Starting to think about college for our gifted kid

[Anonymous]

My DD is only 9 years old but by every indication is extremely gifted academically. She's recently been assessed as "profoundly gifted". This all very new for us so we are still trying to wrap our heads around it. She's only in third grade but for the first time, we started thinking about what college might look like for her.

We haven't yet saved very much for college (and we have three kids, the other two younger than our DD). My question is, if she has the academic profile (grades, test scores ect) to get into top-rated schools, is she likely to be eligible for a lot of merit-based aid? Or, if we are unable to pay for tuition at top schools will her choice be a less expensive and inferior state school or taking on massive student loans?

We are wondering what we can do at this point. Should we be thinking about moving to a state with excellent public universities? Besides trying to save as much as possible (which we are already doing) what can we do to make sure she gets the kind of education she, and our other kids, need and deserve?

Please excuse my ignorance and thanks in advance for any information or advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is only 9 years old but by every indication is extremely gifted academically. She's recently been assessed as "profoundly gifted". This all very new for us so we are still trying to wrap our heads around it. She's only in third grade but for the first time, we started thinking about what college might look like for her.

We haven't yet saved very much for college (and we have three kids, the other two younger than our DD). My question is, if she has the academic profile (grades, test scores ect) to get into top-rated schools, is she likely to be eligible for a lot of merit-based aid? Or, if we are unable to pay for tuition at top schools will her choice be a less expensive and inferior state school or taking on massive student loans?

We are wondering what we can do at this point. Should we be thinking about moving to a state with excellent public universities? Besides trying to save as much as possible (which we are already doing) what can we do to make sure she gets the kind of education she, and our other kids, need and deserve?

Please excuse my ignorance and thanks in advance for any information or advice.

Every kid needs and deserves an education. Personally, you should just invest in your brightest child. The rest can fend for themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is only 9 years old but by every indication is extremely gifted academically. She's recently been assessed as "profoundly gifted". This all very new for us so we are still trying to wrap our heads around it. She's only in third grade but for the first time, we started thinking about what college might look like for her.

We haven't yet saved very much for college (and we have three kids, the other two younger than our DD). My question is, if she has the academic profile (grades, test scores ect) to get into top-rated schools, is she likely to be eligible for a lot of merit-based aid? Or, if we are unable to pay for tuition at top schools will her choice be a less expensive and inferior state school or taking on massive student loans?

We are wondering what we can do at this point. Should we be thinking about moving to a state with excellent public universities? Besides trying to save as much as possible (which we are already doing) what can we do to make sure she gets the kind of education she, and our other kids, need and deserve?

Please excuse my ignorance and thanks in advance for any information or advice.

Every kid needs and deserves an education. Personally, you should just invest in your brightest child. The rest can fend for themselves.

Sorry, that came off wrong. Her siblings are very young. Of course, whatever their ability level, they deserve the best quality education possible, as do all kids. But we were just called into the elementary school office for a meeting about my DD and her assessment results and it was surprising. I'm just starting to think what we can do, if anything, this early on, to support her and her siblings in their college endeavors.

[Anonymous]

Make sure her work ethic remains strong as she continues through schooling. Getting good merit aid comes down to class rank, GPA, and test scores. You cannot report an IQ score to get merit scholarships. As a GT student she'll likely excel at standardized testing, but it'll be the atmosphere you create for her at home that will determine her motivation to excel. I know too many extremely bright students who found high school to be above them and did not give it much effort. They got close to perfect scores on the SAT, but their GPA was far too low for any top university (let alone merit aid).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make sure her work ethic remains strong as she continues through schooling. Getting good merit aid comes down to class rank, GPA, and test scores. You cannot report an IQ score to get merit scholarships. As a GT student she'll likely excel at standardized testing, but it'll be the atmosphere you create for her at home that will determine her motivation to excel. I know too many extremely bright students who found high school to be above them and did not give it much effort. They got close to perfect scores on the SAT, but their GPA was far too low for any top university (let alone merit aid).

Agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make sure her work ethic remains strong as she continues through schooling. Getting good merit aid comes down to class rank, GPA, and test scores. You cannot report an IQ score to get merit scholarships. As a GT student she'll likely excel at standardized testing, but it'll be the atmosphere you create for her at home that will determine her motivation to excel. I know too many extremely bright students who found high school to be above them and did not give it much effort. They got close to perfect scores on the SAT, but their GPA was far too low for any top university (let alone merit aid).

