Post-High School Education Outcomes for Level Four Gifted (Exceptionally to Profoundly Gifted)
Level Four people are in the exceptionally to profoundly gifted range of advanced learners.
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? A lot.
As I’ve written and said in my places before, 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 social, emotional, and academic, and career progress. It can lead to other long-term issues, as well, so the goal is to help readers see what some of these less-than-ideal outcomes are for the different Levels of Gifted.
We continue with Level Four: The Outliers
In this post we look at the different needs of people at Level Four compared to those who are more conventionally gifted, the Levels One, Two, and Three participants from earlier posts.[1]
Many of the subjects from Level Four were originally tested on the old Stanford-Binet (LM) and achieved scores in excess of 170+. The behavioral characteristics of those for whom no Stanford-Binet (LM) scores are available are completely similar to those so identified. All are Profoundly Gifted and yet still somewhat different from each other, which is why I established a Level Four and Level Five to help people understand the variances. On the modern standardized tests such as versions of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children or the Standard-Binet 5, the Level Four youngsters generally have full scale IQ scores of about 135 to 141+ or a 145+ on either verbal or nonverbal or a specific domain, e.g., spatial, or quantitative reasoning. Keep in mind, testing is not perfect and neither are the estimates made from the Five Levels of Gifted rubric. Both are supportive instruments for helping parents and educators know how best to support the needs of children and adults like these.
Post-High School Education and “Good Fit”
I know that many people who read about high intelligence are prone to skip ahead to where they think they or their children are in the Levels. If you are someone who likes to know how other people are, bear with me as I repeat a few details from previous posts.
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 of similar abilities make. 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 faster and how much more?
Level One (moderately gifted) ~ 4 years (or about 2/3 of the standard time)
Level Two (highly 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 Four students in their school settings?
There will be as many Level Four students as one or two across two grade levels; two or three per grade level in high socioeconomic Type III schools (e.g., 100 students in a grade level).
Why are gifted children so much ahead by the time they start school?
“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. Gifted children focus on what interests them sooner than children not so gifted. 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.
How this part of the longitudinal study results are designed
First, to assure the anonymity of participants, rather than identify the post-high school institution by name, I created tables that use a numeral 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.[2] I have known for a long time that grades are a poor predictor of college or life success.[3]
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 Level Fours, there is no institution that would be too difficult for them unless they were unable to prepare themselves for the rigor and expectations because their earlier education left them unprepared.
In this study group, there is no one who attended a school that was above their ability to do well. These people are the top learners in almost any setting in which they find themselves. Many, however, got their post-high school training and education in places and institutions 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.
Readers should inspect the Tables from each chapter to see how the kindergarten through high school settings appear to effect the post- secondary and career training for the subjects. One way to understand this is to see which students had an Unsatisfactory start and stayed there throughout compared to those who saw a considerable move toward Satisfactory to Excellent as their access to better options improved.
As you read through the tables in each post about post-secondary life and post-secondary training and the Levels of Gifted study subjects, consider that each table represents a Level of Giftedness that indicates, within it, a similar range of abilities among the study participants. 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 earlier “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 often related to the book subjects’ earlier experiences.
The Level Four Subjects
As you read through the table for the 27 people in Level Four, you see a higher percentage of people for whom the post-high school institution they attended was less than Satisfactory for their Level of Giftedness compared to what the Levels One, Two, and Three participants experienced. The same result occurred for this group in their K-12 years shown in an earlier post and in Chapter 3 of The 5 Levels of Gifted Children Grown Up (2023). Generally, any Level Four youngster should be able to attend and thrive in a Tier 1 or 2 post-secondary school. Other options are less likely to have classmates or professors — or rigorous, engaging coursework — that meet the intellectual and satisfaction needs of Level Four students. It is just more school. Same old boring got-to-do-it school. Socioeconomics are sometimes the leading factor behind such undesirable choices, but not always. I explore additional factors and possible reasons behind less than Satisfactory or Excellent post-secondary choices in The 5 Levels of Gifted Children Grown Up: What They Tell Us (2023) book.
