6 ms·

Was he actually a member of Mensa?

by kghose 14y ago

klibertp 14y ago
AFAIK yes
phaus 14y ago
I would guess that he is. Being a member of Mensa isn't really a big deal.
- pc86 14y ago
  What about having an IQ in the top 2% isn't a big deal?
  - bdunbar 14y ago
    It's not _having_ a big brain that matters, it's what one does with it.
  - redspark 14y ago
    The fact that having a high IQ is not an accurate measurement of the impact you will have on the world. There are plenty of people with high IQ's who don't contribute anything meaningful and many more people with "normal" IQ's who are changing the world.
    - pruman 14y ago
      It's true. A high IQ is like having a car with a lot of horse power. Its effectiveness depends upon how and where you drive it, and even then it won't be enough to get you everywhere.
  - loganfrederick 14y ago
    Because it's a metric that doesn't wholly reflect what you have done or will be capable of doing in the future.
  - phaus 14y ago
    Intelligence alone doesn't make you special. I myself have a pretty high IQ, but for the first 20 years of my life, I squandered the time and resources that were at my disposal and now I'm 30 years old, still in college, and in a position that is way below my potential. There are people of average intelligence who have created billion dollar companies because they worked hard, and there are geniuses who never contribute anything to the world. Hard working, intelligent people should be celebrated, not intelligence alone. EDIT: Just to make sure I'm not being misunderstood. Being a member of Mensa isn't a bad thing, it's just not that big of a deal.
    - michaelochurch 14y ago
      IQ isn't a big deal, but neither is degree pedigree. He's making up for a deficiency in one signal by providing another, in effect saying "don't think I'm stupid because I didn't attend college." If you have an elite degree and a technical major, you probably shouldn't include Mensa.
      - phaus 14y ago
        I don't disagree with the author putting it on his resume. I probably would have done the same in his situation (if I were clever enough to think of it).
      - 001sky 14y ago
        The mensa application is not an IQ based threshold per-se (or at least, not anymore). They basically take any standardized test, and the thresholds are top 5%, not 2%. So mensa just means something like a top 20 school. Seeing the variation of output of even the better half of those schools, it sort of lowers bar for the "Brand Mensa". The 150ish IQ threshold (public imagination) would be a bit more strict in many regards. http://www.us.mensa.org/AML/?LinkServID=005EB3F7-B83A-44BA-B4FFD5114A1AC31D http://www.us.mensa.org/AML/?LinkServID=005EB3F7-B83A-44BA-B...
    - nantes 14y ago
      Didn't see any contact info in your profile. Just wanted to say, keep it up. It gets a lot better if you keep plugging away at it. Was in your spot 7 years ago, finished college at 34 and life is amazing now. Good luck.
  - greyman 14y ago
    As I remember, they want IQ above 130, which isn't such a big deal if you are into math, logical puzzles etc. I did one IQ test myself and scored 135, while around 75% of questions were kind of small puzzles I used to solve on math competitions in basic and secondary grammar school. (Then there were also some tough questions towards the end of the test). One of my university classmate scored "above 150", and that I would call a big deal - he has quite a sharp mind.
