The document is a letter from Morgan Appel, Director of the Education Department at UC San Diego, addressing concerns about gifted students transitioning from high school to college. Appel acknowledges that college can be challenging for gifted students due to increased expectations, lack of structure, and having to work and study independently for the first time. However, Appel also expresses that with the right support systems in place, gifted students can thrive in college and beyond through developing resilience, self-awareness, and finding communities.

1. Morgan Appel, Director
Education Department

2. A Gifted Child Speaks
Just because gifted kids or any kids
are different doesn’t mean we are
wrong or bad. Just because we
aren’t average, doesn’t mean we are
bad. Gifted kids always seem to
stand out and get singled out. It
sure seems safer and better to be
average and be like everybody else
in school.
Socializing in school just sucks
because most often nobody seems
to understand what I am talking
about. It always seems to be over
their head or they don’t understand
what I’m talking about so I need
explain it to them, and then I get
called a know-it-all. It makes me
misunderstood.
From crushingtallpoppies.com

3.  We know that the popular sentiment that the gifted can fend for
themselves because they are smart and resourceful is the stuff of
myth and legend
 Typical issues associated with development are magnified and
increase exponentially with age – from Pre-K to postgraduate. It
does not get better without purposeful intervention.
 Giftedness is a gift so long as you are not the one struggling with
it—it is both gift and burden. Even more so as one ages.
 What are some of your concerns that extend beyond the
classroom walls? What will your child need to be successful once
high school has come to an end?

4. The Gifted andTalented
Postsecondary
Experience: Out of the
Frying Pan…
For many gifted and talented
individuals, the university
represents somewhat of an
idealized panacea, in which,
among like-minded persons,
the student is to become free
from the trappings of
giftedness.
However, our experiential
understanding of
postsecondary life leads us to
believe that the university is
merely a reflection of the
greater society, and thus it is
as much Pandora’s Box as it
is panacea.
Things never get easier, do
they?

6.  Fear of making the wrong decision
 Coping with ‘not being the best’
 Coping with ‘failure’ – and leaving
 Having to work—possibly for the first time
 Cultivating sound habits of mind and practice
 Developing resiliency skills and realistic
understandings of the environment to make the
most of the experience
 Finding out where one belongs and creating a
viable network of support
 So what do we do between you and me?

7. Into the Light:
Understanding the Gifted
Using Plato’s Allegory of
the Cave
In many ways, the gifted and
talented are akin to the
imprisoned featured in Plato’s
Allegory. Their perceptions are
shaped by shadow, distortion and
exaggerated interpretation
emerging from their unique
neurobiology and socio-affective
characteristics.
Thus, one of the most important
duties parents of the gifted have
is to help bring them into daylight
and offer them a quality of life
with a lesser degree of anxiety
and intensity.
The same neurochemistry that
fuels all we love about the gifted
in the classroom and at home can
wreak havoc internally.That is
why counseling the gifted takes
all the king’s horses and all the
king’s men.

8.  Neurological Characteristics and Physiology:
 Brain thrives on complexity and problem solving
 Emotional/affective nature of the learning experience
 The chemistry of learning, memory and problem
solving
 Nature of the ‘Gifted Brain’
▪ ‘Brain on Fire’ – always on. Always worried. Attentions turn.
▪ Multimodal thinkers/organizational skills. But disorganized.
▪ Hypersensitive brains. Prone to giving up easily.Too easily.
▪ Vivid impressions and lasting recollections. Praise and
criticism.
▪ ‘Cognitive Flypaper’. Not knowing when to quit.

9.  Gifted/High-Achieving/Creative Pupils in the Conventional 21st –
Century College Classroom
 Relevant Affective/Socio-emotional Characteristics
 Intensity (and feeling unheard/lost)
 Perfectionism (taking it hard)
 Asynchrony (catching up, finally?)
 Hypersensitivity (reluctance to admit/disbelief in own giftedness)
 Anxiety (times 20 and on your own)
 Social Constructivism/Collaboration
 Distorted/Exaggerated Expectations (of self/others)
 Look outward for approval, inward for blame/self doubt
 Metacognition: Need for Process/Problem Solving
 Lack of organizational skills/study habits (what does it mean when I
have to apply myself?)

