[jey]

The essay doesn't need to hit all the points on the popularity-nerdiness curve to be true overall. A lot of people do relate to this essay, even if you didn't have that sort of experience. Maybe you just weren't "nerdy enough". There's plenty of non-nerdy smart people.

I stopped being picked on by the end of middle school, and even had a neutral or positive reputation in HS, but I can still totally relate to Paul's essay. I hated high school and middle school. People think I'm joking when I describe it as a "jail". But HS wasn't so bad socially for me -- my group of friends were more "outsiders" and not "unpopular", and we did things like publishing an underground newspaper and pulling pranks. My friends and my computer were the only reason HS was bearable.

EDIT: Paul addresses your objection in the "I knew smart kids who weren't nerds" section of http://paulgraham.com/renerds.html