Does anyone have experience with Mensa?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I love living in the small town I’m in, but I do get to feeling isolated now and then. I recently took the MAT exam, which got me thinking about Mensa as a way of meeting some interesting people. (The MAT counts as a qualifying exam.) There is only one Mensan in my town, but there are is an active chapter in Colorado Springs, which is only a couple of hours away. But it costs $40 just to have them look at my test score and tell me I’m smart enough to hang out with them, and then $52 membership dues every year. That’s a lot of money to get to meet a handful of people I might not even like (at least enough to want to drive 150 miles to visit).

So who here is a member of Mensa? What is it like? Is it worth it? Do you get anything out of it besides getting to hang out with other people of less than average dumbth?

2

I was a member of it in college but, quite frankly, the kind of stuff people who think they’re smart like to talk about often bores me silly. I am just into the ordinary stuff that non-geniuses like to talk about–movies, books, music, the occasional great philosophical discussion on life the universe & everything after a couple of glasses of wine. So I prefer to spend my money on memberships to the museum, the botanic gardens, symphony tickets, the gym, & my writer’s group.

Anyway really smart people would not be living in Colo. Spgs. (Okay, I guess if they were associated with CC, then maybe they’d have a reason to live there.)

3

My sister is a member, and what she get’s is a lot of “Densa” jokes from her sisters. :stuck_out_tongue: She usually goes to a couple of events/meetings a year – Xmas party, picnics, etc. I’ve never heard her rave about the people she’s met. (I heard more about the people in her contra dance group.)

I don’t suppose you could contact the Colo. Springs chapter, tell them you’re considering membership and ask to come to a meeting to check it out?

4

I was a member for a short while; there were a few very nice people, quite a few pompous jerks and the rest were just incredibly boring, socially inept misfits. I’m sure there are some areas that are better than my experience and the general conversation level with the few decent members was good but overall it wasn’t worth it. The conclusion I finally came to was that it wasn’t so much that the members were intelligent as that most did well on tests and could parrot back facts without any thought behind them.

I say look for an organization or activity that interests you and you’ll meet a much broader range of people.

5

I used to be a member and found absolutely nothing of interest to do. The monthly schedule of “events” (locally) consisted almoste entirely of things like happy hours and pizza parties. I suppose that’s as good a way as any to meet people, but I already have friends I can do that with. I’m not really sure what I was expecting or hoping for, but something a little more stimulating, like, I don’t know…lectures or book discussions or museum trips or something.

Also, Mensa didn’t seem to have any better class of people than society at large. Both the national magazine and the local newsletter were rife with submissions and letters that were condescending, pompous, rude, nasty and snotty – and these people were behaving that way towards each other. I didn’t want to be associated with that.

The final thing that turned me off was that Mensa has clubs for such interests as Wicca, psychics, homeopathy, and a slew of other subjects that a bunch of supposed geniuses had no business believing in.

6

I’ve been a member for 20-ish years, and was chapter president in a prior locale. What follows is more a collection of factoids than a coherent essay.

It’s an odd group. You may find some fun folks or you may find it like tbdi found it. One of our local members here jokes that Mensa is a support group for people who score on the extreme fringe of a particular psychological test.

I will say as a general rule the folks are slight misfits, and comfortable with that. They are understanding that you too are probably a misfit and they are greatly relieved to have found a community where they’re not either uninterested, or unwelcome. Some folks are quite mainstream, just tolerant, while there are might also be a few real out-there’s who’re so weird they’re barely tolerated by the group.

The membership requirements are an IQ in the top 2%, so the potential field of membership nationwide is on the order of 6 million. That the actual national membership is just about 60 thousand says the group does not appeal to everyone who’s smart enough to join. Of course, 100% of America is eligible to join the NRA or WWF or SPCA or … & damn few do, so that’s not much of an indictment of Mensa.

