<p>I am a 52 year old valedictorian. Got in a six year combined undergrad-med school program in the midwest, did my residency training in Boston at one of the best programs in the country, was chief of the largest cardiac program in the southeast–and now work five days a month, bake cookies and do laundry and raise my children the rest of the time.</p>
<p>You decided if that means I fizzled out. (I think I’m the luckiest momadoc in the country!)</p>
<p>(This comment is from my wife posting on my account, by mistake.)</p>
<p>Usually we don’t “fizzle out.” Being a valedictorian is not the same as being in hedge funds or investment banking where you work 100+ hours a week. Now that’s fizzled out after a few years. Vals are usually the hardworking and competitive type, and no one will expect them to simply roll over and crawl in life after high school. They’ll continue being anal (:D), competitive, and adventuresome for bigger and greater things in life.</p>
<p>In fairness, there’s a lot of space between “top of the class” and “fizzling out.” I know a few vals who’ve gone on to be as successful as anyone would have guessed, and I don’t know any vals who’ve really fizzled, but I also know a small number who’ve just sort of…fallen flat. Left “big fish, small pond” situations and gone on to become thoroughly mediocre.</p>
<p>To add another interesting anecdote to this thread, my dad was set to be valedictorian of his high school class until the school realized that he had missed too much school to graduate (and not for any good reason)! Luckily, the administration ended up realizing how ridiculous they would look if they prevented their val from graduating, so everything ended up fine. Still, sort of an entertaining situation :p</p>
<p>When D1 went off to state u she wound up rooming with the val of her class, a girl she knew but did not know well (following the advice not to room with your best friend as it might damage the friendship). I thought yay!, D will be inspired to work hard by the roomie. Wrong!</p>
<p>Turns out the val was a bloody genius who hadn’t studied for a test the entire 4 years of hs! She would learn her college physics while taking the test. Literally. Each question on the college test told her a little more than the one before and she deduced or intuited the rest. Terrible study habits, but still getting a 4.0 in engrg which she later dropped out of.</p>
<p>Fortunately, D1 studied her butt off anyway, but there were some rough patches personality wise and the two are no longer roomies and rarely talk to each other. The sal that year was the less intelligent hard worker. That girl graduated college early with a 4.0 and is off to physical therapy school. </p>
<p>The val is fizziling imo as she still doesn’t realize the level of her own intelligence or ability, takes everything for granted and is basically waiting for her bf to graduate so she can get married and make babies and stay home. </p>
<p>fwiw - D1 has a 4.0 and is applying to grad schools. All the honors grads other than the val are going to grad school/med school or some such. Our experience is the val is the kid least likely to have any ambition or to work hard. Sad.</p>
<p>Hey here is a shocker: A lot of val’s are absolutely pathetic people and have terrible lives no matter what the stats say. There are also a lot of val’s who are wonderful people with wonderful lives. Val’s are not somehow immune from the thing we call life. I would also recommend that people in this thread look at personal character qualities and how they treat others as success or failure.</p>
<p>“Our experience is the val is the kid least likely to have any ambition or to work hard. Sad.”</p>
<p>Seems like unfortunately, the val attended high schools and a college that were too easy for her. She probably has no idea about how to study or how much intellectual stimulation she has been missing because all she has known is being exposed to material that was too easy for her.</p>
<p>I don’t blame her. How could she know any different if she wasn’t studying, yet was pulling a 4.0?</p>
<p>You are both right. It’s just that no one knew what was going on with this girl before college, and it seems such a shame for that level of intellect to sort of go unused as it were. </p>
<p>The girl’s family is origlly from a very very small town and her parents did not go to college, so they don’t really know what’s out there either. Her mom kind of dominates her life and has been stressing marriage and kids and moving back to the small town. She’s encouraging a switch to nursing school so the girl can work in the local hospital. That is noble and needed but is it what this girl herself wants?</p>
<p>Oh well, none of my business. The school and the college weren’t that easy, but yes, she could have gone somewhere harder. Her mom wanted her close to home. And character counts more than anything, but there are relatively few people with this level of intelligence and her professors have doted on her nonstop. Get more women in science and all that. Hopefully she’ll make a good nurse if she chooses that. God knows we need them.</p>