Mensa
 

Is anyone on here a Mensan?

one...married to one...mother of one...(so far)

I've always wanted to take the test, but have never got around to finding out any info about it.

sageofages, any info or advice? :)

Both of the ppl i know who are in it are arrogant, money hungry scum bags, and one just added meth addict to the list of achievements.


But apparently they are GREAT test takers!


sorry, just doesn't bring up happy thoughts for me!

there is an online practice test and information on how to become a member. www.mensa.org

For the direct US link: http://www.us.mensa.org/

I was surprised to see they'll take past ACT or SAT scores for admission. Now, there's the send eighteen bucks to have them send you a test to try to become a member? I guess that's not too bad to have a go at trying to be a member.

Okay, I had to add this in from the site:
"We have more than 50,000 members in the United States and more than 100,000 members worldwide. Members of American Mensa range in age from 4 to 100 and come from all segments of society."

Four? FOUR?? Who is testing their kid at age four?! :eek:

I think it's kind of a stupid idea, to be honest. The only people I can see joining are ones intent on proving to others how smart they are. There have got to be better ways to find intelligent company than to join a society for that purpose.

I found out my IQ once I was out of school (my parents knew earlier, due to the scholarships I was offered), so I know that I'm eligible. Other than meeting some new intelligent people, I just don't see the need.

kddani, try it out, and if it seems like fun, I'll check it out!

My first test was at 5.

My father is an active MENSA member, and I am a very inactive member.

Its impolite to tell people you are in mensa . . .

Luckily I am quite slow and score sub-average so don't have to worry about stuff like that.

However, the Prometheus society looks kind of cool if you want to validate your IQ.

You should give it a try, Dani. If I can get in, you certainly can!

It's not that I go to meetings to meet other "smart people", per se. It's just that many of the other Mensans I've met share my rather quirky sense of humor and they're fun to talk to.

my high school psych teacher gave us one, i think. or at least he said it was a practice one or something like that.

me and another dude passed it.

didn't seem too hard.

i looked at a book, and it said that people with IQs of 120 plus should join. can't be that hard to get in.

and before anyone gets all huffy at my sources, i found the book at barnes and noble, lol.

If you got a 163 or above on your LSAT, you can join automatically.

Most kids are tested when they start school - we learned about it my "exceptional learners" class this summer. I'd be willing to bet that the kids who get tested at age 4 are probably the same kids whose parents start them in educational programs to learn to read by the age of 2 and think they're behind if the kid can't read him/herself the newspaper by about age 3...

i got my IQ tested at a young age.

Not to dispute your sources, but are you sure about the 120+ thing? I'm not sure it's that cut and dried. The sole qualification for membership is a score in the top two percent of the general population on a standardized intelligence test (includes LSAT, SAT, ect.) and 120 seems pretty low for that.

Where've you been lately? I haven't seen you around in awhile.

hell, i don't know if that source is ok. i got the book in the psych section if that helps, lol. 120 does sound low, but i guess that's what it said. i was surprised, because 120 isn't exactly genius. hell, it's barely above average. gifted is like 135 and above, i think.

i've been around, i just haven't been in the chit chat section too often.

My boss at my job in college was a very active member locally and nationally and this is exactly what she loved about Mensa. She was also one of the most fun and intelligent people for whom I've ever worked.

Mr.RN belongs to MENSA( which I was really surprised at when I found out-not that I don't think he's smart, but I didn't know he was that smart!), but he's not very active in it. I think he took the test just to put it on his resume.

My calc teacher in high school is a member. He really enjoyed it, and used to go to meetings whenever his schedule allowed.

I'm just a hair below on that one. Too bad they don't take SATs that were taken after 1991. But looking at the test scores and IQ scores, if i got around to taking the test it doesn't look like it would be a problem. I wish i had copies of my IQ tests from when I was tested for gifted when I was a kid.

I was pretty sure Mensa was supposed to be around 130 IQ and above, not 120??? Who knows.

