johnnymysto

I've been considering the whole MENSA thing. I went online, took their little online test, and so now I'm thinking about taking the next step. For the at-home practice test, it's $18.00. Then, there's another charge to take the real-deal test. Here's my quandary: I did pretty good at the online test. But, was that rigged just to get me to spend $18.00 and find out I really have no chance? Or, should I quit being such a penny-pincher and try the practice test?

Does anyone have any advice? Any members out there who wish to comment?

MacGnG

i took the qualifying test a while ago, it was really hard, i missed qualifying by 9 percentile or so but it was still something to to look into.

remiel

I'm not sure I'd ever want to be a member of MENSA. I've been told I'm smart, and I usually do well in IQ tests, but I think a club for smart people is just a bit of a snobby idea

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angela146

Skip the practice and go directly to the Mensa admissions test. The practice test means nothing.

Or

Maybe you already qualify via prior testing: http://www.us.mensa.org/join_mensa/priorevidence.php3

Cynthetiq

if you were a member you'd be in the same club that Asia Carrera is in.

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remiel

{sleazy}OK, changed my mind, now I want to join{/sleazy}

seriously (on a slight tangent) she's actually one of the few pornstars I'd want to have a face to face conversation with, as she seems smart and funny.

Her and Ron Jeremy

cetacean

What are the benefits of joining? Other than telling everyone that you have.

uncle phil

you still have to make it in life...

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angela146

(for single folks) Mensa has over 100,000 members, 50,000 of them in the US. Many of them are single. That means thousands and thousands of women and men you can meet and flirt with without having to censor your vocabulary.

lurkette

I got in based on my GRE scores, so I didn't have to pay to take the test.

I was in it for like 2 years but I was never really an active member. I met some nice enough people but to be perfectly honest, they were a little boring. It could just be the people in our chapter. Some of the other chapters look like they have interesting committees and topic groups. But really, this one was mostly people who are really smart but with no social skills, like the nerdy guy in college who was even smarter than you but who was a little bitter and contemptuous and completely socially inept except when he was going on and on about his newest idea for a role playing game based on the battle of Waterloo.

And really, who are you going to brag to? Any of my friends who would care already know I'm smart, and it's not the kind of thing I would really say to most other folks just to toot my own horn.

Save your dues. Or join for just one year so you can have the membership card and whip it out to impress people.

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clavus

Anyone smart enough to get into MENSA is also bright enough to avoid paying for it. Seriously, the whole thing is funded by less-than-brilliant people paying money to try to get in. If you pay for the test you are immediately disqualified.

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rogue49

eh
I was offered a membership years ago.
I didn't feel it was necessary to join.
I know I'm smart, that's enough.

IQ isn't everything
as a matter of fact, I respect Wisdom & Creativity much more.

souzafone

I don't get it.

johnnymysto

Lurkette, thank you for the practical help. I love the idea of just getting the card, and then quitting! I think I'll just make a fake one, then I don't have to pay a dime!

Well, I thought it would something cool to get into, but I did have the fear that it would be a bunch of smart wallflowers. Aw, who am I kidding - I just want to meet Geena Davis!!!

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Peetster

Exactly. I turned them down as well. I'd much rather be affiliated with real people like you.

bender

I passed the test, and I know that I'm not that smart.
Its all rigged to get your cash.

iceman2032

I did the test and passed. It's really only for yourself. I haven't had anyone look at my resume and give me a job because of it

remiel

personally, I think anyone who needs a certificate or a card to tell them they're smart is lacking in other areas. I'm certainly not dumb, I have a master's degree and I've written three plays, but I get my satisfaction from other areas of my life than just my brains.

__________________
"Then said Joseph to St. Mary, henceforth we will not allow him to go out of the house; for every one who displeases him is killed."

Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ, 20:16

Melwas

why do you think most of them are single?

*laughs*

I'm happy with my pod missing a few peas here and there thank you!

MSD

Any organization that has two pages of rules governing the proper use of their logo is not worth joining. Especially if they violate three of teose rules on their website.

nostalgic1

yeah, mensa never seemed very appealing to me either. it just seems way to snobby.

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ace81385

Mensa looks a bit boring so id never join it even if i were qualified

vermin

Adding it to my resume was the only reason I considered joining.

Another bubble burst.

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Stiltzkin

I only have one thing to say...

"Mensa" in Spanish is the literal feminine form of "stupid"

And I'm not joking. Click here, select "Spanish to English", and type in "mensa". I doubt if it is a mere coincidence

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nukeu666

real old topic...thought it was better o post in this rather than make a new one
i got through themensa exam quite easily
the enterance test was just selecting what came next in a series of figures...about 100 of those in 25 minutes divided into sections of 2-4 minutes each
my main motivation of joining mensa was to add it to my resume and to make sure there were a group of people to whom i was connected to in a leet sort of way no matter where i went on earth
i heard that even Trump was impressed with one of the contenders of 'the apprentice' when he learnt that he was in Mensa
The activies of the Mensa group here are quite boring for me tho....stuff like discussing politiks and bird watching

So are there ay new mensa members here in the 2.5 years this topic was forgotten?

