<p>Im going to be a junior this coming school year, and i have a brother thats going to be a sophomore at UC Irvine. When he graduated from highschool 2 years ago, he warned me that highschool is just a battleground where everyone is competing to get into the best colleges, and that only in college is where one's true friends are found.
I shrugged it off, but due to my recent cynicism, what my brother said to me is starting to sound true. I mean everyone joins clubs (dont get me wrong, i do know people who are geuinely passionate for their club), strives for leadership positions, and wants to be the best....is it solely for college?
Don't get me wrong, I have many friends in highschool that i love and care about, but sometimes i wonder...would they betray me to get the best grade? the most awards?
Maybe it's just my overly competitive school. I don't know, give me your opinion.</p>
<p>friendships at this age are based on circumstance - how close you live, classes you'll take together, closeness in age. Don't take it all to heart.</p>
<p>All I have to say is that I made a big mistake attempting to make friends with people who had the same aspirations as me. Backstabbing and envy galore.</p>
<p>That sucks. :(</p>
<p>My friends and I all have different aspirations...maybe that's why we all care so genuinely about each other, I don't know.</p>
<p>Well, I learned a good lesson, at least. I learned to appreciate my original childhood friends (who, as well, have different aspirations) to a much greater degree.</p>
<p>My friends are all in different classes than me, so there isn't any backstabbing among us.</p>
<p>some my friends have the same aspirations as i do but we dont go so far as to backstabbing each other. thats a bit too far...</p>
<p>I'm in classes with a lot of my friends. No backstabbing here. Your "friends" just suck.</p>
<p>
[quote]
When he graduated from highschool 2 years ago, he warned me that highschool is just a battleground where everyone is competing to get into the best colleges, and that only in college is where one's true friends are found.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's only true if you hang around competitive people who really want to get into good colleges.
(And are close to your ability level.)</p>
<p>Haha. It definitely can apply, to a certain type of person. For example, a lot of the people in my classes won't even be friends with me because they view classes as an arms race, and I always beat them out... but I don't take any pleasure in it because I think classes are about learning, not grades. So they're bitter because I'm winning their game without even playing. Oops. (Not that that'll stop them from asking me to go over their math homework with them...)</p>
<p>But my friends, most of whom are pretty ambitious, don't really give. They're just happy I'm not going to be applying to the prestigious schools they are (UPenn, Princeton, Stanford) and appreciate me in all my quirkiness.</p>
<p>So basically, "friends" can suck--friends don't.</p>
<p>^Heh I like that last statement. :)</p>
<p>in fact now that I think about it, I might have some friends that want the same things I want. But right now we're all just focusing on getting into the college of our choice. But most of us want to go to different colleges.</p>
<p>But even if we did want the same things, I don't think they'd ever backstab me just to get it.</p>
<p>it is now 4 me! in 9th grade i made a new friend who seemed very nice and even though we didnt have any classes together, we saw each other b4/after school. at the awards assembly that yr i found out i had the highest GPA and since then she has been very competitive and at times, spiteful. the worst thing is she pretends she doesnt do any work, but in reality she does A LOT to get better grades-- including lying to me.
things r going to be really different jr yr since everyone's stepping up their game.</p>
<p>God no one cares about college in my school. I have nooo competition. ^.^</p>
<p>Basically, when you read "The Prince" by Machiavelli, you will understand EVERYTHING that happens around you. That is, if you go to a competitive school.</p>
<p>hah well at my school no one goes aorund talking about college or trying to "step up" their game. I don't know... people seem content to go to a cc or state school which is really cool. If you go around spewing college crap people look at you funny.</p>
<p>I think it does have a lot to do with having similar goals. I've had some of the same friends since elementary school and we're all really close, they're are the greatest friends I could ever ask for, but they aren't super driven and we don't tend to be in the same classes. I think because of this we can remain great friends and I love them to death.</p>
<p>But I do have "school friends" that I don't really hang out with outside of school that are like that. They can be so cutthroat when they think someone's going to beat them which is precisely why I don't care to hang out with them, (and neither do most other people)</p>
<p>High ain't a scene. It's a God damn arms race.</p>
<p>Yeah, I can kinda relate to the competition going on at school. I try to avoid talking about my grades and test scores, but a lot of my school friends always tend to keep asking me, "What did you get!?!?". When I say that I don't want to tell them, some of them start whining. I hate it. I feel like there is no sense of privacy at school. Everyone knows everything in regards to academics.</p>
<p>Hm, sometimes we play the victims among my academic friends. Like "Oh man you won't BELIEVE how hard AP Calc is!" "Oh YEAH? Well just wait until I tell you about AP Physics"</p>
<p>But it's so nice to have them because I can share my dreams with and we generally nerd out sometimes over school and tests. Wouldn't trade it for the world :)</p>
<p>i go to a college prep school, yet so few people are worried about college and success (no future HYPS students). i am the only one in my class obsessed about college (stanford), so it helps me calm down when everybody else is so relaxed. there is no competition at my school or among my friends. i get good grades, but i never discuss them or show them to my friends, because it's not something they really care about. back in middle school, there was one girl who ALWAYS asked what everybody else got because she wanted to be the best, and i started to refuse to tell her my grades because it was annoying, so she always assumed she beat me (which she never did) and that i didn't want to show my grades because i did bad. i never tell my grades unless people ask; i hate big egos.</p>