Austin Scholar #163: GT School: where seven year olds are mastering sixth grade math
& advice from a Stanford freshman
Hey, y'all!
This week from Austin Scholar...
Austin’s Anecdote: Advice from a Stanford freshman
GT School: where seven year olds are mastering sixth grade math
Scholar’s Sources: What I’ve been thinking about…
This past weekend was Admit Weekend at Stanford, when all of the prospective freshmen (ProFros) come to Stanford to see if this is the right place for them. I loved hosting a ProFro in my room for the weekend because it really allowed me to reflect and look back on how much I’ve grown and changed in just one year.
Not only have I learned so much in academics (three impossible math classes at Stanford makes it easy to feel like you’ve learned more than you ever have in your life), but have also grown in so many other areas. For example, I’ve started learning about investing and am planning on starting to invest my own money over the summer. I’ve also tripled my newsletter subscribers since I came to Stanford, which genuinely makes me so proud. And finally, I’ve made so many friends and met so many incredible people that I feel lucky to know. My classmates inspire me every day and I’m proud to stand beside them as we welcome the incoming class of 2029.
Thank y’all for coming with me on this journey and I hope that you’ve been able to learn from both my growth and my mistakes. Knowing how much my first year at Stanford has held makes me even more excited to meet the incoming class about to start this journey.
Austin’s Anecdote: Advice from a Stanford freshman
This week, I talked to my dorm neighbor Alena Zhang about her experience with college applications. I asked her about how she got into Stanford along with how she landed an internship at Goldman Sachs.
Austin Scholar: What do you think made you stand out to admissions officers? What’s one thing you’d tell parents to help their kid do the same?
Alena Zhang: Something that I emphasized in my college essays was my unique worldview and other life values; I think that generally, you should be telling a story about your life in your application. Your essays are where you can showcase the values you hold, and not just rehash all the extracurriculars and the purely academic side. That is some advice I would give to students applying now—make sure your essays reflect your values as a person, and help the admissions officer connect the dots as to how these values influence your extracurriculars or academics.
Austin Scholar: What is something parents should do to help their kid that they might not think of?
Alena Zhang: I think parents should give as much freedom to their children to explore their unique academic passions. I think it’s really common for parents to think there are certain pathways that “guarantee” admission or up your chances, but that is not the case. Allowing your kid as much room to discover their true passions will allow them to craft a truly authentic application rather than another cookie cutter one.
This is something I’ve talked about in a ton of other newsletters (like this one), so subscribe to my newsletter to learn more.
GT School: where seven year olds are mastering sixth grade math
Does your child ever tell you about how bored they are in class, finishing their work long before everyone else? Are they insatiably curious, constantly asking “why” and diving deep into topics most kids their age wouldn’t even think to explore?
If that sounds like your kid, GT School might just be what you’ve been looking for. Built on 2 Hour Learning (the same engine as Alpha), GT School completely reimagines education for gifted kids: it compresses their traditional academics into just 2 hours each morning. This is possible through online, adaptive, AI-powered apps that allow students to learn at their own pace. And because of the personalization, students are able to progress through the content at an incredible speed. This leaves the afternoons free for workshops on things like chess, debate, or piano – life skills specifically chosen to challenge and inspire gifted minds.
The school’s culture is built around celebrating academic achievement–every student recognizes and supports their fellow classmates for their successes. The students say things like, “I heard you crushed fourth-grade math today! Are you starting fifth tomorrow?”
It’s a place where kids who love learning are surrounded by others who feel the same way. With a rigorous admissions process and a curriculum designed to match their pace, GT School gives gifted students the structure they need to excel academically while staying socially and emotionally connected to peers their age.
In today’s educational landscape, where gifted programs are disappearing and traditional classrooms often can’t keep up with gifted learners, it’s rare to find a place like GT School.
As I’ve talked about before, the outdated “teacher in front of the classroom” model leaves many high-achieving kids stuck in neutral, frustrated by repetition and lack of challenge.
At GT School, it’s the opposite – students learn five times faster than they would at a traditional school, master advanced material, and hit incredible milestones, like scoring a 1500 on the SAT by middle school or becoming national debate finalists. GT School is all about having a structure that can support their speed of acceleration while allowing them to remain with classmates and in a community that matches their maturity and development.