  - JoeAltmaier 14y ago
    Wrong question. Why is Mensa no big deal? Because the demographic is high-IQ non-achievers. They like to get together and chat; that's all you know about Mensa members.
  - alpeb 14y ago
    Funny how "mensa" is the feminine of dumb in Spanish. One would think these "smart" people would have done more research before picking that name.
    - gazrogers 14y ago
      It's from the latin for table. One would think you'd have done your research before criticising others for not doing their research.
      - dasil003 14y ago
        Especially Mensans. Don't ever try to outsmart Mensans.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
  - greenmountin 14y ago
    It's not just IQ, but one of 200 different tests [1]. For example, if you score an 800 on the math portion of the SAT, you're in. [1] http://www.us.mensa.org/join/testscores/qualifyingscorefaq/ http://www.us.mensa.org/join/testscores/qualifyingscorefaq/
    - Evbn 14y ago
      And an 800 on math requires comprehension of age 16 math, on a test taken as many times as you like before age 18.
  - simonsarris 14y ago
    Because it isn't indicative of anything. If all else was equal it might be relevant, but if you had to pick between someone in Mensa and someone who has shipped a product the decision seems rather clear. Rather, intelligence doesn't correlate with getting anything done, nor does it correlate with being a pleasant person. I got into Mensa in high school (sophomore circa 2003), but quit as soon as I had gotten what I wanted. The people in Mensa are extremely varied. After high school I went to an engineering university, hoping to find a lot of bright happy smart people, and was amazed to find the sheer number of people who were intelligent but incapable of interacting with society or being productive. Great minds and personalities who were self-sequestered from the world. It felt tragic sometimes.
  - philwelch 14y ago
    The part where you're an insecure underachiever who feels the need to join an elitist club based on having an IQ in the top 2%, really.
  - illuminate 14y ago
    Because more than the top 2% of persons can gain acceptance into Mensa. Myself, I scored high enough on a standardized test that I could apply. I follow Groucho Marx's approach to such clubs.
  - zem 14y ago
    the fact that 2% of the entire world has one
  - Evbn 14y ago
    It is top 2 percent "equvalent" scale score on any one instance of an intelligence or aptitude test, not top 2% overall, and that is a score that anyone remotely qualified for a relevant job would be able to do. It is entirely game able. And it is douchy to boot. If you want to advertise your 1560 SAT, do that. Why send away for a Mensa membership and brag about that? It adds no value and shows you waste money and effort tracing meaningless tags. Are you listed in Who's Who in US Business too?
qdog 14y ago
He said so, at that time probably not a big deal to put it on a resume. These days, I recommend against it, as soon as most interviewers I know see it, it's suddenly high noon on the whiteboard to prove the interviewer is just as smart as the Mensa person. Edit: I'm not in Mensa, I've just seen how interviewers react to it. Petty sure, but I'm talking programmer interviews, people often look for reasons to exclude someone.

