Mensa

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Is anyone here a member of Mensa? If so, is it worth it? I have taken a Mensa sample test online and did very well on it. I'm thinking of taking a real membership entrance test but I wonder if joining Mensa will really be helpful. Will it make me feel better and perhaps get me involved in worthwhile projects, or will it just be another reminder of my wasted potential?

Hello fellow Pannsylvanian. I have thought about Mensa myself but, I heard, or read,(can't remember)that your minimum IQ score must be 140 or above. My IQ is approx. 135-140 so, if I did get accepted, it would be just barely. I didn't like the idea that I would be at the bottom of the barrel, so to speak, if I became a member. That turned me off, so, I didn't pursue Mensa any further.

I scored 192 before they put in a ceiling, thought about joining Mensa for a while, but my uncle is a member, and he and his friends are mostly pompous jerks. I realize not all Mensa members are like that, it's just I think my experience with them kind of tainted my view.

^Wow, 192 is extraordinary! Even Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, or Bill Gates can't compete with that.

That depends alot on which iq test she took and when, actually

That's what I suspected, especially after I read that the world smartest woman has an IQ of 186, and the 3 people I mentioned above have IQ's aroung 160.

I have heard of mensa, what do you get out of a membership anyway?

That's a good question. I was hoping to hear from a current Mensa member to answer that.

Thanks to those who did respond. It does seem from what you've said so far Mensa membership is not of much value.

I was asked a few years ago by a Mensa member to look into applying. When I asked what happens if I did pass the test, I was told the benefits basically mean getting together with others and having "discussions." She added further that the crowd is much more friendly and interactive than with other people. She said I would fit in with "my own kind."

I kinda didn't like the sound of that... as if I needed to be labeled or something.

In the end I didn't pursue it because I really didn't see any benefit to it all and I like the few friends that I have. They may not be analytical like myself, but some of them have "higher" levels of intelligence than me when it comes to music, electronics, humor, and many other things. I learn from them and they accept me for who I am -and that is huge to me.

Lastly, who says the people who make of "intelligence" test are intelligent enough to determine how intelligent someone is that may be more intelligent than themselves???

I looked up mensa on google and got this

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Sounds interesting, but I'd like to get an objective evaluation from someone with first-hand experience. Still, I guess if the test isn't too expensive or time-consuming, it wouldn't hurt to try it.

One thing you have to be careful about is that there are alot of people online who pretend that they got into mensa but stopped going to meetings because everyone was stuck up.

While there are no doubt some people who this applies to, it seems a lot of people use this is an excuse so they don't have admit they couldn't qualify for membership.

I recommend getting proof of membership from those you want an opinion from. Otherwise you'll likely end up with a lot of hate stories about people who just aren't willing to admit they didn't meet criteria

I am a member of Mensa. What you get with membership is a card saying you're in mensa, a subscription to the Mensa magazine, and the ability to act stuck up and snooty to all normal people. I have gone to a number of the meetings in hopes of finding some people I can relate to, but I have found very few, they are for the most part NTs who, if a little odd, are no easier for the average aspie to relate to than most other people. I have given up on going lately, though I did go to the annual gathering, which was ok, but not really all that fun.

Yeah. The IQ test is stupid. I don't trust what it said about me. And if you take it don't trust what it says about you either.

It completely depends on cultural context and which test you are taking.

For example, there is this obnoxious kid from Massachusettes who got his own little TV special, his parents say he has an IQ above 200. I watched it and just thought the whole time, this is bullsh*t.

We had to take something similar in on my classes - just a 1 page thing to show what the iq was like and how easily it discriminated on the basis of life experiences.

I got one the questions wrong that we were guaranteed to get right because of where the university was - the reason was that it was about an issue not familiar in the area where I was from originally.

Its sort of like asking a kid from my hometown about a gumband and then taking points away from his IQ because he says its made out of chewing gum. When if you asked the same kid what a rubberband is made from, he could give you an indepth analysis of every step involved in making it

I think it was in the parents thread last week where there was a discussion about the different types of intelligent tests and it was something like aspies who took one test scored borderline ret*d but when they were given the other tests they scored in the gifted range