[officeplant]

I was put through through multiple gifted programs in both middle school and high school (Southern US). I loved the challenging course work from dealing with college level science classes as early as the 7th grade. The main problem with gifted programs is it really makes normal public schooling extra miserable once you are back with the general population. Uncaring teachers, scantron tests, and large classes sizes left me depressed with schooling quality.

Once I got to college after graduating from a boarding school for gifted teens it was like a culture shock back to the world of horrible professors. I nearly failed out of college due to being completely uninterested with the lack of engaging materials in first semester classes.

Ended up with a degree in broadcast journalism because it was an easy path to graduating in less than 3 years. Especially because I was graduating during the 2008 financial crisis and just wanted to be done with school and find whatever job I could to get a start in the real world.

It's a nice piece of paper for HR to nod at and let me pass the degree hurdle.

My favorite moment was working a shit retail job in 2010 and running into another graduate of the same gifted high school working a fast food job just to survive.

EDIT// I did have some classmates go to found companies, work for NASA, etc. They were driven people who could have prospered in any scenario honestly.