[Mars]

I was a 25 and I was embarrassed (my best friend got a 30 something)

[S-99]

This guy has a 4.2 GPA, a 21 ACT score and an SAT score ranging close to the 2000s.

I gotta say, I met plenty o' of 'smart' people in college, law school and in the profession, and some of them are real hard to deal with.

A lot of people with good grades are just good at studying and retaining information. This doesn't mean too much in the area actual intelligence. There's a difference between regurgitating information you memorized exactly and put it down on a test to get a good grade and understanding what was learned.

This isn't at all to say that there isn't people good at studying and retaining information and understanding what they learned; i've run into them before. I know i've also run into plenty of douches who had a high gpa.

[Locutus of Borg]

second amendment solutions solve everything

[IceFire]

To a certain degree I was stuck with similar situations that people are expressing in this thread. I suspect this is a common nerd experience unfortunately. Some of us, are a little eccentric and so even if we are the sociable type there are just some people who seem to take issue with that slight eccentricity. And for the easy answer... there isn't one.

But if your friends/people you hang out with for one reason or another are asses then you have better things to do and go off and do them. If you don't have better things to do then now is the time to go and do them. Someone was talking about the "friends" that weren't really friends in University... if they are always a car short for you then they aren't friends. That's not something you do to a friend.

Go find the right clubs (and maybe it'll take a while) and meet some other people. First year University in a residence is like high school. After that things are typically different. Ever increasing specialization and joining the right clubs means you spend time with the people who you identify with and who identify with you. You do need to work a little to seek these people out ... and when you do get there just let things evolve naturally. Some of my closest friends now are people I met in my third and fourth years and I didn't truly hang out with them until very close to the end of my undergrad. I made the effort to stay in touch and now we hang out as a group all the time... they are good people and we take care of each other.

Those other people... there are words to describe but they aren't worth the bits (see... ending on a slightly nerdy note... can't breed this out  )

[Enzo03]

second amendment solutions solve everything

To a certain degree I was stuck with similar situations that people are expressing in this thread. I suspect this is a common nerd experience unfortunately. Some of us, are a little eccentric and so even if we are the sociable type there are just some people who seem to take issue with that slight eccentricity. And for the easy answer... there isn't one.

But if your friends/people you hang out with for one reason or another are asses then you have better things to do and go off and do them. If you don't have better things to do then now is the time to go and do them. Someone was talking about the "friends" that weren't really friends in University... if they are always a car short for you then they aren't friends. That's not something you do to a friend.

Go find the right clubs (and maybe it'll take a while) and meet some other people. First year University in a residence is like high school. After that things are typically different. Ever increasing specialization and joining the right clubs means you spend time with the people who you identify with and who identify with you. You do need to work a little to seek these people out ... and when you do get there just let things evolve naturally. Some of my closest friends now are people I met in my third and fourth years and I didn't truly hang out with them until very close to the end of my undergrad. I made the effort to stay in touch and now we hang out as a group all the time... they are good people and we take care of each other.

Those other people... there are words to describe but they aren't worth the bits (see... ending on a slightly nerdy note... can't breed this out  )

Truth be told, there were a few times at first where I simply wasn't surprised that there wasn't enough room for me in the car - a 5 seater where sitting in the middle of the back seat is guaranteed to sure crushing of one's testicles. Later on they'd have more people though, which is when the "sorry, no room" thing became consistent.
Granted, a couple of people in this group of asshats still talk to me quite a bit. In fact they're usually the ones who start any conversations, so I'm not going to go blaming them all, but I think I already have.
I've been looking at lots of clubs, but despite the many choices I simply don't like any of them enough that I'd want to become a part of them.  Damn near half of them are religious clubs, and I want nothing to do with them.  I'd bring up others as well but I can't remember them, and my university's student organizations list seems to be broken for now.
No way I'm joining a ****ing fraternity, not even a "professional" one.

[IceFire]

second amendment solutions solve everything

To a certain degree I was stuck with similar situations that people are expressing in this thread. I suspect this is a common nerd experience unfortunately. Some of us, are a little eccentric and so even if we are the sociable type there are just some people who seem to take issue with that slight eccentricity. And for the easy answer... there isn't one.

But if your friends/people you hang out with for one reason or another are asses then you have better things to do and go off and do them. If you don't have better things to do then now is the time to go and do them. Someone was talking about the "friends" that weren't really friends in University... if they are always a car short for you then they aren't friends. That's not something you do to a friend.

Go find the right clubs (and maybe it'll take a while) and meet some other people. First year University in a residence is like high school. After that things are typically different. Ever increasing specialization and joining the right clubs means you spend time with the people who you identify with and who identify with you. You do need to work a little to seek these people out ... and when you do get there just let things evolve naturally. Some of my closest friends now are people I met in my third and fourth years and I didn't truly hang out with them until very close to the end of my undergrad. I made the effort to stay in touch and now we hang out as a group all the time... they are good people and we take care of each other.

