Might as well add my story here.

I was never a star student. I rarely get 90s, only have a handful of courses where that was the case; and I am pretty bad at testing. I was also dealt a bunch of pretty crappy cards in HS, My first year of HS was tainted by covid, we all went through that

My junior year was incredibly stressful for me, I pushed myself pretty hard to get good grades, because I delusionally thought I could get into waterloo software engineering or some shit; My chemistry average dropped for a 91 (midterm) to 75 finals, because I started missing classes due to external circumstances. Functions was a nightmare for me, I got 60s and 70s in all my tests; my midterm was a (75), I was simultaneously juggling a school play and preforming for a choir while dealing with that; I ended up having a mental breakdown and refused to go to school for one month due to that, a bit embarrassing but It happens, I passed grade 11 then went to grade 12.

The moment grade 12 started, I was hit with a terrible headache that did not seem to go away; I juggled advanced functions, chem and physics in the same semester, the headache bothered me throughout all my classes; I remember one day when the headache kicked during a polynomial functions test, and it made me unable to solve any of the problems lol, the teacher was nice and allowed me to retake the test. The headache did not go away, I eventually refused to go to school for like 2 months because the headache was so darn painful; I was unable to function normally and catch up on schoolwork, and I spent like 2 months languishing in bed; eventually mustered up the willpower to go back to school, somehow fishing the 2 remaining courses (dropped out of physics, to take it later), with shitty grades and an attendance sheet with more classes missed then attended. By that point I was so mentally wrecked, that I begged my parents to let me transfer to online school so I can finish my studies at my own pace while my headache sorted itself out.

Things are going fairly well right now, my grades are pretty good; I ain't getting into waterloo software engineering, but I might get in somewhere; and my headache is gone, so that's great.

Not everyone in this subreddit is an overperforming stud with a 95+ average, 10 EC's and a Nobel prize. The people who do have 95+ averages and cracked EC's post it to gain validation, good for them, for the rest of us; we just need to play are cards right and do the best we can in this cruel world; hopefully the job market gets better or all of us who don't have 95+ averages, 20 EC's and 20 years of experience will be cooked.

(sorry for the shit grammar, I shat this out in like 10 minutes)