<p>Today we had this huge discussion whether it's possible that somebody reinvents themselves (academically).
As I like the concept of free will, I would say yes, but I have yet to see a slacker totally turn around and become a straight-A student..
Do you know people who did this, and if so - how did they do it? What made them different from all the people who have tried and tried to change their lives and failed? Or is it a matter of circumstances?</p>
<p>It’s completely possible with effort. The problem is that slackers whom continue to slack are making no effort to change their behaviors thus creates an unrealistic example of “people never change.”</p>
<p>I slacked off in high school but am getting straight A’s in college. I took my education more seriously once I got into higher education then I did when I was younger, which made a big difference on my motivation and ambitions.</p>
<p>i’m sure you’ll get a lot of anecdotes saying “of course”</p>
<p>I’m actually interested in them - but I want to find a few things that they have in common. I know it’s incredibly hard to change yourself (even if it’s something stupid like getting up earlier…), so I want to know how people actually turn around…</p>
<p>I did pretty bad in HS(almost failed out at one point). I slacked most of the time, didn’t do hw, pay attention etc. But I turned it around. Now my college gpa is pretty high. At guess I woke up at one point and realized that I needed to actually put in effort if I want to be able to support myself in the future. Well, it wasn’t as simple as that. Part of it was also due to the friends i made(i my late hs yrs); most of them were smart and college bound and that influenced me to be more like them. From then on, I had studied hard and punctually every day. I kind of wish I can be more like that now. <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>I did it!!!</p>
<p>When I was in 7th grade, I went from being a 2.3 GPA student (I had all Ds and Cs aside from As in Gym) to a 4.0 student in less than one cardmarking!!! Once I got into high school my GPA fluctuated between a 3.85 and 4.0 but I graduated with a 3.90 and I assume my point stands.</p>
<p>It can happen!! </p>
<p>In my case, it took two awesome teachers to instill a lot of confidence in me and my academic ability. But once they accomplished this, there was no stopping me, and my enthusiasm has stuck with me ever since.</p>