Post-High School Education Outcomes for Level Three Gifted (Exceptionally Gifted)
Background and “good fit” affect the paths of the Highly to Exceptionally Gifted as they grow up.
Level Three people are in the Highly to Exceptionally Gifted range of advanced learners and thinkers.
How much does previous background and “good fit” affect their options and choices by the time they finish high school and go on for post-secondary education and enter their careers?
Where any individual fits in his or her setting or environment depends, to a significant extent, on who else is there. That’s called the relativity of intelligence, of high giftedness. Having — or not having — access to true peers with whom they can share their ideas and easily understand each other can be a detriment to their progress. It can lead to other long-term issues, as well, so the goal is to help readers here see what some of these less-than-ideal outcomes are for the different Levels of Gifted.
We continue with Level Three: The Conventionally Gifted
People in the Level Three range, as with those in the Level One and Two ranges, are also in the what I call the Conventionally Gifted range. I chose the term “conventionally gifted” to describe the first three Levels because most teachers and most students have had such gifted students in their classes at least once every few years. These are the people others think of as brilliant until and unless they eventually meet someone from the Outliers group, Levels Four and Five. I point out here that when a Level Three — or higher — student doesn’t conform to typical school expectation, they are often labeled by themselves and others as “Street Smart” and not “Book Smart.” This is also where we lose so many gifted students from living up to their potential.
Reader Refresher Course
Post-High School Education and “Good Fit”
The idea is that a “good fit” extends past the regular school years in our lives. With the background on what a good post-high school fit looks like, we can continue to explore what really happens for any cross-section of gifted people — not just the ones in this study — and some typical, real, and recurring reasons behind the school and educational choices different people who have similar abilities to each other make for themselves. And please remember, someone, including you, does not need to have been identified as gifted or told by some authority figure that they are gifted. When you read my material, you will figure yourself out as far as that goes.
One purpose of this post is to demonstrate that it is the social-emotional — the sense of well-being — plus the reveling-or-not in the challenge and wonder of engaging, comprehensive learning and work that give our lives meaning.
How Smart or Advanced Are People in Each Level of Gifted?
People within each Level of Gifted are capable of learning more than the typical, or average, learner during the K-12 school years when the conditions are good for them. How much more?
How rapidly could the child progress through the academics of grades K-6 lessons and objectives?
Level One (moderately gifted) ~ 4 years (or about 2/3 of the standard time)
Level Two (highly to exceptionally gifted) ~ about 3 years (or about ½ the standard time)
Level Three (exceptionally gifted) ~ 2 years (or about 1/3 the standard time)
Level 4 (exceptionally to profoundly gifted) ~ 1–2 years or less (or about 1/6 the standard time) particularly in their strength areas
Level Five (profoundly gifted) ~ less than 1 year
What is the Estimated Frequency of Level Two Students in their School Settings?
There generally are as many as one to two per grade level (when the sample has about 70 to 100 students) Level Three intellects when there are mixed-ability classroom in Type II school. You will see more in high socioeconomic Type III schools.
How can years of sitting through inappropriate schooling affect people long-term?
“Being ahead” is generally about the gifted child’s ability to understand and maintain the learning before they officially start any formal, and sometimes even before informal, schooling. When the parents of gifted children describe their children as being like sponges who simply absorb everything, this is why their children are ahead when the regular school years start. They start learning and using what they learned much younger than typical children, and that means they’ve already experienced enough repetitions to master many topics. How much more than typical depends on their Level and profile of intelligence, but it also has something to do with their access to toys and books and other people and walks around the neighborhood and trips to the park. In order to “show their stuff” they usually need a certain lack of any overwhelming trauma in their lives.
The K-12 path (kindergarten through grade 12 school years) is strongly related — and usually impacts — the post-high school education and career choice options and outcomes for most study participants. I’ve already posted about the K-12 years themselves. All of those 5 pieces (blog posts) start with the same title: Post-High School Education Outcomes.
