I’m a good test-taker and was told a few years back that I should consider taking an official test to try and get into Mensa, but I didn’t really see the point. Ok, so I can learn to do well on IQ tests. Whoopee. I still feel intimidated by the real smart people out there.
Maybe it’s a self-esteem issue, but I don’t really think I’m all that smart. I do damn well in school, when I’m motivated to, but I don’t think that means I’m necessarily smart. I only have a B.Sc. and a medical technology degree (well, give me a month), and I don’t want to go any further right now. I am in awe of people who can do two degrees at once, or even people who manage to get all the way up to PhD. And you know what, all the education in the world won’t change who I am. I’ll know more stuff, but I won’t be any smarter, if that makes any sense.
Like Anastasaeon, I still use the wrong towels sometimes. And life goes on.
I could get in but I don’t see the point. I mean, Mensa members don’t have anything in common except high IQs. It would be like getting together with a bunch of random people pulled off the street.
I’m three months into a degree in design. Is there a correlation? Probably, since if I’d been less smart and still slacked off like I did in high school I almost certainly wouldn’t have made it into uni. Besides that, not really.
I have a BA and am about halfway through my law degree. I checked once, and as I recall my LSAT score would get me into MENSA. I might join one day, when I have time.
I am another one who qualifies, but never joined…never saw the point to joining, really. And I have never felt particularly smart, actually, because my family & friends are all pretty much like me. In fact, I think that being raised to be intellectually curious is more important than natural brains. Interestingly, of my 3 siblings & I, 2 of us are adopted & 2 of us aren’t, and we all have IQs that qualify for Mensa. I can’t believe that my parents just hit the lucky jackpot with the adoptive gene pool…the way they raised us must have something to do with it.
Minotaurus
I have a Bachelors Degree and I am a member of Mensa.
As you have noticed, the vast majority of the Straight Dope membership consists of people who are rather intelligent and well-educated. Around here, a BS and Mensa membership is probably average.
I took and passed the entrance exam thing while trying to hook up with a girl that was fascinated by Mensa. Just barely passed, but unfortunately for my master plan, she didn’t pass so I didn’t get laid. Kind of annoyed me so I never did whatever it was they wanted me to do next, pay dues or something…
In retrospect, I think she maybe had self esteem issues and I probably could have handled that whole thing better.
Yeah, college. My degree has no relation to my job, but school is fun so I keep going back for more - gets me out of the house and away from the family!
Which makes me average. In on SAT scores, Civil Engineering major. Went to one games night and a planetarium outing. Was busy and broke and didn’t keep up the dues. Got whupped at Othello ™.
Two Master of Science degrees, one in Applied Mathematics, one in Biostatistics and one Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics.
I tested as “gifted” in High School, and earned something like 30 hours of college credit before “officially” entering undergrad (actual courses in college) , but hate tests and testing.
I could give a flying f-itty f about my IQ of record. Don’t know it, don’t want to know it. I’m not a slow-witted French student in need of tutoring, so the IQ test really means squat to me.
I’ve met too many stupid “smart people”, and too many smart “stupid people” to put any real weight on the thing.
I have been teaching at the College level in various capacities since 1988.
Two Master of Science degrees, one in Applied Mathematics, one in Biostatistics and one Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics.
I tested as “gifted” in High School, and earned something like 30 hours of college credit before “officially” entering undergrad (actual courses in college) , but hate tests and testing. They pretty much had to put a gun to my head to take the damned test in the first place. Then again, these people had me classified as “remedial” until I started doubling up on the math, science and language courses and actually pulling higher grades. But being classified early on (this was the 70’s) as stupid/slow/dyslexic/whatever did the damage, attitude-wise.
I believe in the significance of the very low end of the test, which was developed by Binet as a way of screening French pupils who might need help. But I have little use for it otherwise. IQ, as measured by test, measures the ability to take the IQ test. Delightful. I’ve met too many stupid “smart people”, and too many smart “stupid people” to put any real weight on the thing.
I have been teaching at the College level in various capacities since 1988.
So, so far it seems like the vast majority of people posting in this thread qualify for MENSA but have not joined, still a few others are members, and a few others yet have not taken a test but are pretty sure that they would qualify.
Isn’t anyone going to come in and admit that they tested but did not qualify?? Or does SDMB consist only of the smartest 2% of the population?
(For the record, I haven’t tested, and honestly don’t know one way or the other whether I would qualify.)
I have a PhD in philosophy, and if **Anne Neville’s ** link is to be believed, I qualify for Mensa. But I don’t really have an interest in joining. (I doubt that there’s a chapter in Beirut, anyhow).
I tried desperately to get in a few years ago, but kept calling the wrong number. When the local chapter head was apprised of my situation, she said I was just the type of person she was looking for. But nothing came of it.
I still want to become a member of Mensa very badly, but in the meantime I make do by sharing some of my knowledge, understanding and wisdom here, and massaging my feelings of intellectual superiority by identifying virtually unknown authors - sometimes actually inventing them - and promoting their ideas.
Ok, guess I could probably qualify then, given how I did in my GREs… I’ve been trying to take the test for a while, but I move too often. Not so much thinking of joining as curious.
One of my college TAs was a member. They interviewed him for a national magazine; one of the questions was “do you feel smarter then other people?” His answer: “I used to, I grew up being told day in and day out how smart I was. Then I got to college and let me tell you: of my 78 students, at least 75 would be shoo-ins. So now I just feel like I’m pretty good at math.”
I’ve been told I was “smart” since I was in third grade. I, like silenus was in GATE classes (in Cali), and was finally told my IQ when I was 14. I’m a few points shy of being able to qualify on IQ alone, and my SAT didn’t help. There was an option at my High School to skip a year of math, I did, it showed on my SAT. I missed automatic qualification by almost 50 points. I later took online tests and qualified, but refused to pay, ever.
A very large number of dopers are the smartest people in their circle of friends. I sometimes am. That’s good enough for me. Validation comes from your own opinion of yourself, as well as the opinions of those you care about. There is no membership fee for realizing your self worth.