First, a reminder: what is most important for exceptionally and profoundly gifted students is not only the quality of the courses but the likelihood of being in the presence of true intellectual peers during this key time of learning and growing as an individual. The post- secondary institution selectivity ranking is based on how easy it is to get accepted to the institution and how many of those who are accepted finish within four years. That is one reason why the satellite schools of major universities are usually ranked lower than the main campus institution. The standards for acceptance are not as rigorous and almost anyone who applies can take coursework. This clearly changes the dynamic of each classroom and the student interactions that are possible. Going to school is almost always more satisfying and productive for the student when conversations and friendships can develop. Many students in the community and regional satellite colleges are less able learners than Level One students, and students in Level One itself are vastly different from Level Four people in what they can understand and master.
Beyond the issue of “fitting” intellectually, academically, and socially during one’s educational career, one’s environment can have a significant impact on how individuals structure their own future career planning. The types of careers and ambitions that people consider for themselves are greatly affected by the reactions and examples of those around them. Comments such as, “You really think you’re something, don’t you?” and “Why are you so ambitious?” are not uncommon to hear for people in this study, especially when they are not in the best educational “fit” for themselves. When our abilities are higher than most of those around us, the work and job examples are unlikely to tap into our intellectual strengths and can cut off our looking at many possibilities that might be better options.
The Level Four Subjects
Three of the 27 Level Four young adults experienced Unsatisfactory schooling environments after they finished high school. Six of the 27 youngsters were only slightly better off with Unsatisfactory to Acceptable “fit.” When you look at the table for Level Four in the kindergarten through 12th grade “fit” column, it is easy to see that none of these people were in steadily challenging and appropriate environments for their ability profiles. Because these book study participants were usually quite forthcoming about their experiences, I’ll choose four for you here. The order of the Level Four subjects in this chapter is from the least Satisfactory to Excellent post-secondary fit. I will use that order now.
Adam Schaefer is in his sixth year of a 2-year associate degree program in chemistry at a local community college, a Tier 4 educational environment. He described his lack of motivation, felt guilty and bad about not finishing sooner, but simply could not get himself to focus or follow through any faster. He has plans to transfer to a 4-year degree at a “good” university (his words). Adam’s K-12 experiences were in constant flux. He started in a Type II school, moved to Type IV gifted classrooms at two different times (elementary and late high school), was active in and enjoyed many extracurricular clubs and activities that are typical for smart kids (robotics, Quiz Bowl, Lego League), but always struggled with grades and finishing his schoolwork. His parents separated and divorced during his childhood, and he is left with many thoughts that he simply cannot please others or be the way others wish him to be. He has a younger brother (not in the study) who has always done better in school and career. Adam explained that even though his brother was not any smarter than he, for some reason, everything his brother did worked out well for him and pleased his teachers and parents. Adam admits he should have had that life and is confused, disappointed, and bitter that he does not.
If we look further at what Adam has been doing, we see that he has held numerous positions that take good advantage of his talents and brilliance, but because he has no degree, or enough confidence to ask for more, he is underpaid and lives with his mother. His paid work includes content development for a media company and a retail data collector of item-pricing data in retail stores. For several of his community college science courses, Adam served as a laboratory assistant. As part of doing that job, Adam, on his own initiative, conducted lab course experiments before class to gather data for solving problems that might arise, assisted students during lab courses, and prepared most of the lab course experiment materials. Earlier, as an unpaid intern for an IT company, it appears he could do absolutely anything a large or small company could need done. And he is self-taught in this area.
Adam is “knock-your-socks-off” brilliant. He expresses a view that something is wrong with him and other people are right when they say things to that effect about him. And yet his current life is a vivid example of many brilliant young adults whose educational and familial environments simply did not work well for them. Such people experienced environmental situations that repeatedly showed them they were not fitting in and were not using their brilliance in the ways they “should.” Adam’s personality plays a big role here and is discussed in my posts about personality, ENFP. Adam’s parents divorced when Adam was in middle school, and they initially paid for his post-secondary schooling, but after the divorce, Adam discovered his father had mishandled his money and no longer contributed to Adam’s school expenses.