KR, i'll let you know if i take the test

I did as well - it was either in kindegarten or the first grade. My parents wouldn't tell me my results, but I ended up in the gifted program for the city, so I guess I did ok. Whether I'm Mensa material or not, who knows.

Some days of the week, though, it seems like my brain just doesn't function.

IQ tests don't all utilize the same scale -- a 130 on the WAIS is not the same as a 130 on the Stanford-Binet, for example. The cut-off score would depend on the test.

I was tested in my younger years, according to that test, I'm qualified.

-- but maybe I got dumber?

I've seen Mensa and other organizations online - here's a list.
http://www.eskimo.com/~miyaguch/history.html
What's the point of joining them, though? If it's just sitting around feeling superior to others, then I really don't want to be a part of it. Intelligence also seems quite complex, and standardized tests would capture a few facets, but not the entire picture. For example, the general GRE went well for me, but there are a number of other areas where I'm quite weak. How do you measure the big picture?

130 now or when you were a kid?

i heard folks iqs went down with age.

I could see joining it for the same reasons as joining any other organization. There's networking, the possibility of meeting new people, things like that.

I don't think anyone thinks Mensa is a be all/end all. It's just like anything else, a certain measure of a person's intelligence.

So am I...but I don't think it would be hard to pass. I don't get why they don't take ACT scores either.

I don't understand it.

I have yet to see an intelligent member actually in Mensa.

-Rudey
--I will stick to mingling with my own elitist groups not Gina Davis'.

I could handle it, if they truly did have a quirky sense of humor. I've never taken the LSAT, but according to the others scores being thrown around, I'm okay.

And I thought everyone was tested early? I was 4, the first time I was tested.


KR - love the signature!! I'm picturing your tiara right now!

Browsing through a list of the IQ societies....

"Poetic Genius Society" - barf
"International Society for Philosophical Enquiry" - pompous, though not as bad as the "Poetic Genius" one
"IQuadrivium Society" - pulled up their new website and noticed that it had been hacked ("This Site Hacked By forhacker..."). Not auspicious.

Nope -- in fact, most IQ tests are not particularly accurate before age 16. They can show trends towards "giftedness" or lackthereof, but in terms of an exact number? Usually not very accurate.

That's why I joined a sorority ;)

My older brother is. For him, I think it is mostly a pride and honor thing.

rabblerouser!
 

I disagree. It is impolite to <i>brag</i> about being in Mensa, but you can talk about it just like any other closed organization (ie, NPC / NIC / NPHC group). The OP just wanted to know who else on here is in Mensa, just as I'm sure you would want to know who else on here is in your fraternity.

Read the questions carefully....it is really pretty easy.

Please note the word "first" in my post. There was question about how early some people were first tested; I answered how old I was when first tested.

Trust me, to have had the scholarships offered to me which were, I was tested several times since. I graduated from high school when I was 16 (actually, a few months beforehand).

Now, was that too hard to understand, or do you just like to search for my posts and try to make fun of them? It has to be more than a little boring to the other people of GC, also.

Actually, most children who are tested in public schools are tested in order to place them in gifted classes. I was tested at age 4 in order to place me in gifted classes when I started school the next year. I had been reading for some time (without classes, thank you) ;)

The majority of children tested at an early age are tested for the exact opposite reason. It's not because the parents are highly into their child's educational advancement. It's usually because some head-start, etc. program has identified them as a potentially advanced/gifted student. In order to make sure they are given the fullest opportunity for learning experiences, they are tested for placement.

Touchy tonight, aren't we?

Nowhere did I say that you didn't deserve any of the scholarships you were given or that your IQ wasn't high. I'm just correcting the wide-spread assumption (that, while you may not believe in it yourself, was perpetuated by your post) that early IQ tests are accurate. They're not. This is why a number of schools have moved away from the IQ test as a method of measuring "giftedness" in recent years.

Not at all touchy. Just wanted to let you know that many people have noticed your Achilles' heel.