Animula vagula 
Serial Poster Girl Sounds alomost naughty 
http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/gregspizza/index.html
Screw you guys, I’m going home.
Vis
If I get into Mensa do I get a member card ?
- Can I get a cool decoder badge too ??*
What could the actual rewards of a “club” like that be ?
I’ll stick with my SD.
I named my puppy Cecil.
SingleDad: Since when can you get into Mensa on the strength of your SAT scores? I don’t doubt you here, but I thought that only an IQ test could get you in. And if you can get in with high SAT scores, what are the requirements? (I suppose I could go and do the research myself, but I’m a busy guy).
Lump me in with the group that decline membership to MENSA. They ‘recruited’ me after I took a sample test just for kicks. But it struck me as merely a ‘snob’ sort of thing - “I’m smart enough to belong to Mensa!” - with no other real purpose, and I think that they’re probably missing a large part of the more intelligent population. I also turned down membership in several honor societies in both high school and college for pretty much the same reason. What do you do at meetings? Pat each other on the back and talk about how smart you’re supposed to be?
There are people on this message board whose intelligence and/or knowledge awe me - I can’t imagine that I actually belong in the top 2% of the ‘smart population’ after comparing myself with them!
And ‘smart’ ain’t much good without a big dose of common sense to go with it.
Nothing against you folks that are members, but the whole idea makes me a little uneasy. I read too much science fiction, I guess - I keep thinking of secret societies (Illuminati?) and ‘first people off the sinking ship are MENSA members’ type stuff. “Oh, the aliens are invading? Quick, grab all of the MENSA members and stuff them under that mountain out in Colorado.”
Of course, I’m probably just weird.
Mensa’s a great social club, which is why I’m a member. There are a certain number of snobs, but the best high comedy comes from the power freaks who run the organisation.
Rousseau: Since when can you get into Mensa on the strength of your SAT scores? I don’t doubt you here, but I thought that only an IQ test could get you in. And if you can get in with high SAT scores, what are the requirements?
SAT’s will work, that’s what I used, since I didn’t want to bother with other tests.
Any test with a large established base that has been correlated with Stanford-Binet IQ will be accepted.
Just so you fit into the top 2% of that.
Exact numbers are available for SAT, GRE, LSAT, Miller’s Analogy Test, and dozens more.
Also, for those who take the test and then don’t want to join: no big deal. Lots of people don’t join for the simple reason that nothing is going on near them.
The groups are self-organizing, and there is a policy of non-affiliation with any other causes, political, ecological, or fraternal, so everyone is welcome at every event.
In San Francisco, New York, and probably 10 other cities, there are groups organized for sexual encounters, as well as the more common discussion groups, gourmet groups, bridge clubs, etc.
Correction: SAT’s only work if you took them before '94 (can’t imagine why)
Anyway, there’s 200 tests that work, and most college students have taken a few that apply. The score link:
** http://www.us.mensa.org/information/scores.html **
The main link:
** http://www.us.mensa.org/ **
I did a quick search on Usenet discussions in rec.org.mensa reveals a FAQ that contains cutoff scores on standardized tests that are allegedly sufficient to qualify you for MENSA. for standardized tests. (The post was made in 2000, but the FAQ states that it was last updated in 1993. If you really think you’re MENSA fodder, you’ll take stuff like this with a grain of salt.)
SAT or CEEB (Verbal and Math combined):
prior to 9/77 1300
effective 9/77 1250
GRE Verbal and Math combined): 1250
LSAT:
prior to 1982 662
effective 1982 39
ACT Composite: 29
Miller Analogies Test: raw score 66
MCAT or GMAT (overall): 95%
Army GCT:
prior to 10/80 136
Navy GCT:
prior to 10/80 68
That’s unpossible. That would imply that roughly 20% or so (this is a shot in the dark by me, but I doubt it’s significantly less than that) of all people who took the SATs would qualify for Mensa. If this is true, than the club truly is not what I think it is.
They recentered the scoring back in 94. That might explain it, but I don’t see why it would be a problem. I actually did go and look on their site, and they said that you had to be in the top 2% on such tests…so the “raw” score shouldn’t matter (and, actually, should vary slightly from year to year).
