So I am actually a 25 year old woman working as an engineer now after completing my Masters degree last year. I was not your typical 'smart girl with lot of brains' ans I started off grad school with a modest academic background and modest skills, though I aimed and tried very hard to be competent and improve my tech skills in the last 3 years! 

The first year was mighty hard for me which led to losing my financial assistance from the school. I was terribly depressed with my performance that I decided to tough it out by pushing myself through than pulling out. Around this time, two girls who happened to be my roommates unfortunately also tried their best to try to disturb me when I studied leveraging the fact that I was poor in school but yet trying hard. You know how people get insecure when they see you rising beyond your means and circumstances ? They tried their best to trouble me, talked (gossiped) with the other grads about me, violated my privacy! - hows that ??! -- by breaking into my computer and internet!, spying on my study habits and books and notes when I was not at home!! -- how does that even sound ? also they cooked up stories about me around the campus saying I am jealous of everyone else's academic performance - -Why ofcourse ? I dint act out my negative energy in a negative way! I merely turned it into positive energy and used it to improve myself! Whats wrong with that ? Around this time, I got to know that I had some crippling social anxiety disorders which explained why I chose to stay silent to all this bullying rather than confronting them! I never talked back to these bullies! I chose to ignore them  -- something that made them even more insecure with themselves making them more ruthless in their behavior. All of this was so very mentally taxing to me. To this day, I can't forget and forgive these unfortunate people that happen to pace out the face of earth! Why can't people just choose to work on themselves rather than pointing fingers at others and finding someone else's faults ? The world will be a very peaceful place indeed if we choose to take care of ourselves and talk and gossip less about others. If someone's had similar experiences, I'd be happy to hear from you and also any potential advice on how to deal with this anger and feeling of being dealt unfairly. 

I can only hope that such people get caught red handed and punished. Schools, even grad schools!, need really strong systems around the way how minority/disadvantaged/disabled students are treated. This is very very crucial to a student's academic growth and performance. Even adults, as demonstrated with my story, need to be taught how to treat others. It is amazing how threatening a person can get due to their own flaws and insecurities! Instead if we teach our children to work on themselves rather than stay insecure all their life, we can hope to have better adults and eventually a better humanity!