10. Immersing one’s self
in flow can be a
double-edged sword,
especially when one
must come to grips
with the fact that
non-stop flow is not
possible. Dealing with
routine and boredom
is a skill quite
desperately needed in
college.

11. Most postsecondary
students will not truly
find real flow until they
engage in upper
division or graduate work.
So how does one chart a
path in the interim?
Think outside the campus
walls.

12. GREAT
EXPECTATIONS: IVY
OR NOTHINGAT ALL
In fifth grade, in a meeting with
my teacher, counselor and
mother, I was asked if I had any
notion about what I might want
to do when I graduated from
high school (very proactive for
the late 1970s). I wanted to be
Paul McCartney.
Before I could draw in a breath,
my mother exclaimed loudly
that it was going to be Harvard,
Yale or any of the ivies. And
that was it. My fate was sealed
early on—no pressure.
A destination never reached,
aside from wardrobe choices
now in my late 40s. If I wasn’t a
perfectionist then, I was set on
a path toward it—but took the
road less traveled.

13.  Focuses almost exclusively on
academic needs (when counselors
are available and not beset by
caseloads)
 Fewer than 20 percent of schools
attend to the affective
components in counseling gifted
and talented
 Minimal training for working with
gifted pupils. Even those with
training are not prepared to deliver
these services and/or are
overburdened in their positions
 Gifted and talented left to
themselves (can take care of
themselves)

14.  Leonardo daVinci, for example
 Multiple interests and abilities
across domains
 Capable of success in many
professions
 May cause stress and anxiety;
confusion and over scheduling for
fear of ‘missing something’
 Social alienation; purposelessness;
apathy and depression
 Many university students compelled
to choose a specialization (major)
before being allowed to sample
disciplines
 Multipotentiality or lack of decision-
making skills?

15.  Own worst enemies
 Exaggerated expectations of
self and others
 Cannot forgive themselves/
mismatched efforts
 Anxiety, fear of failure and
underachievement
 Risk burnout and indecision
(professional student/college
dropout/changing majors)
 Must pursue personal
fulfillment (versus
expectations of others)
 Emphasis on particular
colleges or careers

16.  May experience additional anxiety
due to early maturity and societal
expectations (conflicts between
aspirations and expectations)
 Move away from sciences and to
social sciences/services/education
 Other centeredness and
attendance/awareness of the
needs/opinions of others
 Feeling like an ‘impostor’ – success
due to ‘faking it’ or ‘getting lucky’
 More likely to conform to parental
wishes or expectations, especially
with respect to family versus
career

17.  Patterns of underachievement
that are contextually and time
sensitive
 Need for strong mentorship
and focus on strengths and
interests
 Recognize potential and need
for special attention in
postsecondary and career
planning
 Research suggests that 65
percent of underachievers
blossomed later in life (in
college or thereafter) – incentive
for focused counseling

18.  Community evaluation—
support/competition. Perhaps
above all, the most important.
 Big fish in a small pond finds his
way into the ocean
 Grading and evaluation
practices and their impacts
(match/ UCSC)
 Type of curriculum
(interdisciplinary majors/general
education requirements) and fit
with individual. GO SEE IT!
 Support beyond college years
(including graduate school)
 Type of campus
(residential/commuter/global
focus/reputation for certain
areas of study)
 Early outreach, special
programs
 Summer programs (not solely
focused on academics and
credit, but on understanding and
becoming immersed in
postsecondary culture

