I wasn't in the gifted and talented program, I was the president! My sophomore year my friends packed the club whose only requirement was being in an honors or AP class and elected me president. Sadly, my only gift was a really good memory which kept me towards the top of my class through high school but was no help in college. I barely passed the AP calculus test and it really screwed me over. It took me 7 months to learn a quarter's worth of college calculus and starting in calc II with a 10 week schedule was not confidence inspiring. Barely passing that class first try only set me further back until I hit my absolute limit with differential equations. I straight up changed majors after improving from an F to a D on a retake of the class. I spent 5 years in college and left 6 units short of my degree. I entered the workforce as a glorified secretary where I stayed for 25 years. I finally cracked $100k in that last year but I quit because I hated the job and was not earning the money they were paying me. I moved back in with my parents at 43. Having only ever contributed the bare minimum to receive the company match, even with no rent I still blew through my retirement savings over 3 years of unemployment and then started work at a government call center at 40% of my ending pay at my last job. 3 years later I barely make $50k, someone I got hired with just made manager and I never even applied for a senior role. Even if I was once considered gifted, being lazy trumped any advantage that could've granted.