The Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) was used to assess self actualization in 266 gifted junior and senior high school students and a control group from urban and rural junior and senior high schools. Greater self actualization was noted for the gifted sample, whose POI scores most closely resembled those of college juniors and seniors. No evidence was found to support the view that gifted students feel less confident in interpersonal interactions than nongifted Ss. Results further showed that following participation in the Governor's School of South Carolina, a select summer academic program, significant but not substantial increases occurred on the majority of POI scales. (CL)