r/mensa

Hi all!

So I (30F) fairly recently rocked up to an ADHD diagnosis, and my clinical psychologist wrote on my form my GAI, and I nearly shat a brick (affectionate). I was encouraged to join Mensa at my chapter, and she wrote me a letter of referral. I went to my first meeting recently, and it was AWESOME!

People there are nice and delightful! I haven't been back for a bit, and didn't pursue the full membership despite paying the dues, just because I got distracted by other pursuits. I had everything done, just need to pop the forms in. But tonight I've sent off all my relevant paperwork, paid my dues, yada yada.

I don't want to talk too much about it to my friends, because I don't want to seem like I'm being one of those sorts. But I found my first Mensa meeting just such a joyful and lovely thing, and I can't wait to go back!

Once it's all signed and delivered, I'll grab my flair. But I'm really keen to be a part of the community. Thank you for having me! My father was also a Mensan, and really loved all the fun meetings (and the excellent cocktail hours).

If anyone has questions about the process, feel free to ask! I notice a lot of that here, and I'm happy to answer to the best of my ability. My entry was a little unorthodox, but I can give my experiences on submitting, rocking up, and what I've enjoyed so far.

I'm already home and unpacked. Whew! I did I skip a lot of the nighttime content like Monica or Misster Mensa.

I'd love to hear your thoughts:

• Did you enjoy it?
• Hate it?
• Are you one of the ones crying about sprite zero on mensa connect?

I probably won't hit the next couple (ATL in 27, Philly in 28) because prelims and my diss but I may try to catch the one in Austin in 2029.

The 45 questions version A

They don't do it for me. I’ve always felt very lonely and under-stimulated. I can’t relate to the people I run into in everyday life—never have. It’s as if I were a different species from everyone else. 99.5% of conversations bore me, and it takes a lot of effort not to let that show and to pretend I’m actually engaged. Can you relate? It feels terrible. So far, I’ve only met one person whose conversations stimulate me—at least to some extent (maybe 20%); I think they’re exceptionally intelligent. I always find myself grinning unconsciously, as if my brain were a primrose in the desert that had just received a splash of water. I really wouldn't wish this on anyone.

hey guys, I’m a neurotic teenager with no friends or ability to socialize, but im absolutely certain it’s because I’m a misunderstood maverick genius, and not because I’m antisocial and an uncomfortable person to talk to. however I’m not actually in Mensa, but I have already told my entire family and the little amount of people who stand to talk to me that I am indeed qualified to join.

I read some Camus and realized I’m like that French asshole Sartre wrote about: Roquinten. I’ve concluded that I’m one of the only people on earth who understands that reality is like, weird yo.

unfortunately I have yet to apply my profound intellect to literally anything fucking tangible to show for it, but It’s okay because I have this triple digit number to make up for my inability to actually do anything with my life. I’m so happy that we have figured out how to encompass the entire breadth of human knowledge and capability into one single metric, so that I can resort to envisioning myself with a hypothetical high number, instead of envisioning actually working towards learning and fostering my intellect.

I grew up being told how intelligent I was over and over again. I was always ahead of my peers in school, and my teachers constantly praised me. I began reading at 2 and grew up to be a voracious reader and an avid writer. My family always had high expectations of me, and expected me to be very successful when I grew up. They kept telling me how I was going to be a famous author one day. I assumed success would 'just happen', but it didn't.

Adulthood presented some unique challenges. I struggled to find my feet with jobs, money, and supporting myself, and I still continue to struggle at 29. I've only ever had low-paying menial jobs, mostly because I don't have the necessary connections or social skills for work politics.

What bothers me is how my family seems to think I could be doing a lot better. They're often surprised that I'm still 'not doing anything with my life' and that I haven't achieved much. They think I'm 'wasting my potential' at these pointless jobs, but they don't understand that this is all I can get or handle. I don't have any savings, don't own a house and haven't achieved anything 'of worth' so to speak. I've just been struggling through life since leaving college. It's embarrassing to meet old family members who want to know what I'm up to now and I can tell they're disappointed/surprised at my current life lol.

If anyone else has experienced something similar, how do you deal with this? I know the obvious answer is to just not care but it's not that easy.

I was largely seen as a very difficult student to teach and many teachers sometimes deemed me unworthy to even teach. I was scared to ever ask for help and when i did my math teacher told me "this isn't YOU time, this is everybody time". Possibly this teacher heavily disliked me or just didn't see me as worth teaching. This was 9th grade and after i reported this teacher he apologized and i was placed in a special math class. Most of those students weren't stupid but many were delinquent or had mental disabilities ranging from high functioning autism to lower medium functioning. I think a good amount of them faced some level of severe mental trauma from some point in their life and some of those students had so much anger and bitterness and experienced in school suspension.

