Popularity isn't everything by Brylee

Popularity isn't everything by Brylee - November 2014 Scholarship Essay

As an incoming freshman at a school with an estimated 1,500 students, to say I was terrified was an understatement. I didn’t know how to act, what was cool to do, what was not cool to do, I literally knew nothing. Soon enough though, I caught on to things, and I realized high school wasn’t so bad after all. If there was any piece of advice I wish I was given my freshman year, I wish I would’ve been told that popularity isn’t everything, and eventually, who you were in high school doesn’t really matter. If someone would’ve told me that popularity wasn’t everything, I probably would’ve spent more time focusing on school rather than trying to fit in and it would’ve saved me a lot of time that I wasted on lost friendships.

My freshman year of high school, I was worried about being the cool girl, the girl who fit in, the one with the most friends. Eventually though, I came to my senses and realized that that wasn’t what it was all about. If someone had told me that popularity wouldn’t mean a thing once you get into your upperclassman years and once you graduated, I would’ve spent more time doing and focusing on my school work. I was usually too busy with my cool friends to do my homework, or we all thought it was cool to just not do our homework. I managed to pass my freshman year with all A’s still, but I could’ve passed with higher grades if I would’ve focused more on school, what I was actually there for, than meeting new friends, and figuring out who was cool and who wasn’t cool. To exceed the fact that I would’ve spent more time on school work, it would’ve saved me a lot of wasted time, and ended friendships.

It sounds absolutely terrible to say you wasted time on a lost friendship, but as bad as it does sound, that’s exactly what happened. Majority of the people I was friends with as a freshman, I don’t even speak to as a senior. There’s the occasional one or two that I’m still friends with, but overall, none of us speak. A lost friendship causes a lot of heartache, especially to high school girls, and if I would’ve known then, what I know now, I would’ve never wasted my time to be friends with people who cared so little about me, people who were just worried about the label, and how many people wanted to be their friend. I look back at it now, and those same people who wanted to be the popular ones, are the ones who aren’t very successful with their high school grades, and who are out partying every weekend, with no jobs. Things like that make me glad that I was mature enough to clean up my friends at such a young age, and realize where I wanted to go in life, as well as realizing that associating with those certain people, wasn’t going to get me there.

Is it really worth your time wasted? Is it really worth your grades dropping? If I would’ve been warned coming into high school that it isn’t a popularity contest, and that in 3-5 years, who I was friends with wouldn’t really matter, I wouldn’t have wasted so much time trying to fit in, but much rather have spent time focusing more on school, and my school work, and I would’ve saved a little heartache too. Although the ‘popular’ kids tend to usually not care, it’s still hurtful because they act like they are your friend. High school isn’t about who’s in what group, or who’s friends with who. You’re there to do a job, you’re there to get good grades, graduate, and move on to the next step of your life. Making life long friends along the way is fun and cool, but it’s not worth trying to fit in to the popular crowd and losing time of your life.