The popular ladies from my high school class are quite successful. They were all pretty nice people to begin with but they've grown up to be even more lovely. Careerwise, two are in corporate human relations, one is a lawyer, one is a social worker, and one is a physician's assistant. We're 10 years out of high school so many of them have recently gotten engaged or married. They seem happy. I was grateful to have them around growing up. The most popular girls were in AP classes with me. The tier below them were the sort of mean girls. But when the mean girls would pick on the nerd girls (like me), the very popular AP girls would always stick up for us. The popular AP girls and my fellow nerd girls are all in essentially the same place now- married or engaged with a solid career. Some of the mean girls now have careers but most had children young and didn't go to school or establish careers. The one who bullied me (not for long, since the popular AP girls made her lay off) is now a waitress at a local restaurant. It's awkward for both of us when I eat there.

The popular guys split. Growing up, most of them were nice. These days roughly two-thirds of them have successful careers (teachers, accountants, engineers). The other third don't really do much. A few work at a golf course, I think. A few had children with the second tier popular girls.

I grew up in a low-income school district. I realize now most of the popular kids had parents who were better off, which probably explains why they ended up more successful. They also developed good social skills early on, which helps tremendously. The other people who did well were the ones who were both bright and hard working, regardless of popularity. Those who fared worst were the people who wanted to be popular but lacked either the social skills or the intelligence to become popular and the students from the most unstable homes who were unfortunate enough not to have the intelligence or drive to overcome what were, frankly, huge obstacles to their success.