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Willravel

It's not just in your chapter. When I joined a year or so back it was the same way for me. I find that while intelligent people seemingly have a broad range of interests, when you really get down to it, they have many varied, yet specific interests. For example, someone could be interetsed in botany and sports, but when you talk to them, it turns out they really only study paleobotany focusing on the late Triasic, and skeleton racing (a face first ice luge). I can be hard to find common ground beyond being picked on in school.

If you want to meet a wide variety of smart people, you're already on TFP.

Martian

Taken from the MENSA website. If their prospective members are only the best and brightest, shouldn't they be able to figure that out without prompting?

I'm pretty sure I qualify, although I'm not 100% on that. I never looked into it; the whole thing just seems way too pretentious for my liking.

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stevie667

At one point i wanted to take the mensa test, but i fear i have killed too many brain cells now to make it worth my while.

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ShaniFaye

I was a member when I was younger....back in the days before the internet lol (and because my mother thought it would be good for me to list it on a resume) I've never met a more boring group of people in my life. Maybe at the time it was just because I was young...but they didnt interest me at all.

I was reading their web page just now...is it really all that different from what some of us get out of TFP?

Last time I checked people from tfp got together for social events (like board meetings in NY, IL, CA, CO, Canda etc)

correct me if Im wrong....do we not create and maintain topics of any special interest we are into? Do we not find like minded people to discuss our interests with?


last time I checked TFP had benefits for members with "full membership"

doesnt the whole attitude of tfp to new members reflect the same feeling?

Our member numbers are pretty impressive too

In short.....donate the 18 bucks you would spend on the test to the tfp fund and have a lot more fun!!!

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Redlemon

I'd only join if I needed to date again, since I'm a dork and have trouble talking to people I don't know. I'd prequalify.

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maleficent

i'm a dork
I have trouble talking to people i don't know -
i'm entirely too stupid to ever join mensa...
I'm pretty much screwed then, eh?
(wasn't it groucho who said, that he'd never join any club that would have me as a member.. yeah - goes for me too

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Jinn

at least you're honest about it..

80% of people think they're in the 90th percentile or higher when it comes to intelligence. I have honestly no respect for someone who hasn't taken the test and still "knows" they'd pass.

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CSflim

Wow. The entire top 2% are eligible? I used to think people who got into mensa were super elite. Now I see that every 50th jerk gets to join. I'm certainly not interested in joining any more.

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Ustwo

I qualified by my ACT score (they no longer take the ACT but they did for my dates) and my GRE score. The ACT for me was long enough ago there is no perminent record, same with the GRE.

I'm to lazy to ever test again for it, but I do wish I would have done it when I had the chance. Not because I wanted to hang out at Mensa parties but because the metion of Mensa has some magical effect on stupid people who are impressed by this sort of thing.

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Willravel

Sometimes we think exactly alike, and it scares me. I joined for the same reason.

Elphaba

I joined pbk because my husband thought it prestigious (his boss flaunted his membership). Phi Beta Kappa is only a measure based upon your gpa which says absolutely nothing about real world competence. It seems very similar to the Mensa measure of IQ. It's a nice little trophy that essentially means little about the whole person.

macmanmike6100

I've never looked at the test and am not trying to attest to my intelligence, but am saying that if I had the "opportunity," I certainly wouldn't pay for it. If it were bestowed free, I might attend a meeting just to see what it's like.

But a picture like the one displayed on its homepage tells me that they're in it for the cash, trying to sell the image of "cool" to those who, typically, aren't.

In any case, it seems extremely elitist to begin with and doesn't seem like something I'd be proud of even if I were eligible. (Not that I don't think people are 'gifted' with varying levels of intelligence, just that I don't like the idea of being so publicly haughty.)

maximusveritas

I joined way back when I was in high school just to see what it was like. I don't remember having to pay a fee to take the test, but there was an annual membership fee. I didn't renew my membership after that year because I didn't fit in with most of the people in the group, mainly because most of them were much older than I was at the time.
Nevertheless, I do think my membership helped me when I mentioned it during some of my early interviews. Like Ustwo mentioned, most people associate Mensa members with being geniuses even though that's often not the case. Then again, some people do resent that kind of thing, so it depends on who you're talking to.

Crack

I would join, but it would take too much time away from smelling my own farts...

I keed, I keed!

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percy

Yeah, a former boss of mine would go on constantly about his wife being in mensa yet she couldn't find a number in directory assistance if someone told her how to do it.

Taking a test to see how smart you are is pointless to me. Joining a club to be with other smart people,...uh I dunno,..go do volunteer work or something for those apparently less fortunate.