<p>As Freshmen and Sophomores the "popular kids" in high school are the "partyhards", jocks, and overall popular people. Being smart is an "added bonus". As senior year draws by (I am a Freshman but I see these trends) it has changed. Those who are usually popular tend to cater more towards the Starbuck's Kids (you know, the people with top Apple computers, really smart, and spend substantial time in a Cafe/library), especially the ones who have been accepted to Harvard and Princeton. </p>
<p>I guess the really super nerdy/geeky ones haven't really "broke thru" yet, they are still a target of insults.</p>
<p>Opposite at my school, except well, the smart kids are never the "cool kids".</p>
<p>Here if you do drugs (on a consistant stupid basis), have sex (yet again, consistant stupid basis to the point you've knocked someone up/gotten knocked up), screw around in class and cuss (and again, on a consistant, stupid basis), you're in the popular crowd.</p>
<p>It has nothing to do with how smart a person is. Those are the only two requirements. And it has to be a "cool" sport, like basketball, football, etc. Sports like tennis don't count (which I happen to be in).</p>
<p>I go to a really small private school so I guess my view might be a little bit different but frosh, soph, and junior year school is pretty cliquey with the popular people definitely being the partiers. Once senior year rolls around the cliquiness (sp?) just seems to finally ware off and there is just less segregation. Also, I think once college apps come out the partiers start to realize that they messed up and the nerds actually did have some meaningful purpose in the way they carried out their high school life.</p>
<p>Our school is too cliquey to have ONE popular type. I guess the smart kid could be popular depending on the group. Also, it's important for the smart kid to not be arrogant and just have a good personality in general...</p>
<p>But to most people at my school, the nerdy kids who get into Harvard, etc are sort of like "freak shows."</p>
<p>The popular kids at my school are the rich, smart but not geeky, preppy kids. They're usually pretty polite and down to earth, except the few that think they are gods. We call them ITBers (inside the beltline, because that's where most of them live).</p>
<p>Smartness alone will rarely, if ever garner popularity (granted, you're going to say that you know smart people that are popular, but those are the rare extreme cases in schools that are very academically focused, and I doubt that smartness is their only dominant trait).</p>
<p>As others have said, it's being "cool", athletic, outgoing, etc - usually popular.</p>
<p>It helps to be good looking too, like myself.</p>
<p>To be popular in my school, you need ALL of the following:
1. To play atleast 2 sports during the school year
2. To be a complete dick to everyone who isn't as amazing as you
3. Not be in any honors/AP classes
4. Have a GPA under 2.5
5. Party hard and drink every weekend
6. To not be a virgin
7. To rant on and on every monday about the epic sex you had over the weekend
8. To go to college parties</p>
<p>If you do all these things, you will be one of the cool kids. Everyone else, including myself, is a loser.</p>
<p>Things stay the same all the way through high school. The geeks never have an epiphany and just become popular overnight.</p>
<p>LoonLake, I'm going to have to disagree. Perhaps that's how it is at your school, but I think you'll be surprised at how much respect you can garner for doing the right things.</p>
<p>While LoonLake is exaggerating a bit, he mostly has valid points. Not at a really competitive private school or anything, but in general he's got the right idea for popularity.</p>
<p>It's not about getting respect, or little doses of popularity from Digimon fangirls.</p>
<p>Those universally popular kids tend to follow those points, albeit a little skewed and different each maybe.</p>
<p>I go to a fairly small private school, and the popular kids at my school are generally the kids who are more outgoing and yeah, go out drinking and partying regularly. However, interestingly enough, they avoid the dumb kids (regardless of how attractive/ athletic they are). And most of them get pretty good grades.</p>
<p>I think it all depends on the school you attend. The most "popular" kids in my school are a mixed bunch ... </p>
<p>They are loads of mindless athletes but the captain of the baseball team at our school is a straight A student. As are a lot of the other top athletes at my school. After all, if they aren't at least acceptable students, then they wouldn't be eligible for sports.</p>
<p>I have about three Varsity Cheerleaders in one of my AP classes ... and they're all doing well. </p>
<p>I guess normal stereotypes don't apply to my school. It's mostly about being friendly, open, and outgoing. They're quite a few "popular" kids in my school who aren't even good-looking/athletic/hard partiers.</p>
<p>Yup, at my school it's the same thing. Although, to be the cream of the crop you have to be gorgeous/athletic AND smart. I mean obviously they're not complete geniuses, but quite above the average population. Of course, I live in a fairly well-off suburb so all the people who've had the money to invest in looks/sports also have the money to invest in decent SAT/ACT prep classes. </p>
<p>The complete partiers are kinda regarded as trashy.......they're still popular but no one goes out of their way to be friends with them.</p>