Gifted is a dumb label, but I was in GATE back in the old days. I ended up going to Williams. My younger sister and brother, also in GATE way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, attended Stanford and Dartmouth, respectively.
(I also did CTY for writing, a correspondence course with a JHU professor, back in the days before email. It was awesome and the prof. was really, really helpful and kind.)
Curious to see any updates.
I was a gifted kid and ended up at Washington U in St Louis for undergrad, then Berkeley for grad school. You probably are aware that ‘gifted’ is one end of what is more or less a bell curve for IQ distribution and the cutoff varies depending on program but is commonly put at about 130, with further divisions of over 145 being called highly gifted (HG) and over 160 profoundly gifted (PG), depending on who you ask. I’m involved in a parental e-list of kids who are all over 145, and I can tell you that those kids end up all over. There are some where you’d think… MIT, Yale, Stanford, etc, but plenty at their state flagships as well and some who choose a full ride scholarship at lesser-known schools.
Kids not yet in college, though one will be soon. Very interesting discussion. I, (along with every parent), feel that my kids are advanced, but were not in the Gt program. Now, in high school, the kids that were in the GT program are on the same track as my D. She and a handful of others have taken the most AP courses, and she and a few friends are in the top 10%. She and her friends, some of whom were in the GT program, all have fall birthdays. There is evidence to suggest that kids with fall birthdays have to work harder when young, which gives them a boost when they are teens.
The term gifted is subjective. Some kids will be gifted in one thing and not another, and some kids need to mature a bit. I think there are perhaps three truly gifted kids at D’s school. One will go to Brown, one will go to MIT, the third, my D’s friend, is hoping to get into Wesleyan.
The college a kid ends up attending has more to do with finances and debt aversion OR parents savings/income than it has to do with their academic potential.
“There is evidence to suggest that kids with fall birthdays have to work harder when young, which gives them a boost when they are teens.”
@Lindgaf, why’d that?
I have read articles about it. Will see if I can find one. I seem to recall it is more applicable to girls than boys.
I know someone who was gifted but was one of the laziest people I ever met. Where is he now? High school drop out…
Though every time I would see him he was making out with a girl in the hallway so I can’t say I feel bad for him lol.
@Lindagaf interesting because my experience is the opposite. My younger kid was one of the youngest in his grade (but well within the cutoff). I had a fight with my H that I lost because I really wanted to keep him back. He is in early high school now and HAS NEVER lived up to his potential. The constant comment is he is a typical immature boy. He is starting to work a bit but does stupid things like, completes an assignment and then forgets to hand it in because the teacher is absent and has instructed everyone to leave it in his mailbox.
In contrast to one of my other children who is among the oldest and has always led.
@EYeager - I knew some like that as well, kids I was in GATE with as a youngun. Ended up as basic burnouts–so bright at age 13 or so, though.
@SeekingPam and @Anonymoose3 , this is what I found:
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/youngest-kid-smartest-kid
We had to take an iq test. The kid with the highest iq in the whole school has a 2.0 GPA. He takes no notes, pays zero attention to anything, does zero homework, but gets As on every test, basically without trying. Being gifted does not always mean you get good grades.
While being gifted does not always get you good grades it does mean you have the ability. Some people just don’t put forth the effort even though they have a gift. One strange thing you said though…he has a 2.0 gpa followed by he gets A’s on every test. Seems it would be quite higher based on that alone.
DD was labeled “highly gifted” in second grade. I never paid attention to this label, but now you made me think. She got into few brand name schools. I also believe if by graduation kid has nothing else to show, but gifted labeling, the labeling probably was wrong.
@Lindagaf Interesting. I was more familiar with the opposing red-shirting argument.
Both of my kids are older for their grade (birth dates are very close together). Both tested as HG and placed appropriately in elementary school (in mixed-grade GT classrooms). Both went on to the same school that does not offer gifted track but does offer good rigor. Both are doing fine. And both have quite different learning styles - one being very methodical and detail-oriented and the other being more freewheeling and less disciplined. Birth order probably plays a role.
Neither is likely to end up at an Ivy or equivalent because it’s not in the budget and it’s by no means certain either would be admitted! D1 will probably end up at a nurturing LAC. D2 will probably end up at a tech-oriented school or research university.
Having hung out with a number of gifted kids and their parents for the better part of a decade, they run the gamut from highly focused to poorly organized, from motivated to apathetic, from socially well-adjusted to eccentric, and from humble to entitled. Hard to generalize.
My son and his two fellow students in the gifted class from elementary school went on to top ivies. It got me thinking: The gifted program does work.
Red shirting is obviously very common. We did that with our own son, who turned five in December, three months after school began. He repeated K, as he really wasn’t ready. Turned out he is also dyslexic and dysgraphic, so it was the best thing we could have done for him. He has had years of Wilson method, Academic intervention, private tutoring, had an IEP, etc… Now he is in 9th grade. His vocabulary at the age of 13 was that of a 21 year old. He takes multiple honors courses at school, and while his grades aren’t spectacular, he works hard and does well. However, writing (and Spanish) is the bane of his life and he struggles with it. He LOVES reading though, thank goodness. Anyway, in his case, holding him back was very beneficial to him. I am not sure what his IQ is.
My D and her friends are all on the younger end of their grade, but I can honestly say that each of them has done exceptionally well in school. Gifted, as in GT programs at school, is applied to kids who show capacity for working harder and getting concepts. Those kids need to be challenged and have shown they are ready for advanced work. Kids who are off the charts in terms of IQ are in fact pretty uncommon I would say.
@hzhao2004 … That is such an illogical conclusion. So you know how many GT kids don’t even apply to Ivy schools because of cost?? I know a LOT.
@Lindagaf - Interesting! I was curious mainly because I am a year young for my grade - I will be turning 17 around graduation. I was part of the G&T program as well.