Mensa

Mensa is known as “The High IQ Society.” Its membership is restricted to individuals whose IQ’s score in the top 2% of standardized IQ exams. Isaac Asimov, Geena Davis, and Norman Schwarzkopf are members of Mensa. Unfortunately, I am high IQ challenged, and therefore cannot be a member of Mensa. I felt left out because of this – after completing an IQ test I realized I would never be a member of Mensa. But I started to consider if it is really an advantage to be in Mensa. Do people really find this impressive? If you wrote on a resume “Membership Mensa Inernational”, will your prospective employer be impressed? I think they would find it pretentious, or perhaps concerning. I don’t want someone working for me who can show me up in the IQ race. Being a member of Mensa is not a conversation starter. If you tell people you are in Mensa, they will think you are a prick and not be your friend. If your leg is stuck in a bear trap, people will think you’re smart enough to figure things out on your own and not come to your help. Not only is a Mensa membership of no advantage with non-Mensa members, it likely doesn’t impress Mensa members all that much either. If you are in the IQ top 2 percentile, those that are in the top 1.9 percentile IQ will look down on you. It’s a lose-lose situation.