I’ve been a member of Mensa, and greatly enjoyed it. I tend to be reclusive, and it’s a good excuse for me to get out of the house on a regular basis. The groups I’ve been in have always had subgroups, which meet for lunch or games or something of the sort.
The main advantage of going to a Mensa meeting is that I’m pretty sure of people NOT saying “How about them 'Boys?” as a greeting. I live in Fort Worth, and it’s generally accepted that EVERYONE is vitally interested in sports in general, and the Dallas Cowboys in particular. When I go to a Mensa meeting, I have a good chance of being able to find someone who’s willing to talk about books.
I really find it strange that Mensa arouses such hostility in so many people.
Lynn
I joined Mensa, and was in it for 2 years. I left because it was difficult to get involved in or invited to the social events - just like the Society for Creative Anachronism, which I tried to participate in as well. I thought they were both good organizations that were extremely cliqueish - rivalling even certain Web bulletin boards. Part of the problem was because I was pretty young (about 15-16) and had no one already in the groups that I knew.
Its funny when I interview someone in Mensa - 9 times out of 10, they will point it out as one of their primary job skills that I should take note of. If I take the bait and ask “oh, what is that?” then they will start to explain it to me like one would explain thermodynamics to a 6-year old. I see this a lot during on-campus interviews, where they are hoping to stand out above the rest in some way.
Which is ironic, because that means nothing to me. The thing I see on a resume that almost guarantess I will make a job offer is not Mensa, the fact that you were the President of your Frat, or the fact that you were a “Phi Beta Kappa”. No, it’s:
“worked full-time while attending school”.
LSAT:
prior to 1982 662
effective 1982 39
I hate to harrass you, Nurlman, since we know you were trying to help out, but what the frick is a 39 on the LSAT?
Since I just took the stupid test last October I feel like something of an authority on the subject (not that I am, but . . .)
The LSAT scores range from 120 (your basic Southerner’s score, just kidding . . .) to 180 (which a couple of people a year apparently score). A 173 puts you into the top one percent of test-takers. Of course, its mostly relatively intelligent people who are taking the test, so what percent of the general population the top one percent of LSAT scores are in is anyone’s guess. If anyone figures out what that last sentence means, could you please tell me?
Anthracite
If you mean SD, I couldn’t agree with you more.
Will you people stop it with the damned latin!!! I come to this message board to get away from my latin homework, not to be slapped in the face with more shit I need to translate…
If I wanna find something to translate, I will go find some posts by bjorn…
Sheeshola!!! ( 
just to show you I am not completely pissed or anything)
Mensa in triclinio est.
“Mensa is tricky, eh?”
Animula vagula
“Animal vagina”
Greygalahad wrote:
Oh, dear child. Come and have a seat on my lap here, and let me tell you a little story about something we old folks call “The 20th Century.”
From 1982 to early 1995, LSAT scores ran from 10-49. Presumably, 39 was the 98th percentile cutoff under this scale. They redesigned the test in 1995 to omit one of the four skills, and re-calibrated the scoring to the wildly inflated 180 point scale you’re familiar with.
Because the post I was quoting from was written in 1993 (apparently), I’m not suprised that it doesn’t reflect the newest scoring scale. But, during my research, I seem to recall reading that, like the SAT, MENSA no longer uses the “new” LSAT as a proxy for intelligence, and doesn’t establish a qualifying score for it. My guess would be they assumed the omission of that one section (I think it was the “logic games” section) somehow made it less of a predictor of intelligence than it had been. Go figure.
Mine did the same thing. Didn’t have the ego, though. Was just curious.
Nurlman! “come and sit on my lap” ? ? ? WTF man. You sound like one of those lecherous old geezers that hang out in the city parks here (here being Nagoya Japan). I know they did recenter the test but from what i heard they didnt change the scores, only the meaning of the scores. Also, the logic games section is DEFINITELY still on the test, and still a bitch too.
How come you know so much about this stuff anyway? Is it just a function of being older than dirt? (Actually, your bio has nothing on your age so I am just shooting in the dark here).
I never thought about Mensa until this thread, but now I realize I qualify, from my SAT’s.
Thank you sir!
It made my day.
And since it’s already Wednesday, it may make my week as well.