Rebecca Resnick was eager to participate in the book update — at first. Then she talked with her younger sister. Both young women professed a bitterness about the label of gifted and questioned whether there was any good reason to have it. Rebecca’s parents are still married but appear to lead separate lives from each other even though they still live together. Here, in Rebecca’s own words when she was 27 years old and working as a freelance writer (and stating that she feels unsuccessful and that intelligence has not done her much good), is her explanation of the “gifted” label and how it affected her:
Middle school segregated us into “teams” by … I have no idea, honestly, but the rumor going around was that they used intelligence (or grades, or test scores, whatever) as the separator. Each “team” was the smaller unit within the large school so you mostly would socialize, attend class with, go to lunch with, etc., the people on that team. To this day, I have no idea if they really did try to separate kids by intelligence or if the presence of a couple rowdy kids on one team led to the self-fulfilling prophecy that that was the “dumb kids” team and so on. But anyway, it was a pretty standard assumption that that’s how the school did it. I was on the “smart kids” team and while I liked a lot of middle school stuff, by the end of it I was tired of the (unofficial) label and decided that freshman year I would take all the most basic classes I possibly could. I registered for regular, not advanced, English and history, I registered for the easiest math class I could find (that wasn’t a repeat of anything I’d already done). Result: I was bored to tears for freshman and sophomore years of high school. Thankfully, I “saw reason” by junior year and signed up for a couple AP classes. Of course, by this point I was mostly coasting. I spent a lot of time hanging out in art classes I wasn’t officially registered for because I had a free period and my friends were there.
In senior year I was able to register for some classes in graphic design at the local community college (what I thought I wanted to do with my life). I don’t recall these being particularly fascinating but were probably a better option than taking something at the high school. I also had a college-level Japanese class to occupy me around the same time; I skipped a lot of those classes and didn’t do too well in it, ultimately.
Of course, I had never learned how to study or how to even do homework. Since school had always been so easy, I didn’t understand what to do when confronted with something that actually required practice, study, and hard thought. I don’t think I figured a lot of this out until after college, to be honest. The courses that challenged me in college were ones that required a lot of writing, but writing is, like, a completely different part of my brain than studying flashcards or solving practice equations.
Rebecca attended a Tier 3 college where the average ACT range for incoming students was 22–27. She applied for more appropriate (for her ability profile) universities and was waitlisted by a Tier 2 school. That made her angry and she decided not to wait for them to make up their minds. Rebecca’s ACT is one of the highest in this entire study group: 35. Her academic focus was English and journalism.
Rebecca expresses concern that she was too privileged, and her Type II school system had too many well-to-do families. She struggles with what it all means. But no one at her “wealthy” (her word) public high school appears to have suggested to her that she aim for a college or university that might fit her better, challenge her more, and give her more competition and peers. Her mother tried to persuade her to aim higher, but Rebecca wanted to do it herself. She applied for and was awarded a complete, full-ride scholarship for the school she attended. She graduated summa cum laude and wonders aloud where the connection is to being “gifted” and finding a satisfying, possibly lucrative career. Rebecca, in her mid-thirties, married for six years and not planning to have children, recently started working as a full-time writer for a news outlet.
Rebecca is an example of a Level four who is high in verbal and not as high in qualitative reasoning. It’s the primary distinction between Levels Four and Five.
Zachary Hackner, in his mid-twenties when interviewed on this topic, Zachary Hackner had earned a mathematics degree specializing in actuarial science and a minor in computer science from his state’s Tier 2 university. His ACT is several points higher than the high end of the range of the school. He was accepted to a Tier 1 school but was offered no aid or financial assistance of any kind and his family would have needed to take on a debt of more than $200,000. Our current educational systems in the United States are not set up to encourage and support most students in Zachary’s situation. Yes, he got a particularly good post-secondary education and he now has a good job and career ahead of him. But, perhaps due to his Unsatisfactory school fit from kindergarten through eighth grade and an only Acceptable fit in high school, Zachary had few examples presented to him of what people with his extremely high intelligence can, or could, do with their lives. Plus, because K-12 Type II schools generally have a low number of college- bound students, there usually is no guidance or support system for helping someone like Zachary know where to look and how to prepare.
