Inquiry into what intellectual talent is and how social institutions can support intellectually talented youth are historic, internationally held concerns. This article provides an introduction to a special issue that deals with the implications of high IQ in early adolescence for several important midlife outcomes. From a societal perspective, it is vital to know the extent to which intellectually talented youth attain an advanced education and become engaged in qualified occupations. Studies in this issue document a diversity of midlife outcomes for a large, reasonably representative urban cohort of intellectually talented Swedish adolescents, as well as consider the importance of gender and social class for these outcomes.