I never really realized how smart I was until I was older, and I am sure that it would have helped my self esteem, since I was kind of awkward and did not fit in well.
Well, I was tested and qualified for the new gifted program when I was in 6th grade and had a new baby sister at home. My mom told me my IQ (or what was known of it), and the school psych explained the concept of "fraction of a percentile", having scored the cognitive pretty much immediately, while I did the Draw-a-Person test.
I will just point out that when you are a teenager, a self-esteem based pretty much exclusively on your IQ is not a very robust one. Adolescent girls tend to take a huge hit to their self-esteem when puberty hits, and the debate over whether the causes are biological or societal may rage on forever.
I remember on a gifted class field trip, a 15-year-old friend of the gifted teacher called me a "rude genius". Shoots, I had a crush on him, and that was difficult to hear, but I deserved it.
