I believe that school selection is very important for profoundly gifted children.
My hypothesis is that children can thrive in a school where their IQ is within two standard deviations of the mean. If that's the case, they will have some academic peers in the school that they can relate to. If they are 3+ standard deviations away, there is likely nobody near them intellectually, and that can make for loneliness.
My children attended a public school system where the average SAT score is over 1300. Even though they were near the top of the class, they still had a number of very smart friends their entire time in school. They were well liked and my son was even elected as middle school president (no president in high school).
I realized the importance of this school fit when we attended a Davidson weekend retreat many years ago. There many of the families reported that their children had few friends and no intellectual peers, and often underperformed in school. My son who came with me realized how lucky he was.
