The article reports a set of findings drawn form a larger research programme, promoted by Italy’s National Federation of Knights of Labour, aiming to supply a profile of social characteristics and the tertiary education choices of particularly gifted students, who are contacted one year after having earned their upper secondary school diplomas. More specifically, results reported here concern the incidence of meritocracy in the determination of workers’ income and in other social contexts (including the labour market), as well as among outstanding upper secondary school-leavers’ employment expectations and their representations of the “ideal job”. Findings show that numerous criteria are deemed acceptable for establishing fair pay; Italy is perceived as largely non-meritocratic place, especially as regards politics, public administration, and taxation, but also insofar as its labour market is concerned; the “ideal job” features stability (permanent, open-ended contracts), use and acquisition of skills, and gender parity.