How the Study’s Longitudinal Section of Post-High School Education and Careers is Set Up
To assure the anonymity of participants, rather than identify the post-high school institution by name, I created tables that use a number to indicate how competitive it is as far as the percentage of applicants who apply compared to those who are accepted. 1 means most competitive/ elite and 5 means it’s something other than regular college or university.
US News and College Simply ratings are used to establish the selectivity factor and the standardized ACT/SAT score ranges. The main point to this is to give us a metric for whether each study participant found a way to attend an institution of post-secondary learning that would likely have true peers and appropriate coursework depth and pacing for their intellectual ability level. And as readers may have noticed, doing away with such standardized testing didn’t help the elite institutions select students who had the ability to handle their curriculum and intellectual expectations.[1] I have known for a long time that grades are a poor predictor of college or life success.[2]
It is likely a good fit when the student’s ACT/SAT score is not too high above or below that of the range posted by the institution as representing the average student who matriculates there.
For example, if someone in Level Three attends an Elite University[3] (and many did), anyone from Level Three could have theoretically done well — both in performance and in their social and emotional connections — in such an institution. But not all of the Level Three study subjects had the option to attend an elite school and the different reasons are laid out here.
In this study group (as with Levels One and Two in Education Outcomes posts), there is no one who attended a school that was above their ability to do well.
Many, however, did get their post-high school training and education in places and institutions — not the traditional college path — that were more of the same poor fit they experienced during their earlier school years. As they reached adulthood, many of the study subjects found themselves again involved in institutions or on paths that were not a good fit for them emotionally, socially, academically, or competitively.
In this series of post-secondary results and fit, I add slightly expanded tables that include summary results of what each young person experienced (Unsatisfactory, Acceptable, Satisfactory, and Excellent) during their kindergarten through high school years. I’ve added categories to the Levels’ tables connected to their post-secondary environments and choices. The intention is to illustrate that a poor school fit can have repercussions well beyond one’s grade school years because it continues to affect the self-concept, goals, ability to compete or keep up, and a sense of belonging — fitting in — of the individuals.
As you read through the tables in each post about post-secondary life and training and the Levels of Gifted study subjects, consider that each table represents a Level of Giftedness that indicates a similar range of abilities among the study participants within that Level. Readers will see that an earlier “good fit” generally leads to later good fits and options, options that support the development of their talents, careers, social, and emotional needs. Conversely, it becomes clear that lack of an early “good fit” can have negative repercussions far into the future of people who are every bit as capable as those gifted students whose needs were met. Although you may have only looked at the K-12th grade education environment fit so far, readers can see here that subsequent training options and choices are related to the book subjects’ earlier experiences.
Why This Matters
First, the Level’s placement continues to be an amalgam of factors that include scores, behaviors, interests, attitudes, goals, accomplishments (not awards, but what the person can do), and other “ways of being” that add up to a profile of one’s abilities.
There are 14 Level Three subjects for whom I have enough information to include them in this section. As we look at the Level Three post-secondary information, keep in mind that Level Three means highly to exceptionally gifted. These are people whose standardized test scores are mostly beyond the 99th percentile. Even if no college entrance exam results were available, we know it is unlikely any of these subjects would score below 30 on the ACT. Ability test scores, that is IQs or SAIs [4], are available for all of the study subjects and listed in the first 5 Levels book.
Three of the Level Three people went to college at institutions that were well below their ability range. Readers should note that when the institution is a poor fit, the student often takes longer or leaves the institution before graduation. Here’s why this is so: Much of the standard coursework throughout the grade-school years takes place in whole-class learning environments; that is, there is usually a wide range of learners in each class, especially through elementary and middle school. Under such conditions, the Level Three student is always the outlier and rarely receiving stimulating learning opportunities or friendships. If the average ability range in the post-secondary institution the incoming Level Three student attends is below their learning level, too, college seems like more of the same: neither stimulating nor satisfying.
The Level Three Subjects’ Post-Secondary Choices
I’ve selected a sample of Level Three subjects’ outcomes to share with you.
Arthur Richards, Andrea Dolan, and Gina Oliver
Three book subjects from this Level went to post-secondary schools unlikely to include many students in their ability range. These three are Arthur Richards, Andrea Dolan, and Gina Oliver.