I did (with help of a case manager) excelled at biology by the time i reached 10th grade. I began to experience a love of learning i never experienced before. I took up learning Russian and would take interest in computer science. I would go on to take french and became the best student in that class with over a 100%. I took chemistry and never stopped loving chemistry where i study it in college.

My mental issues led to me taking a real and genuine IQ test and i placed somewhere between 130 and 140 IQ although i believe my score as a 140. To this day i do struggle with my mind and sometimes feels like a war and i have to function using skills i learned to cope with it.

But all in all i think its great to teach kids how to love learning. Many students never really learn how to love learning new information and developing their skills. I think case managers do an important job.

most will not know this answer and i know the real answer that will also boost your IQ if you take it serious, so go ahead and tell me what IQ is mainly based on

Finally decided to join-- membership dues for the year have already paid for themselves through Broadway discounts over four tickets at a single show.

My wife and I are planning on traveling the end of August through western Europe and we didn't see particularly noticeable accommodation/tour discounts.

Wanted to know what everybody else's favorite perks/discounts were.

Thanks!!!

Not looking for degrees or job titles.

I'm talking about small behaviors, habits, or ways people communicate that make you think, "Yeah, this person is sharp."

What's the biggest giveaway for you?

I have been thinking of joining a high IQ society, and as per usual, Mensa came to mind. I forever ago reminded myself of an IQ test back on middle school for the Gifted and Talented program, and git the scores sent to the school. But after 5 years, they destroyed them, so I don't even know how well (or not) I did. I was wondering if I joined what kind of perks does one get not just physically, but how could it help someone with Giftedness, maybe a bit of neurodivergence? I always felt it was just Nerdy and Geeky stuff I'd be too poor to afford or too ignorant to appreciate or even like.

So I dont know if I should take the plunge or not. I'm unsure plz help...

So I have heard about mensa in passing a couple of times in the past and recall briefly looking into joining but never followed through. I recall seeing somthing about being able to submit some types of previous cognitive tests to join without having to do another.

Back when I was 18 I was diagnosed with dyslexia and got a Ed phycologist report from it to formalise the diagnosis. I was bord flicking through it the other day and found the test results as below. With me already having these test done could I submit this somehow to join. Currently out of work and looking for anything to find new opportunities to learn or just add to my cv to stand out.

General level of cognitive functioning

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (4". Ed. U.K.):

General Ability Index (GAI) = 145* high ability 99.9 percentile)

Verbal Comprehension Index = 147* high ability Perceptual Reasoning Index =129 above average ability * Comprehension sub-test substituted for Information sub-test 85-115 Ii statistically average range

Verbal Comprehension Index Scale Results

Scaled Score

Similarities 19

Vocabulary 16

Comprehension 18

Perceptual Reasonina Index (Non-Verbal) Scale Results Scaled Score

Visual Puzzles 14

Block Design 15

Matrix Reasoning 16

Within each scale individual sub-test scaled scores vary from 1 to 19, and the average scaled score range or each sub-test is 8 to 12 (corresponding to the Standardised Score range of 85 115). Below 8 is below average for age, above 12 is above average for age.

General level of cognitive functioning.

I feel as if my whole life has gone by without meeting someone who also loves to try out everything and focus on something, someone who i can go from discussing if some "people dont know if they exist" right over to chess positions or how to bake a good cake. i know ofcourse many and most people with high intellegence arent really that social and thats one thing i want to change because learning and exploring thoughts with another is really benefitial for learning. And if someone maybe want to reach out that would be nice:)

I really love the sciences. I am not quite a math person but chemistry just clicks in my brain. I absolutely love physics. Sometimes when I talk about these things to any extent some people, or well most people treat it as if it's something they could never ever do. People seem to assume themselves to be incapable of doing "smart person things".

I do not understand why some people seem to be afraid to challenge their minds or be open to the idea that they can absolutely do these things and understand them to varying extents.

I get put up on some kind of pedestal and treated like I am some kind of wizard or super smart person. The average person is capable of a lot and I feel like the average person should challenge their minds and challenge their brains.

I dont like when people expect things of me, i still do things. Dont get me wrong here but as an example when i went to school when i was younger i was not really paying attencion because i picked up on the themes and academics pretty fast(preschool ofcourse, this didnt work as well for middle school) and when i went to school and focused for one day i would often be expected to do the exact same the next day by my parents. And if i would do the exact same for a full week they would now expect me to go to the gym or a type of sport, if i did this too they would expect me to go outside and hangout with friends alot. You get where this is going? At one point i realized it was better to just do the bare minimum to dodge the expectations because that was my only way, if i wouldnt do homework for a month and then read s book that would be a big moment and like that with many other things i just lowered the bar for many things. To this day i still dont really appreciate it when things are expected of me just because i do them once.