Now, you might be wondering: what makes GT School different from other 2 Hour Learning programs (like Alpha School)?
Why GT School
Gifted students are naturally driven to explore academic challenges for their own sake. They thrive on abstract thought, problem-solving, and pattern recognition.
Traditional classrooms often stifle this drive with busywork or external rewards, but GT School allows students to follow their curiosity. Gifted learners are encouraged to pursue advanced topics – whether it's philosophy, coding, or higher mathematics – not because they are required to, but because they genuinely enjoy the intellectual journey.
This is different from other 2 Hour Learning programs because the Guides (adults in the classroom) don’t have to spend as much time motivating students academically – the students are already hungry for the material.
The academic standards at GT School are also higher: students are expected to perform five grade levels above their age grade. For example, if a student is in first grade, they would be expected to be performing at a sixth grade level and working on sixth grade material. This is how the students currently enrolled in GT School are performing.
Learning science techniques are also critical to helping GT students learn effectively. Here are a two of the common ones used at GT School:
1. Retrieval Practice
Retrieval practice involves actively recalling information from memory rather than simply reviewing it. This technique strengthens neural connections and creates durable learning. Retrieval practice enhances metacognition, helping gifted students identify and address gaps in their understanding.
The online apps used at GT School use retrieval practice to help students not only learn faster, but retain what they’re learning.
2. Interleaved Practice
Interleaving involves mixing different types of problems or topics within a single session, forcing students to differentiate between concepts and apply appropriate strategies. This approach prevents boredom and enhances critical thinking by introducing variability. It also helps students tackle nuanced topics, such as advanced math strategies or interdisciplinary connections.
At GT School, students can alternate between problem types (e.g., fractions, decimals, and geometry problems) within a single session. And, because of the 2-Hour Learning style, are able to switch between subjects frequently every single morning. While initially frustrating, this "desirable difficulty" allows for cognitive flexibility and deeper understanding.
Does this sound like a fit for your kid?
If you’re interested in GT School and live near Georgetown, TX (a suburb of Austin), visit the GT School website to learn more and apply (or send this article to a parent you know with gifted kids!). And if you want to learn more about GT School, follow Matt Bateman and Pamela Hobart, who both post about GT School and raising gifted children on X.
Scholar’s Sources: What I’ve been thinking about…
I have been obsessed with the newsletter The Learning Dispatch. The Learning Dispatch is all about my favorite topic: learning science.
One of my favorite articles was about Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). It highlights how balancing cognitive, motivational, and emotional factors can make learning easier and more effective.
Simple learning science strategies like teaching students to annotate or mentally connect ideas (as I talked about in this newsletter) can help them handle tricky materials, while something like interleaving works best to help students spot similarities across different problems. Worked examples are great for students eager to learn, but they need to be paired with strategies that show students how to apply their new knowledge to different situations.
For parents, the key is supporting kids by teaching them to break big tasks into smaller steps, encouraging regular practice with feedback, and helping them manage stress and stay motivated – especially when things feel challenging.
And honestly, most of this comes down to mastery. If your student has to spend extra time figuring out what 9x6 is, they’re adding to the cognitive load of each problem. This doesn’t end with just multiplication tables. For example, in my experience in multivariable integration, if I have to try to remember what the integral of 1/x is instead of automatically knowing that it is ln|x|, the problem will seem a lot harder.
Think of it this way: if your kid is able to hold seven items in their mind while solving a problem, and they have to use up one of those items with a multiplication table or basic formula, they’re going to start struggling a lot more quickly. However, if they don’t have to take up mental space for figuring out what 121/11 is, they won’t have to use up one of those seven items and will be able to understand and complete problems more easily.
The more mastery that your kid has over basic concepts, the more advanced math they will be able to do.
I talk a lot about having a mastery mindset in many of my newsletters, but here are the first three that I wrote introducing the concept of mastery:
Austin Scholar #31: Benjamin Bloom and the Two-Sigma Problem
Austin Scholar #33: The Truth About Mastery
Austin Scholar #37: What Your Kid Needs To Know To Crush the PSAT
Thanks for reading. Go crush the week! See y'all on Sunday.