Arthur started at two different institutions and finished neither. The first was in Great Britain, a Tier 5 institution, and the second a Tier 4 community college in the United States. His parents paid for his first school’s expenses until he dropped out. Now in his mid-twenties, he has a part-time job and is paying his own way at the community college. The parents’ parenting style and the parent/child personalities usually create patterns for educational and career outcomes. discussed elsewhere. I discuss these factors elsewhere.
For Andrea, issues regarding the parent/child personalities and parenting styles give us clues into why she attended and has done well academically at a strong Tier 2 school but not an elite Tier 1 school for which she is amply qualified. Someone as capable as she could have obtained scholarships, financial aid, whatever she needed to seek an elite level school, but she and her parents had her commute from home to the local university. The realities of who can and can’t attend elite universities when there simply is not enough family mother is nothing short of tragic to the lesser outcomes too many incredibly talented students encounter. Andrea started university at the usual age, 18, and had previously earned two years of college credits through post-secondary options from her state. Still in her early twenties and living primarily at home, Andrea’s future includes job-hunting as her next step. Andrea was also in the unfortunate position of job hunting during the pandemic.
Gina, whose grade school fit was impacted by Type I schools and on-again-off-again homeschooling, chose to leave the state for training in a trade at a 2-year community college. She lived with an aunt and loved the training she received. After getting a certificate for her specialty, Gina quickly found a job. Although the place of business is somewhat seasonal, she has figured out a way to earn from her talents year-round. Still in her twenties, Gina is starting to wonder how she might do more with her credentials and skills and considers what other options might work for her. She and her parents shared the costs of her community college degree.
Harry Vassar
Harry Vassar earned a BA in religion and spent the next several years, he said, “Avoiding grad school.” He worked for several nonprofits including ones coaching teens for college and AmeriCorps.
While still in undergraduate school, Harry wrote:
I am currently a religion major and am on the PreMed track, hoping to become either a doctor, therapist, pastor, or something else entirely.
When in his mid-twenties, Harry enrolled in graduate school for a master’s in social work degree. When asked how he is paying for this, he explained that AmeriCorps gives $5,000 toward further education for each year one works with them. He is also using loans and working part-time.
Betsy Dunkirk, Li Bartrom, Brennan Ahlers, Janet Lewis, Bradley Ruhl
Seven people from Level Three matriculated and finished their programs at institutions that fit them well. Four who had an Excellent fit for their ability profiles, and who also went on to complete another degree or certification, are Betsy, Li, Brennan, and Janet.
Betsy Dunkirk majored in cognitive and brain sciences at a Tier 1 university. She also completed a unique one-year, fast-paced programming institute for women (coding and computer programming) for which she earned a tuition waiver until she found a job in her field. She then owed, and paid, 22.5% of her first year’s salary as full payment of her one year program debt. Her interests are far-reaching and include cooking, animal aid, and psychology. She is a software engineer fluent in many programming languages.
As she heads into her late twenties, Betsy writes:
I’m still working at the same place (as a software engineer), but I feel sure that the field of technology isn’t where I really want to be, so I’m starting to look at grad school options for education or social work or possibly law (to work in education or domestic violence/public health policy).
Her undergraduate expenses were covered by significant financial aid grants,[6] her own “work-study,”[7] and her parents. More recently, when her grandmother died, it was decided to use the inheritance to pay off the balance of the children’s school loans. Betsy is single, lives alone, and is fully self-supporting.
Li Bartrom attended a Tier 2 undergraduate institution and is now enrolled in a Tier 1 public policy graduate school. She majored in anthropology and Honors English with a concentration on human rights and humanitarianism. By the time Li was in her mid-twenties, she had already traveled to several parts of the world on fellowships. Adopted from an Asian orphanage and raised in a rural area where she was “one of the only people who looked like her,” Li’s interest in people, public policy, and how the world deals with humanitarian issues started when she was young.