Those other people... there are words to describe but they aren't worth the bits (see... ending on a slightly nerdy note... can't breed this out  )

Truth be told, there were a few times at first where I simply wasn't surprised that there wasn't enough room for me in the car - a 5 seater where sitting in the middle of the back seat is guaranteed to sure crushing of one's testicles. Later on they'd have more people though, which is when the "sorry, no room" thing became consistent.
Granted, a couple of people in this group of asshats still talk to me quite a bit. In fact they're usually the ones who start any conversations, so I'm not going to go blaming them all, but I think I already have.
I've been looking at lots of clubs, but despite the many choices I simply don't like any of them enough that I'd want to become a part of them.  Damn near half of them are religious clubs, and I want nothing to do with them.  I'd bring up others as well but I can't remember them, and my university's student organizations list seems to be broken for now.
No way I'm joining a ****ing fraternity, not even a "professional" one.

I forgot that American universities are weird places

There's got to be some slightly more normal clubs... outdoors club, photography club, movie watching club, anime movie watching club...nothing?

[NGTM-1R]

Of course there are. But that would be effort.

[Pred the Penguin]

For me right now it's more of a cultural difference. Not sure how different that is with life in US though.

[IceFire]

For me right now it's more of a cultural difference. Not sure how different that is with life in US though.

What kind of cultural differences? I find there are quite a few cultural differences out there. There's small town versus big city culture differences. Geographical cultural differences. Plus all of the standard religion, political and national differences. Some can be overcome

[Enzo03]

Of course there are. But that would be effort.

Man, **** you!

Of course, most of the outdoor clubs ARE effort. I'm not into hardcore kayaking, rock climbing, and base jumping.

[sigtau]

Well, I think my rant post scared the **** out of him, because quite a few friends saw it, and after two days of deliberately avoiding me, now that he's back around me, he's acting cautious as hell.

For once,  internet drama ... worked. 

EDIT: Also, the other offending group members defected to -my- stance on the situation.

[Mobius]

Muscles?

If you're physically superior, use that to your advantage, and let the idiots understand that things will not go well for them. If you're not, why don't you learn how to fight or go regurarly to a gym? Things like these can really make the difference in terms of social interactions.

[Pred the Penguin]

For me right now it's more of a cultural difference. Not sure how different that is with life in US though.

What kind of cultural differences? I find there are quite a few cultural differences out there. There's small town versus big city culture differences. Geographical cultural differences. Plus all of the standard religion, political and national differences. Some can be overcome

National for the most part... but all of what you listed, too. Edit: Add a language barrier to that.

[Dilmah G]

Muscles?

If you're physically superior, use that to your advantage, and let the idiots understand that things will not go well for them. If you're not, why don't you learn how to fight or go regurarly to a gym? Things like these can really make the difference in terms of social interactions.

In my experience with this in the past, you've got to be really careful with this, especially when you're at the age where everyone loves to see a good scrap, as well as the person you may be up against. You may be dragging yourself into something far larger than is worth.

Good on you for getting him in-line, Sigtau.

[bobbtmann]

Being physically strong will do nothing for you if you have many enemies picking on you. Just like wolves bringing down a moose, they'll team up to take you down.

There was a newspaper article about some mother whose son was getting bullied, so she enrolled him in karate or something. Apparently she wanted him to fight back. Only thing is, most bullying is verbal or of a social nature. You can't throw a punch at a rumor. Anyways, the taunting got so bad after that the kid ended up commiting suicide. I can't remember if this was a local event or what, but there you have it.

In my experience, what works for me, is I just try to be very serious, respectful, and carry myself with dignity. If someone tells me something that they did over the weekend, I try to make them feel like that's very important to me. If they crack a joke about me, I smile, but that's all. If someone cracks a joke about someone else, I treat it as a serious statement. Usually jokes wilt before that kind of treatment.

Just a disclaimer, if you do this then teasing does disappear, mostly. But you certainly won't be invited to parties or anything.

[sigtau]

* sigtau points at the last post he made

[NGTM-1R]

If you're physically superior, use that to your advantage, and let the idiots understand that things will not go well for them. If you're not, why don't you learn how to fight or go regurarly to a gym? Things like these can really make the difference in terms of social interactions.

I made a reputation in middle and high school by beating the crap out of people who were "physically superior". This is probably a bad plan.

[Snail]

I made a reputation in middle and high school of using nearby blunt objects in fights.

[Mars]

You usually don't need to be physically superior if people believe you're crazy enough to pull out a screwdriver in a fight (or something). It's a dangerous game to play, but compared to middle school (where I had the crap beaten out of me every day) in High School I played the crazy - the person who would slice your nuts off, and it worked. Yes people mocked me, but no one ever tried my bluff.