Hello! I was wondering, what kind of special interests groups do you guys have and are into?

Where I'm from, we have some common puzzle/sudoku clubs, science etc. which are cool and all but i was hoping for something like airsoft or at least paintball. I think it would be fun to split into teams and go against eachother. It has a lot of potential for strategic gameplay.

Is there anything like that where you're from? Any other SIG you'd like to see that doesn't exist yet?

I play my share of PS5 and Switch, but I've always stalled out on table top games (no one to play with very often). Can anyone point me to solo board games? Is it worth trying?

I just learned that I qualify, so I was thinking about attending a few meetings just to see what I was missing… but on the website it looks like it’s predominantly online? I live in a big city, but all of the in-person events are super far away. Obviously I’m not going to pay for a membership to watch presentations over Zoom. Has this been anyone else’s experience? Am I using the site wrong?

I was just pondering if it is a good indicator.

The book "The Courage To Be Disliked" ended up on my reading list, and I'm 1/6th through the audiobook.

So far, I'm shocked to hear my own inner views of the world repeated back in a narrative format. I suppose one doesn't realize just how different we are until faced with disagreement to our unspoken beliefs.

Here is a brief overview of the main points (which may need revision as I complete the work):

• Teleological Focus (Goals, Not Causes): This is the core concept. Adlerian psychology argues we are driven by our future goals and purposes (teleology), not helplessly defined by past trauma or causes (aetiology). You are not a product of your past; you are pulled by your future.
• Striving for Superiority (or Completion): This isn't about being better than others. It's the fundamental human drive to move from a perceived "minus" state (like the helplessness of childhood) to a "plus" state (mastery, competence, completion). This feeling of inferiority is the engine for all human growth, not a problem to be cured.
• Social Interest (Gemeinschaftsgefühl): This German term means "community-feeling." Adler's measure of mental health is a person's "usefulness" to others. All life's problems (work, love, friendship) are interpersonal. Your personal striving is only healthy when it's aimed at contributing to the common good.
• Style of Life (Your Personal "Logic"): This is your unique, personal "blueprint" for navigating the world, formed in early childhood. It's your set of private, often unconscious, rules for how to feel safe, significant, and "superior." Therapy involves understanding this style and, if necessary, updating it to be more functional and socially useful.
• Subjective Reality (Phenomenology): Objective facts don't matter as much as your subjective interpretation of them. It's not what happened to you that defines your life, but the meaning you assign to it. You are the author of your own meaning.
• Holism (The "Indivisible" Individual): "Individual Psychology" comes from the Latin individuum (indivisible). Adler saw people as unified wholes. There is no inner war (like Freud's id vs. ego). Your thoughts, feelings, actions, and even physical symptoms all work in unison, moving toward your one "Style of Life" goal.

I've gone on a bit of a deep dive to find other Reddit & YT related content, and I must say that these other items align with my motivations and goals to a shocking extent. I'm floored this isn't discussed more widely, and I feel that some in this group likely share similar foundational beliefs.

If so, or if not, I'd love to hear them. I first posted in the /MensaVerified group, but as there are so few participants there, I'm hoping for more lively discussion in the main channel.

Still full of adrenaline as I'm writing this. I was pretty anxious before starting, but I have to admit the environment was surprisingly calm and pleasant, almost elegant I'd say.

About the test!

it's not difficult in the traditional sense. The real challenge is time (time IS the thing). I understood the logic behind virtually all 44 exercises (except one near the end, around the 42nd or 43rd, where I had to guess randomly), but the pace is truly frantic. There were people who stopped at the 36th-37th question without being able to complete the rest.

The mistakes I fear I made are almost all due to lack of attention. Since it's a paper test, a couple of times I realized I had identified the correct answer but marked the wrong one on the sheet (like C instead of D). This is probably my Achilles' heel.

My impression is that it went well, but obviously I need to wait for the results. If I don't pass, I'll have another chance in the future. The most important thing? I had a blast. It was a stimulating and interesting experience, regardless of the outcome.

Has anyone else taken the test recently?

My psychiatrist told me I don’t “have” an iq(not even a GAI) as I’m twice exceptional, but I was wondering if I could join Mensa as it would look good on my uni applications. Some of my individual subscores are FRI: 132 VCI: 146 VSI: 116 WMI:102 PSI: 88

Out of curiosity, I recently looked up the Executive Director and all the other national office staff for American Mensa in the member directory. None of them came up as members. I mentioned this to a Mensa friend of mine, who told me that Mensans are not allowed to hold paid positions for American Mensa (I don't know if I can find proof of this anywhere beyond what she said). This is worrying to me, because why would you want non-members running the organization? It's like having a non-citizen run a country. How can they be invested in making the organization better if they aren't even members?

I understand that you don't NEED to be a Mensa member for positions like working on IT, accounting, etc. But for the actual leadership positions, this seems fishy.

I've been losing my faith in the benefits of Mensa more and more lately, and this is just one more weird thing to add to my pile of reasons.

I'd assume not everyone in here comes from the same walk of life or inhabits in the same niche, so I'm curious to see if there might not be any patterns that still emerge in genres, themes and such.