Each local group is different. Some groups have a lot of pretty solid ordinary citizens, others are mostly a gathering of flakes & nuts. Economically, most are middle class. Most are college-educated but there are many who had the brains but never had the chance. Those folks make especially avid Mensans since their fellow truck drivers or warehousemen aren’t great conversationalists.

The national membership is about 50/50 male/female.

The average age is around 45 and under-25s are pretty rare.

US National Mensa also has a chapter expecially for the goegraphically remote. That has a more rural flavor and you may find that more interesting / relevant than the group in CSprings. They communicate via email, messageboard, etc.

Only 10-15% of the membership actively participate in the local chapter events (happy hours, dinner, picnics, game nights, etc). The rest pay their dues, get the magazine & do gosh knows what.

While the mensa website http://www.us.mensa.org talks about higher purposes, at the local level Mensa is really just a social club, a chance to get together & hoist a beer with convivial folks who share some of your quirks.

Conversation can be real mundane, or kinda abstruse, or both at once. Around a table you often get 6 people having 3 conversations simultaneously but all 6 people are in all 3 conversations. Topics are not that different from what other people that age talk about, but somehow the tone is different.

As Licentious Ectomorph says, there is definitely a crackpot fringe that uses Mensa publications as a soapbox to spout their silly ideas. Heck, there are even fools who write in to say they believe in god. They’re much more prevalent in print (or on the messageboards) than they are in real life.
Now for some advice:

Go vist the group in CSprings before you spend any money. They’d be glad to have you come to one of their events. Heck, you can attend as often as you like for months before anybody pressures you to actually join.

This is their web site http://www.plainsandpeaks.us.mensa.org/ . It has contact info for the local chapter officers, their schedule of activities, and an archive of the monthly local newletters. Read it to get a flavor of what they’re like then go try it out.

You’ll either like it (or not) and the only way to know is to give it a whirl.

7

This question comes up here at least once a year and you’ll find that quite a few Dopers will have some very positive experiences. The chapters in different cities will be different enough from each other that you really should check out your local one to see what it is like. I would be surprised if they made you pay for a year’s membership before you would be allowed to go to a meeting or two first for free.

That said, my experience mirrors those posted so far. I tested in when I was a teenager in Los Angeles in the early 80’s. Based on the event I attended and the stuff in the local newsletter, I quit after a year or two. I could be an insufferable blow hard in my youth but these guys put me to shame.

The final straw was an article in the local L.A. newsletter. People who were married to “non-Ms” sent in funny anecdotes where their spouse figured out something before they did. “Hurr Hurr Hurr. I married someone with a normal IQ but they actually outsmarted me once.”

8

Ha! My Mom has been a member for at least 35 years and has never been to an event. My step-dad and I give her shit about that all the time.

9

I’ve been a member for over 25 years. I met my best friends through Mensa, and have had some absolutely marvelous times. There are some people lacking in social graces and interpersonal skills in the organization, but then there undoubtedly some of them here on the SDMB, too.

People think that Mensans spend all their time bragging about their high IQs and discussing lofty academic issues. No one in Mensa brags about test scores. Yes, there are sometimes erudite or esoteric discussions. There are also puns, silly jokes, and discussions about the same topics everybody talks about.

There are definitely different styles in different local groups; some are more functional than others. I can almost guarantee, though, that if you call the local group leaders and tell them you are considering joining and would like to attend an event or two, they will be glad to invite you.

10

The SDMB is my Mensa. :slight_smile:

11

I have been a member of Mensa for thirty years. I got to know many of my best friends through Mensa. Were it not for Mensa, I wouldn’t be married to my wonderful husband, and my mom would never have met my stepfather.

The best way to find out whether or not Mensa is right for you is to attend a few meetings or SIGs. Visitors are welcome at almost all Mensa events. Don’t worry that you will be proselytized; Mensa isn’t Scientology.

It puzzles me that there is so much hostility and snarkiness toward Mensa on the SDMB. In my experience, Mensans are very much like Dopers. I’ve never been to any Dopefests, but from what I’ve read, they sound virtually identical to Mensa Regional Gatherings.

