you act like you are given connections at a young age. you make connections at any age by going out meeting people. calling businesses that you are interested in and having sit down coffee to pick their brains,you meet people online or linked in. you can't be lazy and hope connections just show up. that's not how it works. your friends did the leg work that you are not willing to do or you would have done it. it doesn't matter if your parents are strict. some of the most wealthiest successful people didn't get their breaks until age 30 or 50. quit whining and do something about it.

I seriously doubt that the difference between your schoolmates apparent successes and your life is due to not getting high during school… I would agree that quite often people from prosperous or professional families have children with that characteristic. Training, genetics, and financial advantages add up… OP you are now wherever you are. You aren’t in high school nor a child anymore. Figure out where your talents are and build on that. It might require additional training, but we can use the things that are our talents to make a career.