I don’t know whether I was merely gifted or “profoundly gifted.” I know that I could have gone to college and done perfectly well at 14, but I didn’t want to do that. I was lucky in several respects. First, the area in which I was most interested – literature – offered effectively limitless opportunities for self-study that was not a whole lot less rich than studying with a teacher. The fact that my grade-level classes were something of a joke didn’t stop me from becoming very well-read, and staying with my age-group allowed me to do things that were collaterally enriching – like acting in plays, and trying to direct them – I would probably have had trouble doing in college. Secondly, my parents, my school, and my community had enough resources and enough flexibility to keep me stimulated. I took many courses out of grade level, especially in 9th and 10th grade, and I was allowed to take my grade-level math courses without ever actually attending class. I spent a year abroad. I studied four foreign languages. I skipped two years in Spanish and three (the first three) in French. I took a 300 level course at a local university before anyone had heard of dual enrollment.
We thought about sending me to boarding school, but I thought that sounded awful.
I was with @CU123 : I didn’t want to go to the local public university to get a BA at 17 or 18; I wanted to live as rich a life as I could in high school, intellectually and otherwise, and then go to Yale (or someplace similar). I was awkward enough as it was; I didn’t think girls would like me any better if they were all 4-7 years older than I.
I did great, by the way, though my mid-20s, then fell back into the pack. I wasn’t preternaturally skilled at parenthood, or doing the 50,000 things you need to do to build a great career as an adult.