Why kids who aren’t academically ‘gifted’ often end up doing better in life

The gifted label isn’t the golden ticket we think it is. Experts say resilience, motivation and opportunity matter far more than academic labels.

Young girl doing homework at a table.

Published: February 10, 2026 at 3:43 PM

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Many parents quietly hope their child will be top of the class — and when it becomes clear they’re not (or dare we say it, they're just "average") it can be equally disappointing and worrying. Will their future options be more limited than their best friend who constantly gets A grades? Will they be as employable as the kid in the year who just became junior chess champion?

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It’s easy to assume that only children identified as academically gifted go on to succeed as adults, but the truth is very different. Some of the most high-profile, successful people barely thrived in traditional school settings. Sir Alan Sugar left school at 16 with no qualifications, Richard Branson struggled with dyslexia and dropped out of school at 16, and Deborah Meaden didn’t complete her A Levels — yet all went on to build extraordinary careers (and extraordinary fortunes!).

Being labelled “gifted” at school might open some doors, but it is by no means a guarantee of future success. In fact, children who aren’t given the label often thrive in ways that strict academic measures can’t capture.

Dona Matthews, PhD, a developmental psychologist who was the founding director of the Hunter College Center for Gifted Studies and Education in New York, says that “the gifted label is a mixed blessing, and not required for real-world success of any kind.” Plus, some studies of gifted children have revealed that only a small percentage of them go on to fulfil their early potential.

We don’t know if the gifted and talented label is what leads to success

Children who are labelled gifted and/or talented are more likely to go on to university, research shows, and 65% more likely to attend selective universities. But this isn’t necessarily because of their G&T status.

“The biggest potential benefit of the gifted label is a chance to get an education that better matches a child’s ability,” Dona says.

These children, then, may have been more likely to go to university anyway, whether they had been labelled G&T or not.

“We can’t know whether that has anything to do with the gifted label, because they start out more advantaged than others. There aren’t good longitudinal studies comparing kids of similar ability who are and are not labelled as gifted,” Dona says.

The label just means that they get access to more appropriate educational levels at the time.

You can have a super high IQ, but if you've got no grit, no persistence, no drive, no support, and no opportunities, then you're not going to be successful

Natalie Jensen, Potential Plus UK

“There can be significant benefits in the short and long term when the labelling is an intelligent reflection of a child’s need for advanced or accelerated curriculum in one or more subject areas, and appropriate modifications are made to the child’s learning,” Dona says. “Kids who experience a better learning match are less likely to be bored and frustrated at school, and more likely to stay motivated in learning.”

But this doesn’t mean that children who don’t get the label can’t succeed to the same levels, and in fact, in having to fight their way to top universities or to the best apprenticeships, they often develop significant "soft skills" that set them up for success in their future career. These skills can include resilience, motivation, and communication, and 2024 research by The Sutton Trust revealed that 96% of teachers believe life skills are just as or more important than academic success for long-term achievement.

"A lot of gifted children underachieve," says Natalie Jensen, from Potential Plus UK, a charity that supports children with high learning potential. "They don't meet their potential. They don't show up as able in the classroom. It's important for people to understand that being labelled gifted isn't all rosy. You can have a super high IQ, but if you've got no grit, no persistence, no drive, no support, and no opportunities, then you're not going to be successful."

There can be drawbacks to being labelled "gifted" so young

One of the most common misconceptions — and lines of argument against G&T programmes — is that children labelled gifted are more likely to have mental health problems. This isn’t true, Dona says, as “Children labelled as gifted are neither more nor less likely than others to be diagnosed with mental health problems.”

However, there can be other downsides to being labelled G&T for some children in the way they learn to approach education and success.

“One valid concern is the danger of overly high expectations,” Dona says. “When parents, teachers, or kids overfocus on academic goals at the expense of a child’s all-round development, it can sabotage their achievement over the long term. Pressure to succeed academically can lead to perfectionism and cripple a child’s innate motivation to learn.”

Or, she says, the label can sometimes lead to children ceasing to put the same amount of effort into their schoolwork if they interpret the label as meaning that they have a gift and no longer need to work hard.

“Another valid concern about labelling a child as gifted is that they’ll begin to fear failure, and start avoiding challenges,” Dona says.

This could fuel the propensity towards perfectionism that has fuelled the memes about ‘former gifted children’ that have bounced around social media in the last few years, which poke ironic fun at the negative consequences of being labelled gifted in childhood.

“Early labelling can contribute to performance anxiety, fear of failure, or a fixed mindset,” agrees Dr Maguerita Magennis Psychologist, Educational Consultant, Counsellor and tutor on FindTutors. “Children may internalise expectations linked to the label."

Focused schoolgirl assembling straws during art class in classroom

G&T programmes are often not all they’re cracked up to be

“When a G/T programme provides a good match to a child’s abilities and interests, it can be a great experience for the child,” Dona says. But “that is rarely the case, both because children are highly individual in their strengths, challenges, and learning needs, and because so few programmes are designed to provide that kind of a match.”

And different schools administer their G&T programmes differently, so the programme offered in your child’s school might not actually be beneficial to them specifically.

Many G&T programmes are also attended by mostly white students, with smaller proportions of students of colour than in the general population, suggesting that the label is affected by social advantage and not purely based on natural ability.

Plus, reports have found that black G&T students don’t reap the same increases in academic performance as their white peers, suggesting there are plenty of other factors at play in whether ‘gifted’ children actually benefit from the programmes.

Famous and successful people who weren't academic high achievers as kids A grades aren't everything. These celebrities and business moguls weren't top of their class but wnet on the achieve great things...

Children who aren’t academic or gifted often go on to do great things

Dona has good news for children who don’t get the G&T label or thrive in a traditional academic setting: “Most of the adults who achieve high levels of success were never labelled gifted or talented as children. This is true across all fields,” she says.

One 2011 study of US students found that those in the gifted programme didn’t outperform their peers who were just below the cutoff for ‘giftedness’ by the age of 13, which suggests it’s more about the children’s ability than the level of education they are exposed to.

And in fields like music and sports, a 2025 study found that most of the Nobel laureates and world-class musicians, athletes, and chess players that it looked at had lower performance than their peers in their youth, and that only a tenth of children who were the top performers in their field in their youth go on to excel as adults.

At the end of the day, then, it isn’t the gifted and talented label that matters, it’s the individual child.

“Each child and each circumstance is unique. Giftedness isn’t the same across individuals. It varies by domain of talent and across time for each person, and each child has their own complex configuration of strengths, challenges, and changing learning needs. Similarly, every situation is particular, including available schooling options, family circumstances, and the wider community context,” Dona says.

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“For some children, a gifted label helps them get an education that matches their ability and helps motivate them to achieve. For others, it leads to too much pressure from parents, teachers, or themselves, undermining their eventual achievement and fulfilment.”

Authors

Serafina Kenny journalist headshot

Serafina KennyDigital Journalist

Serafina Kenny is a Digital Journalist at MadeForMums. She writes news and features and has expertise in health, nutrition, relationships, and history. She has previously written for Business Insider, Women's Health, Stylist, Men's Health US, The i Paper, Dazed, and more. You can contact her with tips and story ideas (or compliments!) at serafina.kenny@immediate.co.uk.

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