Posted on 10/11/2010 4:37:47 PM PDT by JoeProBono
WASHINGTON, - The high-IQ society known as Mensa has reached its 50th birthday but says it is renewing itself in the United States with a new cohort of younger members.
The group says 42 percent of its new members in 2009-10 were ages 29 to 49 and during the past 10 years the number of members under 30 has grown by 63 percent, USA Today reported Monday.
American Mensa National Chairwoman Elissa Rudolph told the newspaper the group is aiming to get "more people involved and younger people more involved."
Part of the effort is Saturday's National Mensa Testing Day, in which hopefuls will take the group's own admissions test or one of 200 other tests, such as the Stanford-Binet, the Miller Analogies Test, the GMAT or the GRE.
To qualify, applicants must score in the top 2 percent of the test-takers. The fee for American Mensa's test is $40, the group says on its Web site.
Mensa member Alexis Wise, 19, a sophomore at Yale University, told USA Today the benefits of being a Mensan include learning from brilliant people in non-academic settings.
"I have the coolest group of friends, and that's only grown over the years," she said. "I've learned so much."
But that's a good reason to join, Go. Sign up. Skew the statistics. And get those people straightened out.
I stopped my membership after I got tired of articles and letters explaining why they hated God and then would give non intellectual reasons.
They are not really smart, just proud of having high IQ’s, which is not the same thing.
Only ever met one guy that claimed to be a MENSA member and I reflexively laughed in his face.
“There’s plenty of people hanging around FreeRepublic that qualify for membership in Mensa”
I think you are right! They talk the talk without stroking their ego. Why do you think I’ve been around so long? Many people here brighter than me here. Its humbling.
I knew four people who were members of Mensa — a paralegal who worked for the company lawyer (was bored in college and quit), a middle-management guy in HR, the secretary of the president of the company (her boss couldn’t pass the Mensa exam), and a man who was dating a friend of mine — he found himself a job as a manager in a warehouse.
You’re right about the boring part. Why do so many of them seem to be underachievers?
Sure, there are jerks. There are also some very nice people. And in between. Just like any other group.
Any number of times I have told Mensa that some of the stupidest people I have ever known have been Mensans. So far, not one person has taken issue with that remark.
I was all set to join at 18, but the Marine recruiter made me a better offer.
I was 18 when I joined. Did one meeting.
Anybody who is impressed by how smart they (think) are, shows me they lack common sense.
The problem with common sense...it ain't so common.
I will DEFINITELY agree with that, Wissa! Some extremely intelligent people post here on FR!
Think we could get a group rate?
“My experience was that it was overwhelmingly libertarian, not liberal”
Is that a jab at libertarians or are you saying libertarians are smarter? Don’t care either way. I just want to understand your post..
I miss Congressman Billybob.
That is a really good question. My husband struggled in college to get an AA. He is an EE tech however became a non degreed engineer. He works along side PhDs. He really is brilliant but if his work doesn't involve extremely challenging tasks he does get boarded. Maybe for the others the work they do really doesn't challenge them.
My intelligence actually caused me to become very bored in school (except for history) and I have an inherent lazy streak that took me years to overcome.
Can’t disagree............
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.