Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Davidson Young Scholars application questions

Really, it doesn't. Just pick a story that you think really highlights how she thinks. Maybe it's one of your favorites. Don't worry about whether it's good enough compared to some undefined excellence you have in your head. It'll be fine.

Agreed - Mom/Dad's writing ability isn't going to outweigh the actual child's testing.

I can't remember where I read it, but many DYS kids are clustered near the minimum qualification levels with only a small minority who are significantly beyond the minimums. I have one DYS near the minimum and another who is significantly beyond. It follows that many of the more extreme accomplishments for the Kindergarten and younger ages may correlate with the more extreme DYS kids. At the same time, some kids who appeared extreme as toddlers/preschoolers/kindergarteners may just be manifesting interest/focus on a particular skill set at the expense of other skill sets at that point in time. My point is do not feel intimidated or feel like your anecdotes have to wow the committee. For my more typical DYS, I couldn't think of many academic examples especially in view of my more extreme DYS and ended up pulling artistic examples even though the committee specifically indicated that they were not interested in art or music or athletic accomplishments. I did spin it by explaining how those examples tied into prodigious ability, deep exploration and processing complex info. As "wrong" as my "mommy descriptions" probably were, DD still got accepted so stop worrying and just start writing. I did the writing both times in a single day partly so I wouldn't agonize over the application. Good luck!

Statistically, this is probably true. If you cut off the tail at one end of the curve, especially way out from the middle like the DYS qualifier, the bulk of the people remaining will be close to the cut line, with relatively few further out. So, for example, if the cutoff score is 145, 68% of the population will be at or under 150 (assuming a normal distribution and a standard deviation of 15: 1-(P(Z=3.333)/P(Z=3.000)) ). I don't know exactly how the multiple ways to qualify as a DYS affect this calculation, but my "gut feeling" is that it makes the group more likely to be clustered close to the qualifier line, rather than increasing the weight of the tail. I'd be interested to hear from anyone whose statistics is less rusty than mine about whether my gut is correct or not.

I guess that makes sense, Quantum2003. When you look at the incidence, it makes sense that more would be in the lower ranges. Thanks for pointing that out

I finally did put my big girl pants on and finished the application. Now waiting on the nominator to finish her form.

Thanks to all that responded. This is making me such a nervous nelly. I contacted the gifted development center in CO last week b/c they'll provide individual guidance too...but the $$ is pretty steep. Sure would be nice to get the free resources in DYS.