Mensa - organization for intelligent people

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I heard about this organization awhile ago and the IQ thread reminded me of it. Mensa is for people whose IQ is in the top 2% of the population. That's the one and only requirement for membership. They offer about 200 Special Interest Groups and provide social interaction with other intelligent people as well as other benefits. They have 100,000 members in over 40 countries. I think some aspies here may be interested. I wouldn't be surprised if an aspie created Mensa and I think there are probably lots of aspies who are members.

Mensa information - http://www.mensa.org

I'm not a member. If anyone here is a member, I'm interested in what you think of it.

There are two requirements: the aforementioned one, and 2 - you have to be a egotistical jerk. My opinion, but it stands.

I heard that another requirement for membership is to pay them a huge sum of money every year.... not sure how much it is though...

By the way, I'm hopefully not a jerk, but I have met people from Mensa...you don't want to meet them.

AW, I met one person in mensa that seemed nice. Unfortunately, she DID agree with Dhp, and is probably not a member any more. I don't think the dues are that high, but why pay if you can't see a benefit.

If the only benefit is a head trip, that would explain why the members may tend towards snootery.

Actually, Zendell is on the right track - a lot of people join who spent their school years hearing how 'ret*d' they were, when in fact they were being bullied because they were so different. (Yes. Many Aspies.)

Acceptance in Mensa is often the first 'proof' they have ever had that they aren't so stupid after all.

But, as others of you have noted, many Mensa members are simply egomaniacal jerks

Last edited by CityAsylum on 26 Mar 2008, 10:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yo would THINK that they would appreciate smart people, and try to enjoy learning and being challenged. From what I have seen/heard, that is generally NOT the case. It was a nice CONCEPT though, just like TRUE communism is. They both meet the SAME fate for the SAME reason. 8-(

Meh, I probably don't qualify - I'm just below the borderline.
I considered joining once and seeing if I could get along with those but I kept getting the feeling that even if I did luck out on the test and make it in I wouldn't be comfortable there.

I've heard what they say too; though I don't want to jump to conclusions - whenever someone mentions Mensa someone has to mention the elitism thing. . . there must be something going on.

I'm not sure what to think of supposedly very high IQ people who are very unpleasant - like for example some guy at another forum who implied he was in Mensa; his entire demeanour, avatar and sig was a huge trolling bait of wanton condescending remarks right and left.
Once, looking for info on "giftedness", I ran into this tiny forum called "Gifted Geniuses" - with Mensa-like imagery on the banner and galaxies and whatnot - and like, every thread was like a copy and paste from Wikipedia on String Theory or some such with two or 3 replies; 10 active posters at most. Not only it was insipid; the site owner had his posts full of words like "pathetic", "laughable", "sad", "idiots", etc. . .

Then again, one reason I hate my job is that it implies an environment where people get away with being stupid and mediocre through social networking; yesterday I was in this meeting with IT people - myself trying to clarify something about an application they were basically selling us - and I almost lost it trying to get them (my boss included) to grasp the issue I wanted to point out (I don't think anyone understood - not even after 3 times).
I guess it's an annoying range to be - not really belonging to anything.

Last edited by Whisperer on 26 Mar 2008, 11:43 pm, edited 3 times in total.

well, you don't HAVE to be, but in the 20 some years I have been a member, it certainly helps!

Merle

What are the mensa requirements, regarding IQ, I do have an IQ of 137, but it hasn't helped my in any way, other then useless trivia, I have no degrees to show for it, and I am glad I don't, there are to many people with a useless piece of paper working retail.

Mensa is an idiotic organization. If they were smart, they would know that an IQ score doesn't have any real meaning.

Different IQ tests have different scores, so it is the percentile for that particular test you took that counts to Mensa.

The requirement is that members be in the 98th percentile, or better. Intertel and the Top One Percent Society require that you score in the 99th percentile.

I cannot even imagine what good it would do to mention such a membership to anyone; it's not as if you could put a thing like that on your résumé, or mention it with a straight face during a job interview - it really ticks people off.

well, it's sorta like hanging out with other Aspies. . I can barely stand to hang with other Aspies. .. and I can barely stand to hang with other Mensa folks. But they are people like you and you get to be around people that are smarter than you, too and frankly how often does THAT happen, I mean that is refreshing right there. I get to feel sorta 'normal' for a while, If being around others like you makes you feel 'normal'. You also get to not feel like such a dork just because you are smart, and all their lives they have been sorta like Aspies are. . a fish on a bicycle.

Merle

Something about a hammer and a nail springs to mind.

Well said.

So true, I actually knew a few when I was in retail. So many young people paying off student loans doing the exact same thing I was and makng the exact same amount. I always laugh at those commercials "You can design video games for a living if you get a degree from us!!" It's almost as bad as those army commercials that show kids playing with robots and doing impressive things on the computer, jumping out of helicpters and stuff. I'm sure it's just like that.