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."
What?!? I didn’t know. I’m so very sorry. I was just thinking about him the other day. How sad. Prayers for him and his family.
“I became a member when I was 16 just to feed my ego, never went to a meeting, thought the newsletter was boring and didn’t bother to renew my membership.”
I did the same at 17...
“I went to Nuclear Power School and figured out I wasn’t NEARLY as smart as I thought I was”
Heard that from more than one person, and even considered it myself.
Went into crypto-linguistics, instead. (yeah, I know...)
I’ve been a Mensan for 25 years. I met my fellow-Mensan husband at a Mensa party. While Mensa does have a higher-than-societal average of underachievers, big freakin’ libs, and rather astoundingly obese people, mostly it has a bunch of people who think for themselves, do it rather well, and are driven to seek the company of same.
For those who joined and never went to a meeting, or who joined and went to one meeting, I will mention that local groups go through fluctuations, and sometimes for what is usually a limited period of time the group dynamic can become toxic. I joined right after grad school and went to one meeting — where I was either ignored or patted on the head. Annoyed, I didn’t go back for a few years, but when I did, I discovered that the irritating members I met at that party had all gone on to other activities, and the remaining members were mostly very nice and interesting people. Since then I’ve been a very active member, and made lots of friends. Mensa is largely what *you* make of it.
Mensa members might score high on a bogus IQ test, but they have been known to be the dumbest people ever. Typical nerds; they think they are smart but their liberal and childish thoughts on how the world works is simply stupefying.
Sounds like my experience, though I think I was 14 or 15. My parents were both members, so I joined. I got a newsletter for a while, but didn't get anything out of it. I figured I had better things to do with my money.
All right, I give. I’ll admit that I have no idea what the relationship between my post and your graphic is supposed to be. Care to elaborate?
“Mensa members might score high on a bogus IQ test, but they have been known to be the dumbest people ever. Typical nerds; they think they are smart but their liberal and childish thoughts on how the world works is simply stupefying.”
Are you or have you been a member of Mensa? Have you known a great many Mensans, to be able to make this judgment? Or are you simply working from a common stereotype?
What a stupid question.
What an exceedingly polite and well-mannered answer!
Enjoy your own company; I’m sure no one else does.
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