When asked if there was anyone who specifically motivated her or planted this seed, she said:
I suppose it was support from my parents (versus pressure) — they’ve always encouraged me to find something that I care about to work on, no matter what that was.
Li is single, lives alone, and is fully self-supporting. After scholarships and fellowships, her annual undergraduate costs were about $12,000, of which her parents paid a large portion each year. She paid some after graduating, and her father paid off the balance a couple years ago. Her Tier 1 graduate school is giving her a full ride plus a living stipend.
Brennan Ahlers, in their late twenties, earned a BS from a Tier 1 university in emergency medicine, went on to become a nationally registered paramedic, and added helicopter flight certification to their training accomplishments. Brennan requested use of a non-gender pronoun and has changed their name to a non-gender specific name. Aside from a regular full-time job as a hospital-connected paramedic and first responder, Brennan volunteers for citywide events, as well. Their parents paid for undergraduate degrees for their children, and Brennan paid their own way on further education and certification by working and earning.
Janet Lewis has degrees from undergraduate and graduate Tier 1 universities. She studied economics, international relations, and then business. In her mid-thirties, Janet is married, has children, and has designed her career around topics related to families, housing, childcare, and educational support for children. Her family’s resources paid for her educational costs.
Bradley Ruhl focused on math and computer science while at his Tier 1 university, and he minored in music. Bradley had originally planned to become an academic at the university level, but a summer internship with a business consulting group persuaded him that he would enjoy using his more entrepreneurial side and he accepted a full-time position. By his mid-twenties, he had a longtime girlfriend who lived in the same metropolitan area. Costs of his Tier 1 school were covered by a National Merit [8] scholarship, several small merit-based scholarships, and his parents. Bradley graduated with no debt.
References and Resources
The details of this post’s part of the longitudinal study can be found in Chapter 4 of Ruf, D. (2023). The 5 Levels of Gifted Children Grown Up: What They Tell Us, 2023.
[1] See this search result for more information about using the SAT and ACT: https://www.google.com/search?q=the+SAt+and+ACT+are+being+reinstated&oq=the+SAt+and+ACT+are+being+reinstated&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigAdIBCTE4NTMzajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
[2] One source that may interest readers: Dr. Fred Zhang of PrepScholar explains the relationship to IQ of results on ACT and SAT tests https:// blog.prepscholar.com/act-vs-sat-in-iq-intelligence.
[3] An elite university uses the term “Elite” and it refers to one category of the ratio of how many students are accepted compared to how many people applied to an institution. This is also commonly referred to as the “competitive” factor — how “competitive” it is to gain entrance.
[4] For a definition of executive function skills see https://childmind.org/topics/concerns/executive-function/
[5[ SAI stands for School Ability Index and identifies the intelligence score on many standardized ability tests children take at school.
[6] Financial aid is money lent or given to help pay for college. Grants and scholarships are kinds of financial aid that you don’t have to pay back. Most grants are awarded based on financial need. But a good portion of gift aid is awarded for academic achievement. See: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/grants-and-scholarships/ the-basics-on-grants-and-scholarships
[7] The College Work Study Program (CWSP) is a type of financial aid that a school awards to a student who has completed a FAFSA and has demonstrated a financial need. The student is given a job (usually on-campus) and is paid by the school not to exceed a determined amount. See: https://investinganswers.com/dictionary/c/college-work- study-program-cwsp
[8] The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organization based in Evanston, Illinois. Many elite institutions so not grant scholarships for these awards. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Merit_Scholarship_Program
The Five Levels of Gifted Children Grown Up: What They Tell Us (2023). This post is from Chapter 4. https://www.amazon.com/Levels-Gifted-Children-Grown-Up/dp/B0C9SHFRLH or https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-5-levels-of-gifted-children-grown-up-phd-deborah-l-ruf/1143719859?ean=9798988323709. This is an 18 year longitudinal study follow-up about the original gifted child subjects in 5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options (2005, 2009).
5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options (2005, 2009). https://www.giftedunlimitedllc.com/store/p12/5_Levels_of_Gifted.html
… and other of my archived posts that explain more about giftedness on both Substack and Medium.