal with my peers on that level but unfortunately such selection isn't always possible at the workplace. Internet forums are of course a near complete disaster when it comes to that.

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