That’s the only reason I keep mine in my wallet. Memorizing my number is too much trouble. I have too many numbers already to memorize.
Is your name printed on it? Is it like an insurance card with an expiration date?
To me, having a genius card would be the only reason to join.
During any argument, “… oh yeah, are YOU a genius?”, [whip out card].
Yes, name and the date you by which have to pay your dues. You can be a Life Member if you pay some figure they’ve arrived at by actuarial tables, but we don’t because we take advantage of second family memberships – husband and wife together get a discount. They won’t allow a discount for two life memberships. I suppose they figure you might get a divorce and then who gets custody? :dubious:
Yeah, I suppose it would be funny to whip out a genius card, but the situation has never arisen. If it did, it probably would be on a day I had forgotten my wallet. 
Is the life expectancy of a genius any different?
I can see troubled geniuses offing themselves in large numbers, or possibly drinking themselves to death.
OTOH, might these be offset by the geniuses who know all there is to know about health and wellness, and take care of themselves properly and get all their health screenings, etc.?
Does Mensa involve itself in genius, er, research?
Thinking about it, I can see cases where it would hurt, and not from bias against Mensa. I can imagine someone looking at a resume with a BS from Podunk U and Mensa membership thinking that this person didn’t work hard enough to get into a good college. Mensa membership might set expectations higher, which can only hurt. One with a solid record of education, experience, and accomplishments wouldn’t need membership.
So I should take “frequent guest lecturer at STMB” off my resume entirely? Or just drop the underline ?
That’s SDMB BTW - not a Mensa candidate, apparently.
Mainly, there is the Mensa Education & Research Foundation.
http://www.mensafoundation.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home1
One of the qualities of genius is catching and correcting errors. All is not yet lost.
I qualified for Mensa as a teen and was actually a member for a couple of years. IIRC, it was free for me as an under 18 year old because my Mom was a member. When I turned 18 and had to pay, I didn’t renew.
I would love it if someone put that they were a member of Mensa on their resume. My group would get months of mileage out of the mockery. The co-workers in my group are all very intelligent engineers who all would have no problem passing a Top 2% intelligence test. We probably wouldn’t disqualify the applicant but it would be a mark against them.
That was seriously funny. Thanks!
This? This right here? **Perfect **example of why I never bothered with Mensa. “People who don’t like us *must *just be feeling sour grapes.” :rolleyes:
And yes, if the last IQ test scores I saw were any indication, I would more than qualify.
Huh, apparently upon reading this, an ACT qualifies me for Mensa. Who knew?
(Unfortunately, I’m also smart enough to not pay $59 for membership in a group I’m not going to actually take advantage of. I’ll never get to put it on a resume!)
It’s not the IQ score that counts, but what percentile you score at. You have to score in the top 2% of that particular test to qualify. A score of 150 on one test might not get you in, if more than one person in fifty scores 150 or higher on that particular test. And a score of 130 on another test might qualify you, if that’s the 98th percentile on that test. Also, Mensa doesn’t accept scores unless they’re from certain tests that have been administered under controlled conditions.
Again, I do believe that a lot of hostility towards Mensa IS sour grapes. In American society, we like to believe that we’re egalatarian, and anyone can join any club. It’s not so. Any club that has any selection committee might not have written rules as to who to exclude, but the committee will exclude some people based on personal biases. Also in America, society tends to resent and distrust people who are seen as smarter than average, or have higher skill levels in academic subjects. It’s OK to be a star athlete, but honor roll students are seen as nerds, and not in a good way, either.
Incidentally, Mensa-level IQ scores are NOT genius level, but somewhat lower than that.
My late uncle was a card-carrying member of Mensa. NEVER failed to somehow shoehorn this fact into conversations. In spite of his vastly superior brain power, he was a big asshole and impressed absolutely nobody.
I wouldn’t say it’s a joke and by all accounts a lot of people enjoy being members. It is, after all, just a social club. It’s no more a joke than being in a softball league or a baking class.
But it would look VERY bad on a resume. Really, really bad… like, throw-it-in-the-garbage bad. It’s not that being in Mensa is bad, but that it’s not relevant to 99.9% of jobs. What matters in jobs are skills, experience, relevant education, and professional qualifications. If you prominently announce on your resume that you’re a member of MENSA the person reading it will immediately think, “Why would they mention that? What about their experience or qualifications is wrong that they’d try to distract you from it with this Mensa shit?”
I’m only 37 and not exactly Warren Buffett, and I’d have trouble fitting Mensa membership (if I was intelligent enough to be in, which I’m not) into my existing resume. If you have room for it, you’re missing something more important.
Being a Mensa member does not preclude being an asshole of any size, unfortunately. Also, contrary to popular opinion, being a Mensa member doesn’t mean that a person is 100% on the ball all the time. Isaac Asimov tells of the time when his car broke down, he couldn’t find a towing service, and he called his brother to help him. When his brother got there, he told Isaac that he should have AAA…to which Isaac replied that he DID.
Practices differ. As I noted earlier in this thread, I wouldn’t consider a reference to Mensa membership under a candidate’s “Other Interests” any differently from membership of a sporting team or artistic group. It won’t get them the job. It will tell me something about their interests outside work. It certainly wouldn’t consign the application to the bin automatically.
Hm. It isn’t typical for resumes in the US (not sure about Canada) to have an “Other Interests” section. I would certainly not mention my hobbies or what sports teams I like on a resume.
That comic site actually had two other great comics on Mensa that I highly recommend checking out (including one making an allusion to the great porn star Asia Carrera):