# is anyone here a member of Mensa... or have higher education ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 22, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819 "2006-05-22T21:14:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/81 "2006-05-23T22:32:17Z")
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane] I turn three this summer. [/QUOTE] Can you buy me some beer? My parents are total squares. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/82 "2006-05-23T22:37:54Z")
[QUOTE=MLS] And of course Isaac Asimov was a member, too. [/QUOTE] He was, but he decided that the members were too arrogant about their intelligence, so he resigned. Later, he joined again, and then resigned a second time. ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/83 "2006-05-23T23:01:41Z")
I took the sample test a couple years ago and passed with no problem. What holds me back is that it seems to imply elitism…which may not be the case. Do you find a lot of elitism when you attend gatherings, or are people genuinely looking for others of like brain? The truth be told, I already prefer the brightest people, but I dislike arrogance in people. Everyone tells me I should join to find other singles… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/84 "2006-05-24T00:50:40Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] He was, but he decided that the members were too arrogant about their intelligence, so he resigned. Later, he joined again, and then resigned a second time. [/QUOTE] Asimov’s best comment on Mensa was that it wasn’t “table” in Latin, but instead was named such because of the periodic nature of its meetings. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/85 "2006-05-24T02:38:34Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] And French, of course. Don’t forget that parts are in French, as well. You need to be multilingual to read Tolstoy. [/QUOTE] No, I didn’t speak French in utereo. What! Like anyone could be triligual before they were born. Jeesh. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/86 "2006-05-24T03:19:43Z")
I used to be a member of Mensa, until the night they chased me out with their pitchforks and flaming torches! ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/87 "2006-05-24T03:28:13Z")
[QUOTE=NoClueBoy] We look for things. Things to make us go. [/QUOTE] You can make us… strong. I was tested and tested as a kid (starting at 4, I think). I knew I qualified for the gifted program (132 on whatever test we took) in the fourth grade, but my mom wouldn’t tell me my score because I would lord it over the other kids (which I would have, gleefully, because I was a brat.)\* She told me when I turned 18. I never joined Mensa because there never seemed to be an active local chapter. Now I don’t really see a need, unless I can cull some D&D players from it. Oh, I have a BA… in Film, naturally. \*(I think I was highest or second highest in the district… I test well and I enjoy testing AND I enjoy the types of questions you get on IQ tests). ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/88 "2006-05-24T04:30:45Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] And French, of course. Don’t forget that parts are in French, as well. You need to be multilingual to read Tolstoy. [/QUOTE] You need to be insane to read Tolstoy. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/89 "2006-05-24T04:35:25Z")
[QUOTE=roger thornhill] … and massaging my feelings of intellectual superiority by identifying virtually unknown authors - sometimes actually inventing them - and promoting their ideas. [/QUOTE] I wondered where this “C. S. Lewis” was coming from. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/90 "2006-05-24T04:44:45Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] I wondered where this “C. S. Lewis” was coming from. [/QUOTE] From inside the house. * * * As a zygote, I translated the entire Bible from its original Klingon into Xhosa. ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/91 "2006-05-24T05:08:14Z")
I agree with comments about testing bias and also question what, if anything, we can conclude from high IQ scores. I am certain that we cannot conclude that successful test-takers are better-adjusted, more interesting, more ethical, or more compassionate human beings. ---
**Author:** ![Jebus\_H.Christ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Jebus\_H.Christ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jebus_H.Christ)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/92 "2006-05-24T05:23:38Z")
The MENSA USA site says you can get in with 163 on the LSAT. That is around the 90th percentile on the that test. [http://www.us.mensa.org/Content/AML/NavigationMenu/Join/SubmitTestScores/QualifyingTestScores/QualifyingScores.htm#LSAT](http://www.us.mensa.org/Content/AML/NavigationMenu/Join/SubmitTestScores/QualifyingTestScores/QualifyingScores.htm#LSAT) ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/93 "2006-05-24T07:23:49Z")
[QUOTE=brightpenny] I agree with comments about testing bias and also question what, if anything, we can conclude from high IQ scores. I am certain that we cannot conclude that successful test-takers are better-adjusted, more interesting, more ethical, or more compassionate human beings. [/QUOTE] [This](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford-Binet) gives a brief history of said standardized testing. I took a course that also said that Binet gave qualification tests to immigrants at Ellis Island. Apparently this is where the idea that “Polish people are stupid” came from. Few people could read the test, since it was only given in english. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/94 "2006-05-24T08:37:22Z")
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane] I turn three this summer. [/QUOTE] Wow–you joined SDMB when you were -4. That’s precocious! ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/95 "2006-05-24T09:05:54Z")
I’ve never taken an IQ test since I was in primary school, and my parents told the tester that didn’t want to know what the results were. He told them they were very high, but they stopped him before he went any further and said they _really_ didn’t want to know, and it was better that I not know either. They’ve always taken the view that IQ tests were ultimately meaningless, and said more about your ability to answer exam questions than your intelligence. To this day, I think they did the right thing. I _know_ I’m smart (as does anyone who’s met me), yet I do appallingly in most tests- I suffer from chronic (almost debilitating, in fact) exam stress and I’ve pretty much had to put Uni on hold because I simply can’t handle the end of year exam period (and some other issues which aren’t germane to this particular topic, of course)- especially because it only gets worse as I fail subjects. But even if I was eligible to join MENSA, I doubt I would. I strongly suspect I’d have nothing in common with them, and I’m too sting to pay membership fees… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819/96 "2006-05-24T11:32:05Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] Some of the densest, least interesting people I’ve met have been Mensa members. On the other hand, some of the brightest, wittiest people I’ve ever met have also been Mensa members. [/QUOTE] Kinda like Dopers, then? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-member-of-mensa-or-have-higher-education/357819.md?page=4)