I’m Not Disappointed.

When Dylan told me he didn’t want to take IB classes – even though he only needed to take two of them – I was relieved.

I am still relieved. I am just now realizing that I expected to be disappointed. And I’m not disappointed.

Dylan has always thought rather abstractly. He was mature beyond his years as a toddler with regard to empathy, kindness, and philosophical concepts. Physically, he was far behind his peers – but he’s always been just a bit more worldly – in his head, at least – than many of his peers.

What I’ve learned is that a lot of gifted kids are this way. And Dylan is definitely gifted.

But the college admissions people aren’t going to know that. They’re going to see an application from an IB school – which is relatively rare – without any IB classes on the transcript. The International Baccalaureate program is known for finding those gifted thinkers, those problem-solvers, those philosophical students who want to delve into their own abstractions.

Dylan won’t have any of those classes on his college application.

So the college admissions folks will look for AP classes, since many gifted kids are gifted in a different way. Rather than being high-level, abstract thinkers, they are organized and efficient at memorizing huge amounts of detail. They can master a college-level class in high school because they absorb information at a rapid rate, and can process that information, flip it around, and spit it back in five different formats.

Dylan will only have one of those on his college application: the computer science class he took for the IBCP program, which he is not going to complete. He will have a C in the AP class, if all goes well. We don’t know yet if he’ll even pass the AP test, giving him credit for having taken the class.

I don’t even want Dylan to take any more AP classes. They just don’t fit his learning style. (Shane may be another case entirely.)

I am a little sad that Dylan won’t be taking the IB classes. I think he would have enjoyed them; they might have reminded him of his happy days in the GT program, where all the kids were eager to share deep-level thoughts about a variety of subjects, and Dylan fit right in, having something to add to answer every question.

Hopefully, he’ll have that chance in college – when his brain has developed a bit more, and when he’s more ready to tackle those classes.

I think the right college will see past the lack of AP and IB classes on his transcript. While he’s taking a host of interesting classes, they aren’t college-level. And his grades are (so far) poorest in his Honors courses.

Dylan has a whole slew of extracurricular activities and accomplishments to add to the mix that will be his transcript. But I doubt that a college with 35,000 students and 20,000 applications will see past Dylan’s test scores and GPA, or even notice his extracurriculars.

But I think the right college will find him, and nurture his gifts. I think they’ll look past his “easy” class choices – which are not at all easy for him – and get to know the person behind the transcript, who is bursting with genius and talent of a very special kind.

I think that place is out there, just waiting for him.

And I think, when they find each other, Dylan will rise to the occasion beautifully.

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