Zachary passed his actuarial exam and works as a retirement actuarial associate for a firm. He likes his work because “I like predictability.” He added, “I like it okay but hope it will lead toward something bigger. I really like the idea of being wealthy myself.” He has a group of friends with whom he regularly plays board games, and he said the only downside to graduating from high school a year early was that he could not join his friends at the casinos right away. He earned significant, but not total, scholarships from the Tier 2 university, and because his family income was too high, he did not qualify for any “needs-based” loans or “work-study” grants. Zachary still needed student loans. He is paying off his school loans, and because he has a good job, he has worked out a repayment plan that is not too burdensome. Zach is not currently in a relationship but would like to be, and he presently rents a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate.
Tyler Lundquist went to the same undergraduate school as his parents and one sibling, which is a Tier 2 institution well-known for its math and music departments. Tyler’s ACT of 34 and strong Level Four abilities indicate he would have been more challenged and more appropriately placed in a Tier 1 school. So, that is what he did; he enrolled in a doctoral program at a Tier 1 school but struggled there. He told me the earlier school experiences had been noticeably less challenging, and he admitted he was not prepared for the difficulty, competition, fast pace, and challenge of the Tier 1 math program.
None of this made him doubt himself, and he knew he could undoubtedly make it work, but there was an additional consideration and complicator that led to his leaving the Tier 1 school. He and his future wife had to make up their minds about moving for a job opportunity she received, and he chose to move to another graduate school and program at that time to be with her. He is now a software engineer at a small branch of one of the world’s major tech companies and loves it. He says, with humor in his voice,
I’m awed by how smart everyone at the office is, and I’m honestly frightened by not being the smartest in the room.
Tyler detailed how “changes in academia, fewer available positions, more adjunct instructors, etc. has made it very hard for math PhDs to find work and are often under- employed.” He feels fortunate to have landed his job with such a major company. He said, “A major proportion of the people in my office are refugees from the academic track, PhDs in math and computer science.” Tyler’s parents had a college savings plan and he graduated with no debt. For graduate school expenses, he reports that math PhDs can always get through their programs by serving as TAs (Teaching Assistants) and tutors. In his mid-thirties, married with two young children, he had never been what most people consider a “good student” and is surprised things have turned out so well for him.
Samantha Forrest attended a Tier 2 institution and majored in cinema and media culture with minors in Spanish and leadership. After a marketing internship at a local nonprofit music arts organization, she found a full-time job as the social media contact between the company’s clients and the marketing team. She has no specific career goals yet except to be able to walk, not drive, to wherever she works. In her mid-twenties, Samantha rents an apartment with three college friends and still dates the same man she started dating in college. The one thing she would change about her school choice is to have looked beyond the borders of her home state before deciding. There was no one at her high school or in her family who brought that possibility up with her. Her parents paid for her college expenses and, she said, “I think they started saving before I was born!” She has no school debt.
Jo Anne Price graduated recently from a Tier 1 institution. She is fluent in Spanish and volunteers as a Spanish-English translator helping to educate and prepare children in South America for eventual employment opportunities. Her interests lie in social activism. Her parents are both university professors and Jo Anne was eligible for tuition support at her chosen school.
Stephen Williams earned a Bachelor of Science degree from a Tier 1 college with a double major in economics and mathematics. After college, he and a business partner developed a health app that uses psychological typing, behavioral models, and machine learning to create a “virtual personal fitness coach that helps companies get their employees active and move the needle on healthcare costs.” Stephen said that starting a business and selling the product is frustratingly difficult. While still in his late twenties, he was in a long-term relationship and said he assumes he will someday marry and have children. His parents paid for college costs, and he has no student loans.
Can you see the trend here? The better the earlier fit the more easily the subjects appear to move into the next stages of their lives.
The Level Five Summary will come out in one week.
References and Resources
[1] The details of this post’s part of the longitudinal study can be found in Chapter 5 of Ruf, D. (2023). The 5 Levels of Gifted Children Grown Up: What They Tell Us, 2023.
[2] 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
[3] 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.
[4] An elite university is The term “Elite” 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.
[5] For a definition of executive function skills see https://childmind.org/topics/concerns/executive-function/
Additional Resources:
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.