19.  Building resiliency and
networking skills
 College choice for gifted and
talented pupils
 Career/college for the
emotionally and creatively
gifted
 Focus on underachieving gifted
and talented, especially in the
postsecondary environment
 ‘Chance’ in career development:
taking the road less traveled
 Non-traditional gifted
populations in college and
career

20. Try andTry
Again—no, really!
The national media frequently
remind us that resilient
individuals are successful because
they push their limits and learn
from their mistakes. Babe Ruth is
known for his batting prowess,
but he struck out nearly twice as
often as he hit homeruns. Michael
Jordan has said, “I’ve missed
more than 9000 shots in my
career. I’ve lost almost 300
games.Twenty-six times, I’ve
been trusted to take the game
winning shot and I missed. I’ve
failed over and over again in my
life. And that is why I succeed.”
Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s
Corporation, is known for valuing
determination and persistence
over talent, genius and education.
Fantasy fiction author Stephen
King, has been quoted to say,
“Talent is cheaper than table salt.
What separates the talented
individual from the successful one
is a lot of hard work.” (SENG,
2017)

21.  Improve frustration
tolerance (lengthen
the fuse—pause before
reacting)
 Use the great
‘thinking brain’
(rational approach to
emotional problems)
 Form a realistic view
of self and abilities
(and reinforce)
 Scaffold and support
weaknesses (offer
structure in building
abilities) – break things
up
 Set up opportunities
for success (cognitively
and emotionally
addictive—build
competence and
confidence)

22.  Active listening versus
questioning or informing (power
balance)
 ‘Attending’ to the speaker and
affirming attention to needs
(complete physical connection
and affirmation of what one
hears)
 Summarizing what one hears
and resisting the urge to ‘fix’ –
being heard is often more
important than being ‘fixed’
 Avoiding unsolicited self
discussion or disclosure. The
listener must be ‘taught’ by the
speaker as the former may have
not experienced feelings with
same intensity
 Facilitated heterogeneous
small group discussions
designed to identify
commonalities; promote
affirmation; develop skills in
articulating concerns; and
provide information about
available resources
Source: Peterson, 2003, and others

23.  Entering the world of the gifted
person with fidelity and without
judgment
 Facilitated group projects that
encourage and enhance
collaboration and resiliency by
incorporating structured
‘downtime’ to play and socialize
 Speakers and panels to address
specific socioemotional
concerns or anxieties about
postsecondary education/career
 Parent mutual support groups—
not solely to support the needs of
students, but to serve as resources
and sympathetic ears (can be, but
do not necessarily have to be
facilitated) – informal and formal
 College and career advisement
that does not focus on selection,
but upon process ; ‘goodness of
fit’; cultivating support;
developing resiliency – not to
mention diverse options available
Source: Peterson, 2003, and others

24.  Collaborate with professionals in
helping career choices focus on
more well-rounded lives
 Be aware of expectations and
pressures (including your own)
 Help realize that college and career
aspirations change over time
 Need for greater individualized
counseling that is differentiated
(aptitude, ability and interest)
 Multidimensional career counseling
 Guidance counselors not solely
responsible for career and college
counseling , but rather part of a
collaborative team of professionals
and parent

25. Corollary to Plato’s
Allegory and the Gifted:
Back to the Cave
‘He would bless himself for the
change, and pity [the other
prisoners]" and would want to
bring his fellow cave dwellers out
of the cave and into the sunlight’
This suggests that the onus is
upon those of us who have gone
into the light to return to liberate
those paralyzed with anxiety or
distorted expectations and
impressions. For many, the cave is
safe, because it is controlled and
represents routine. Routine
frequently means freedom from
ambiguity-related anxieties.
We work together to show those
we care for most that whilst
embracing new challenges in not
panacea, it is both rewarding and
uplifting.

27. Morgan Appel
Director, Education Department
UC San Diego ESPP
9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0170-N
La Jolla, California 92093-0170
858-534-9273
mappel@ucsd.edu
http://extension.ucsd.edu