This is very helpful advice. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the above. There were quite a few "profoundly gifted" kids in my graduating class that didn't have the grades for a top school OR who got to a good school and then didn't finish college because they didn't have a strong work ethic, didn't do their homework, etc.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the PPs about work ethic.

Also, you may want to consider starting college early. For example, Mary Baldwin has a program for students as young as 13 to start college.

https://go.marybaldwin.edu/student/first-year-experience/gateways/peg/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the above. There were quite a few "profoundly gifted" kids in my graduating class that didn't have the grades for a top school OR who got to a good school and then didn't finish college because they didn't have a strong work ethic, didn't do their homework, etc.

Why do you think this is? Because they weren't used to working hard for good grades? Or just lack of a work ethic?

[Anonymous]

Save for college as you are able for all of your kids. Way too soon to ponder merit aid. If it is offered great.

[Anonymous]

Has she taken the SAT yet? A lot of profoundly gifted kids have gotten their perfect scores out of the way by 7th grade so out that on the list soon.
Also add the Johns Hopkins program for talented youth on the list:


https://cty.jhu.edu/grade-by-grade/grade6/
https://cty.jhu.edu/grade-by-grade/grade8/index.html

The reality is is that top schools can’t even take all of the gifted kids with perfect scores because there are so many of them. Places like Stanford and Harvard etc reject most valedictorians with perfect scores. Your child should spend time creatively exploring an interest she has and developing her leadership and interpersonal skills as well. If you are looking for merit aid that can mostly be found at second tier schools or state schools.
Here’s one :
http://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/tuition-aid-scholarships/scholarships/presidential/

[Anonymous]

Save equally for all your kids and beware of emphasizing this kid's abilities over your other kids. Furthermore, profoundly gifted kids are extremely common in this area. The chips will fall where they may many years from now. As a parent of teens I can tell you that life throws you and them curve balls that you never anticipated.

If her grades are stellar, her test scores perfect and she has a well-developed passion, she will likely get a full-ride somewhere. Look for the best match - not just an Ivy when the time comes. Likely there will be money available if the system stays the same between now and then. Most likely the system won't though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the above. There were quite a few "profoundly gifted" kids in my graduating class that didn't have the grades for a top school OR who got to a good school and then didn't finish college because they didn't have a strong work ethic, didn't do their homework, etc.

Why do you think this is? Because they weren't used to working hard for good grades? Or just lack of a work ethic?

You really don’t know what kind of kid you have until they demonstrate an enthusiasm for learning and a good work ethic in high school.
I hate these early labels- they can do more harm than good. People (teachers with advanced degrees) started telling us that DD was really smart by 7th grade at a hard/academically oriented private school. She then pretty much grew out of her school so she took standardized tests to apply to other private high schools and she scored very high on the tests with little prep. She goes to a top private and signed up for advanced classes and does very well but you could tell until her senior year that more often than not she was relying on her intelligence and not working all that hard in some of her classes.
This is her senior year pand she is now studying for all of her classes regularly so I am breathing a sigh of relief. She wants to go to a top college and frankly I was worried that she would get there, not study enough and freak out because she wasn’t doing well. I now think that she’s prepared so I’m good with wherever she goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the above. There were quite a few "profoundly gifted" kids in my graduating class that didn't have the grades for a top school OR who got to a good school and then didn't finish college because they didn't have a strong work ethic, didn't do their homework, etc.

Why do you think this is? Because they weren't used to working hard for good grades? Or just lack of a work ethic?

You really don’t know what kind of kid you have until they demonstrate an enthusiasm for learning and a good work ethic in high school.
I hate these early labels- they can do more harm than good. People (teachers with advanced degrees) started telling us that DD was really smart by 7th grade at a hard/academically oriented private school. She then pretty much grew out of her school so she took standardized tests to apply to other private high schools and she scored very high on the tests with little prep. She goes to a top private and signed up for advanced classes and does very well but you could tell until her senior year that more often than not she was relying on her intelligence and not working all that hard in some of her classes.
This is her senior year pand she is now studying for all of her classes regularly so I am breathing a sigh of relief. She wants to go to a top college and frankly I was worried that she would get there, not study enough and freak out because she wasn’t doing well. I now think that she’s prepared so I’m good with wherever she goes.

She also excelled at a job amongst college and graduate students - so again, I feel like she’s ready to function as an adult which is the point, right?

[Anonymous]

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.