I suspect that the "brilliant failure" model is a bit of a Barnum profile (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect).

I suspect that the "brilliant failure" model is a bit of a Barnum profile (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect). I suspect most reasonably smart university students feel that way at some point in their careers.