[dudifordMann]

Just to add to this comment: We do not function in isolation as a single typecast. We are all dynamic people. The football players or "popular people" could also be software engineers.

Anecdotally, one of the most athletic people I knew in school ended up double majoring with a 4.0 in mechanical and chemical engineering. I never went to a school where there were over-the-top movie quality cliques. Our athletes were also our 4.0's, who where also our popular kids, who were also our geeks. So be who you want.

[balabaster]

Exactly... If I have problems with my car, I take it to a mechanic. He's an engine nerd... something at which I suck, he's awesome at it. If I have legal problems, I go to a lawyer. He's a legal nerd... again, something at which I suck. If they need software written, [or more likely, their computers fixed, again. Don't get me started] they'd most likely both come to me. They might both be awesome photographers and play on the same hockey team, have largely the same peer group and just be fascinated by different things. They may have different conditioning due to their family background. One's father might own a car shop, the other's mother might be a judge. They might have grown up as neighbours, gone to the same school and been in all the same classes together. One may just have had a large exposure to the way law works growing up and one may just have had more of an interest in hanging out with Dad in the garage tinkering with engines because his Dad was a race car mechanic. The mechanic's mom may have taught both of them to play piano and they may both be concert grade music nerds. The nuances are endless.