Was he actually a member of Mensa?

by kghose 14y ago

Was he actually a member of Mensa?

klibertp 14y ago

AFAIK yes

phaus 14y ago

I would guess that he is. Being a member of Mensa isn't really a big deal.

pc86 14y ago
What about having an IQ in the top 2% isn't a big deal?
- bdunbar 14y ago
  It's not _having_ a big brain that matters, it's what one does with it.
- redspark 14y ago
  The fact that having a high IQ is not an accurate measurement of the impact you will have on the world. There are plenty of people with high IQ's who don't contribute anything meaningful and many more people with "normal" IQ's who are changing the world.
  - pruman 14y ago
    It's true. A high IQ is like having a car with a lot of horse power. Its effectiveness depends upon how and where you drive it, and even then it won't be enough to get you everywhere.
- loganfrederick 14y ago
  Because it's a metric that doesn't wholly reflect what you have done or will be capable of doing in the future.
- phaus 14y ago
  Intelligence alone doesn't make you special. I myself have a pretty high IQ, but for the first 20 years of my life, I squandered the time and resources that were at my disposal and now I'm 30 years old, still in college, and in a position that is way below my potential. There are people of average intelligence who have created billion dollar companies because they worked hard, and there are geniuses who never contribute anything to the world. Hard working, intelligent people should be celebrated, not intelligence alone. EDIT: Just to make sure I'm not being misunderstood. Being a member of Mensa isn't a bad thing, it's just not that big of a deal.
  - michaelochurch 14y ago
    IQ isn't a big deal, but neither is degree pedigree. He's making up for a deficiency in one signal by providing another, in effect saying "don't think I'm stupid because I didn't attend college." If you have an elite degree and a technical major, you probably shouldn't include Mensa.
    - phaus 14y ago
      I don't disagree with the author putting it on his resume. I probably would have done the same in his situation (if I were clever enough to think of it).
    - 001sky 14y ago
      The mensa application is not an IQ based threshold per-se (or at least, not anymore). They basically take any standardized test, and the thresholds are top 5%, not 2%. So mensa just means something like a top 20 school. Seeing the variation of output of even the better half of those schools, it sort of lowers bar for the "Brand Mensa". The 150ish IQ threshold (public imagination) would be a bit more strict in many regards. http://www.us.mensa.org/AML/?LinkServID=005EB3F7-B83A-44BA-B4FFD5114A1AC31D http://www.us.mensa.org/AML/?LinkServID=005EB3F7-B83A-44BA-B...
  - nantes 14y ago
    Didn't see any contact info in your profile. Just wanted to say, keep it up. It gets a lot better if you keep plugging away at it. Was in your spot 7 years ago, finished college at 34 and life is amazing now. Good luck.
- greyman 14y ago
  As I remember, they want IQ above 130, which isn't such a big deal if you are into math, logical puzzles etc. I did one IQ test myself and scored 135, while around 75% of questions were kind of small puzzles I used to solve on math competitions in basic and secondary grammar school. (Then there were also some tough questions towards the end of the test). One of my university classmate scored "above 150", and that I would call a big deal - he has quite a sharp mind.
- JoeAltmaier 14y ago
  Wrong question. Why is Mensa no big deal? Because the demographic is high-IQ non-achievers. They like to get together and chat; that's all you know about Mensa members.
- alpeb 14y ago
  Funny how "mensa" is the feminine of dumb in Spanish. One would think these "smart" people would have done more research before picking that name.
  - gazrogers 14y ago
    It's from the latin for table. One would think you'd have done your research before criticising others for not doing their research.
    - dasil003 14y ago
      Especially Mensans. Don't ever try to outsmart Mensans.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- greenmountin 14y ago
  It's not just IQ, but one of 200 different tests [1]. For example, if you score an 800 on the math portion of the SAT, you're in. [1] http://www.us.mensa.org/join/testscores/qualifyingscorefaq/ http://www.us.mensa.org/join/testscores/qualifyingscorefaq/
  - Evbn 14y ago
    And an 800 on math requires comprehension of age 16 math, on a test taken as many times as you like before age 18.
- simonsarris 14y ago
  Because it isn't indicative of anything. If all else was equal it might be relevant, but if you had to pick between someone in Mensa and someone who has shipped a product the decision seems rather clear. Rather, intelligence doesn't correlate with getting anything done, nor does it correlate with being a pleasant person. I got into Mensa in high school (sophomore circa 2003), but quit as soon as I had gotten what I wanted. The people in Mensa are extremely varied. After high school I went to an engineering university, hoping to find a lot of bright happy smart people, and was amazed to find the sheer number of people who were intelligent but incapable of interacting with society or being productive. Great minds and personalities who were self-sequestered from the world. It felt tragic sometimes.
- philwelch 14y ago
  The part where you're an insecure underachiever who feels the need to join an elitist club based on having an IQ in the top 2%, really.
- illuminate 14y ago
  Because more than the top 2% of persons can gain acceptance into Mensa. Myself, I scored high enough on a standardized test that I could apply. I follow Groucho Marx's approach to such clubs.
- zem 14y ago
  the fact that 2% of the entire world has one
- Evbn 14y ago
  It is top 2 percent "equvalent" scale score on any one instance of an intelligence or aptitude test, not top 2% overall, and that is a score that anyone remotely qualified for a relevant job would be able to do. It is entirely game able. And it is douchy to boot. If you want to advertise your 1560 SAT, do that. Why send away for a Mensa membership and brag about that? It adds no value and shows you waste money and effort tracing meaningless tags. Are you listed in Who's Who in US Business too?

qdog 14y ago

He said so, at that time probably not a big deal to put it on a resume. These days, I recommend against it, as soon as most interviewers I know see it, it's suddenly high noon on the whiteboard to prove the interviewer is just as smart as the Mensa person. Edit: I'm not in Mensa, I've just seen how interviewers react to it. Petty sure, but I'm talking programmer interviews, people often look for reasons to exclude someone.