12

So much for being “high IQ”… I stared at that for a couple of minutes trying to figure out why they would memorialize Plain Sand Peaks.

13

Well that’s encouraging…what I really want is a good Dopefest like I had when I lived in DC and Maryland. If I were to join Mensa it would be a substitute, but unfortunately, I don’t think any Dopers live here.

I emailed the secretary for the chapter that covers my area (not actually the one in Springs though Springs is much closer than Grand Junction, were the “local” chapter s based) and asked him to pass on my email address to the one Mensan who lives in my town. If it is someone I like, maybe I could get them to join me at an event. I probably won’t drive all the way to a gathering by myself, unless I have something else to do in the area, which is pretty rare.

Thanks, but I already found that. I am smart enough to join Mensa, you know!

(Sorry, I figured if I don’t join Mensa, I’d better take care of all my snarky condescending jokes here! :D)

You may have a point there…

14

Well there you go. Hostility and snarkiness.

Actually I should apologize for dissing Colo. Spgs. I have had the two worst book signings of my career there, during which it became pretty clear that people in Colo. Spgs. do not read. One of them was a joint signing with other authors, so it wasn’t just me.

As to the Mensa thing, I am not much of a joiner and don’t go out of my way to go to monthly meetings of anything. I mainly joined the local writers group for the newsletter.

15

Just what I’m looking for! Seriously–there is no shortage of smart people here among my friends, but they all tend to be into at least slightly into new age-y woo-woo stuff. Smart, but not very critical. I’m looking for folks I can trade barbs with who won’t think I’m insensitive or closed-minded if I mention that homeopathy or spiritualism is a bunch of bullshit. Mensa is probably the wrong place to look, but it might be my best option around here.

16

Despite not being a joiner (understatement!), I was a member back in my teens. That was long ago and my experiences may not reflect current reality.

Aside from hosting Halloween parties with the best costumes ever - seriously, good enough that Mensa kept me as a member much longer than it otherwise would have - the organization didn’t provide much that interested me. I, too, was surprised by how much woo-woo psychic and supernatural stuff was featured at meet-ups, and I was a lot less tolerant of that scene then than I am now. As a young woman, I also found the extent to which much older men, many of whom clearly had limited social skills, went trolling for teens to be downright creepy. (Relax, nothing bad happened to me - but I’m glad I was strong, independent , and wary). Oh, and the whole hugging thing with the buttons indicating how much hugging you wanted? Ick. Just plain ick. I do not like strangers of any gender touching me. I wore the little button that effectively said “Don’t touch me” but some people still thought I’d make an exception for them.

Overall, the local vibe just wasn’t comfortable, and unless it has changed substantially, I doubt I’d find it any more appealing now. I don’t recall much of interest in the national newsletter, either.

17

Woah, what?

18

No idea whether this custom is still practiced or not, but it used to be standard at the larger Mensa-sponsored events, like the Halloween party, for everyone to wear a button indicating their hugging preferences. IIRC, the categories boiled down to:

  • Yes, everyone can hug me without asking!
  • Yes, I like hugging, but ask first.
  • No, don’t hug me

Apparently hugging complete strangers was such an ingrained part of Mensa culture that the buttons were instituted to avoid misunderstandings and unpleasant confrontations between huggers and non-huggers. I will say, the buttons prevented random people from just walking up and hugging me, but plenty of people still asked.

I seriously doubt buttons were standard practice at the small luncheons and such, which were usually held at venues where civilians were present, but don’t have the experience to say for sure.

19

I hadn’t heard of the hug buttons but some Googling revealed some creepy stuff.

Here is a quote from a Time Magazine article from 1993.

Here is a quote from the Milwaukee Sentinal from last year.

20

I rejoin every 7 years to get a new, “Hell’s Mensans” t-shirt but other than that, meh. The nearest gathering in 110 miles away. The newsletter is as awkard as the newsletter from any fraternal organization. Without a local chapter, I can’t see any benefits.

whistlepig