Starting to think about college for our gifted kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To reiterate what others have said, I was/am profoundly gifted. But, I refused to do work once I understood the material. That meant that I often got really high grades on tests, but crappy grades / 0's on HW. I graduated HS with a C average.

That left merit aid off the table.

Oh, I turned it on in college, where there was much less graded homework, transferred to a good state school, and then earned my graduate degrees from a top university (PhD, physics).

The one message I have is if your DD is really profoundly gifted (IQ's of 150+; could be 140+, as the tests lose accuracy at the top): you child may have problems relating to classmates; they may be thinking on a different plane. Be prepared for that.

A second message -- re college: Most people at that intelligence end up in STEM fields. In STEM, which college does not matter that much; there is not much difference between the classwork at, say a large state school and MIT. What matters is the terminal degree -- grad school. Do well at any good school (e.g., in VA, VT, W & M, UVA) and you can get into any program in the country.

Do not well at a top school, and you will struggle for grad school.

Thank you for your post. Very reassuring to know that a good state school can provide a solid base.

[Anonymous]

OP, 9 years old is too young to start banking on your smart child. A lot has to do with how well she performs in school.

Jeopardy had a brilliant champion who worked as a bartender. He was obviously a genius, but very weird. There is no way that this guy should have been working at a bar.

You never know in life. Mine wasn't that much of a star at age 9, but grew into her smarts and ended up at Princeton.No one would have bet on her. You have to work with your dd to make sure she doesn't get too bored or lazy.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Why is someone with a 9 year old posting here? Lots of people have gifted kids. Are you a troll, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No there aren’t 200 kids per grade in FCPS that have IQs > 175.

Wow that would be the highest recorded IQ

not on the old scale (Stanford-Binet, I think). That went higher than the tests they use now.