groups

i've personally never been envolved in mensa, but i have heard that they sort of 'stuck up groups' but i dont know anything first hand. there was a killer quite few years ago that was part of that group....of course there is always a bad egg in every group, haha

I have a friend who is Mensa. She's strange. Very strange. That's probably why we've been friends for over 30 years.

I'm not qualified (big surprise, eh?), but my partner and his Dad are. One has some experience, the other isn't interested. Both - the one who has gone and the one who hasn't, don't have a lot of good to say about it. I think I won't repeat the words they use, but it kind of boils down to something akin to arrogance.

Of course, they could just be showing some solidarity with me, since again - I'm not qualified. ;-)

I took it, passed it and told them where to shove it. Having a high IQ means nothing in the real world, this group is a séance of Q’s.

I was eligible to join, but balked at paying yearly dues to be part of the lower tier of ANYTHING. Yes I admit to being bright, but not the brightest of the bright. So, I might reference having a MENSA-level i.q., I don't have a membership card to wave.

I think the chapters vary from locale to locale. Some have reported a very decent mix of folk from the blue collar trades to whatever we would deem a good career for the intellectually acute.

However, I am a big fan of the MENSA magazine. I did, however get a chuckle of the cover picture of some guy with power tools who was not wearing safety goggles. It will be awhile before they live that cover down, but the content of the magazine is excellent.

Yes. It was the same as Deeper Thinkers, but with bigger vocabulary, bigger egos and more arrogant superiority.

I like you guys much better. You people rock my world.

I did not care to join Mensa. I do not need that kind of validation. Intelligence is relative. Many years ago, I had a friend who was a joy to be with. We talked about everything. One day she told me that I was what they called
"book smart." She then told me what she had never told anyone before. She told me he had only completed the sixth grade. (She was a number of years my senior.) I knew she had been married at 16 (not her choice), lived on a self-sustaining farm and raised five kids on that farm. I looked at her and I told her, "Intelligence is relative, my friend." Then I gave this example. "If you were on a farm with five kids to feed and clothe, and I was on a farm with five kids to feed and clothe, whose kids would be hungry and naked?" She and I began to laugh because we both knew it would be my kids. Sometimes a real measure of intelligence is how one can acknowledge intelligence in others and encourage them to believe in themselves.

I was put in the first Intellectually Gifted Children's class in the New York City public school system and remained there until I left school to go jump out of airplanes. They said I was a genius but they couldn't figure out where it was. What on earth is a child supposed to do with that? I am very grateful for having grown up in that environment however. I never felt out of place, or unwelcome, or inclined toward being condescending (except to my teachers, sigh). In my 20's my then husband and I were feeling a bit socially isolated and decided to look into Mensa. I went to two Mesa group meetings and felt nauseous after each one of them. I've used the Directory of members when traveling a few times to good effect, and a few of the SIGs, but I refuse to go to Mensa socials and stopped paying dues after the first few months.

I don't know how to express my reaction to those social engagements without sounding like a condescending pompous ass, but I have felt similar nausea around Trek Conventionists, SCA events and Kink group meetings. Sigh.....

greenrhino,

I was moved ahead in school. There was a small group of us who were recommended for this advancement. It would have been okay, I guess, but we moved to another state after the first year of this advancement. The small city where we relocated did not have provisions for advanced students. We moved there two weeks before school started. The principal in the new high school saw no reason for me to repeat classes I already had, which resulted in me being the only freshman in several upper-level classes. The fact that I was a freshman in these classes and new to the school was very, very difficult.

Not a Mensa candidate here. I can't even get through those IQ tests on line. Put a series of numbers in front of me and I cave.

My friend applied, passed ,went to a meeting where someone cornered her and said that because of their hieghtened intelligence, were all extremely sensitive to the Universe which made them somewaht intense. She decided not to go to any more meetings.