Learn how to do more than just survive high school. Learn to be popular in school as well.

Since the dawn of time (well, okay, since the dawn of schools) kids have been wanting to understand that magic equation: how to be popular in school. More important than math, English, history, science and all of that other stuff is socialization. Learning how to get along with other people is more important than all that other stuff combined. So how do you do it?

Clothes

As sad as it may sound, clothes really do make the man so-to-speak. What you wear and how you look to make a difference. Some people are always on their soapboxes complaining that a person shouldn’t judge others based on clothing, but the truth is, how we choose to dress says more about us than just about anything else. It’s the most outward expression of who we are. We dress the way we do because we want people to think a certain way about us.

If you want to be popular in school, you need to dress well. Right now, the hottest styles can be found in places like Abercrombie, Hollister, and Aeropostale. These places are expensive, but fortunately, there are ways around that. First off, just before school starts, there are always tons of sales at these and most stores. I was in Aeropostale just before school started and it seemed like everything in the store was 50 percent off or buy one get one free or buy three get two free or whatever.

For Guys

For guys, streetwear styles — from graphic tees to skinny jeans and Vans shoes – will make you fit in as opposed to stand out. That’s a good thing.

If the sales in the regular stores aren’t good enough, hit the outlet centers or shop online. There are outlet centers all over the U.S. nowadays, and pretty much every hot store is represented in an outlet version. You can find some really killer deals at these places. No one will know you got it at an outlet center, but you’ll save a ton of cash.

To go even bigger in the discount arena, try Goodwill or thrift stores. You’d be amazed at the incredible deals you can find there. Sometimes you’ll find a fifty or seventy-five dollar item for less than five bucks, and it’s already broken in for you. Finding that gem from Abercrombie might be a bit of a challenge, but it’s not impossible. The beauty of it is, you’ll get clothes for next to nothing and you never know what you’ll find. Check them regularly and you’ll be surprised what you’ll find from time to time. Just don’t tell anyone you shop there. That’s not the way to popularity. It’ll be our secret!

Cleanliness is next to?

You’ve heard it before, and it’s right. Dirty hair, dirty skin, dirty clothes; these just don’t work. Get up early enough in the morning to take care of yourself. Take a shower, use deodorant, and wash and style your hair. Don’t come to school with flat, wet hair or look like a squirrel lives on top of your head. Torn jeans are still cool, but not dirty ones. Stains are right out. Don’t look like a slob.

And for Pete’s sake, brush your teeth. Floss them. Make them shine. You do this not only to make them look good but to keep your breath smelling fresh. All the breath mints in the world won’t hide halitosis and will not effectively hide truly bad breath. Brushing and flossing will are needed to keep the breath monsters away.

Acne

This is part of being clean, but there’s more to it. Nobody wants to have a face covered in zits, but we all get them. No matter who you are, you absolutely will have some acne during your teen years. We all go through it and we all hate it. How many zits you have is not entirely down to luck though. There are many things you can do to prevent acne. It starts with something I’ve already mentioned; cleanliness.

Wash your face every single day and wash it only with facial soap. There really is a difference. The shampoo is for washing hair, regular soap for the body, and facial soap for the face. They really are all different and you don’t want to mix them. This will not only keep your skin clean and help to keep the natural healthy oils in your skin balanced but will also help to prevent acne.  I learned all of this stuff in modeling training on my way to becoming an actor, but now you’ll know long before I did.

For the ladies, very carefully and completely clean all of your makeup off every single night. It may make you look pretty, but it also clogs your pores. Get it all off and start fresh the next morning.

Drink no soft drinks or only sugar-free soft drinks. I know it’s tough, but this is one of the main factors in preventing acne. You need to drastically cut down your sugar intake to prevent zits. Oh, and lay off the candy bars!  The same goes for fatty foods. Chips, Oreos, and those other foods are packed with fat (and sugar). They’ve gotta go if you want to keep the acne down to a minimum.

Finally, there’s an acne medication. If you do all of the things I’ve said and you still have issues with acne, start using acne medication. Please take note! This is no substitute for the things I’ve mentioned above, but if those things don’t do the trick first, add this to your anti-acne routine.

Be active

It’s a lot easier to be popular if more people know you and to do that, you need to be a part of some groups. Almost without exception, the most popular groups are related to athletics, but there are others you can be a part of. Band, drama, committees for dances; there are plenty of groups you can be a part of, even if you can’t do the athletics. Also, even if you can’t be on the regular athletic department teams, do some intramural sports. Get involved. Being in the chess club certainly won’t gain you the popularity of being on the football team, but at least you’ll be a part of something. Go the extra mile and be a part of as many of these groups as you can.

Attitude

Here’s the big one. if you want to know how to be popular in school, pay close attention to these last two sections. In the movies, you see the popular girls all styled out and sneering at everyone else. The rest of the kids part like the Red Sea as this small clique walks down the hallway, noses in the air. In real life, this isn’t how it works, at least at the great majority of schools. A big part of how popular you can get is how you treat other people. Whether you’re one of the beautiful people, or just a regular guy or girl, how you treat people will at least partially determine your popularity.

Don’t be a jerk. Don’t sneer at other people, either because you don’t think they’re as good as you, or because they seem to think they’re better than you. Even if they seem to treat you down a bit, don’t have a bad attitude. These days, if there’s a group of popular people and one of them acts like a jerk, treating someone badly who doesn’t deserve it, it’s the jerk and not the one who was treated rudely who looks bad, even to their own friends.

Now, even if they are being jerks, if you have a bad attitude about it, the friends will think you deserved it. How nice you are is up to you. Again, to be popular in school, you need to be cool to people and should not talk badly about them and don’t look down on them.