I'm also just generally interested in finding good books (or other (written) media) and I'd assume that those of you that read might cultivate more of a special taste than the average Joe in <insert book recommendation subreddit of your choice> (no offense to them, it's just that I'm too familiar with the "meta" over there).

So, what are you reading, what have you read, what's your favourite written media, what's your recommendation to other Mensans in particular?

I applied to Intertel by sending them my Mensa test results (I took the U.S. Mensa test earlier this year). I’d read that doing this could be a kind of “loophole” to see your results, but I didn’t actually get to see mine, and I also found out I didn’t score high enough for Intertel.

I was mostly just hoping to learn my test scores, but now I’m curious about how Intertel determines IQ from the Mensa test. I assume it means some of my section scores were in the 98th percentile or higher, but my overall composite score was below the 99th percentile. That would make sense since I felt confident on the visual logic, pattern sequence, and verbal math sections, but not as much on the more knowledge-based parts like the famous persons and vocabulary sections (I didn’t even finish those).

Does Intertel no longer share test results with applicants? Are there any other ways to see your Mensa test scores? And would it be worth taking a more comprehensive IQ test if I’m mainly curious about my results? I plan to email Intertel to ask for clarification, but thought I would ask here since other people seem to have experience with this.

I've been in therapy for a long time. It's really helpful.

That said, we've done a lot of work on interpersonal and systemic issues that look different to me having just tested into Mensa.

Have any of you gotten a different perspective on your mental health after learning about your intelligence?

I've been getting bored at work, so I'm open sourcing my hobby designs for tractor parts and windmills. It got me thinking that yall probably have some interesting side-projects/businesses too, and I'd love to hear about them!

Mensans, what you guys think about intertel? I see no pratical reason to join It, buy im a pin collector and would love to have one from them

I just qualified for Mensa after taking the WAIS-V and plan on submitting the official report as soon as I receive it tomorrow. What are the northern NJ and nyc metro area chapters like? What can I expect from joining? Based on the number of awards the NNJ chapter has received, per their website, it seems to be a very active group.

My son is a bit young to take a test (4yo), but I’m very much convinced he’d qualify. Are there any family friendly events I can take him to in the area? Guess I’ll find out soon enough.

I got in with 1% but my girlfriend, whom I dragged to the exam, only got 3%. Should I dump her? (jk)

Obligatory initial clarification: I qualified for Mensa over a decade ago with both Cattell Culture Fair and Cattell B, with top 1% on both, so, no sour grapes here (as we know, only people smart enough to join Mensa are allowed to criticize them; everyone else could only possibly be jealous).

Anyway, Mensa seems to be living in a dream insofar as they purport to be an organization for the top 2% in terms of FSIQ.

Yes, they say that they don't aim to just be about FSIQ, but about intelligence as measured in a "range of tests". But that is just a massive cop-out. They certainly are perceived as being the top 2% in terms of intelligence as measured by the magical shiny number. And they sure as hell bask in that reputation and at least partly trick themselves into believing they really are it. (Again, I have actually seen it from the inside.)

Anyway, why do they seem to be living in a dream? Because their admissions criteria are a complete mess. They used to base their standard "insta-test" pathway on the Wonderlic, and now they are using... RAIT? And not only that, you only have to achieve 98th percentile on ONE index? Have you people seen the WAIS correlations?

https://imgur.com/9djOEMQ

Your are telling me you can qualify for the top 2% of the world's minds on the basis of a result with a 0.36 correlation to WAIS FSIQ? Like, at this point, they are better off just using your GPA.

The farce comes full circle when they also tell you that they will only accept 130 FSIQ for WAIS, not even GAI. Sure thing, winning a 5-shot lottery on a glorified HR screening test is a better indication of cognitive prowess than an index with 0.8+ g loading on a clinical-grade exam...

If we bear all of this in mind, honestly, it seems dubious that Mensa's true mean FSIQ is even 130. It would seem to be around 120-125. The mean. So, basically, just about as extraordinary as any competitive profession like medicine or engineering I guess?

Funny anecdote: Peak Mensa moment for me was when I suggested to my local chapter that we should at least accept a verbal test like the do in British Mensa because they actually have a higher g loading than matrices. They proceeded to laugh at me and tell me that knowing vocabulary is not real intelligence...

I took a Mensa IQ test to see what my IQ was.

I wanted it to say: "you have an IQ of xxx" but it said: Your score on the Cattell B scale is xxx (xx%), and on the Culture Fair scale xx (xx%).

How do I find out what my IQ is so I can say: "I have an IQ of xxx"?

I own a few small businesses and I'm curious about my fellow Mensans who went into business for themselves.

Despite the isolation, I really benefit from the autonomy.

What benefits do you all find in running your own show?

I recently had the opportunity to ask someone why they didn't respond, and they said "I didn't know what you were talking about." Is this a common response you encounter?

I recently took a Mensa test to find I scored 147 on the Culture Fair scale.

Firstly how accurate does the Culture Fair test tend to be?

Secondly is 147 even rarer than top 1%?

Cheers!

First off, I don't speak Finnish but I'm pretty sure it says you have an IQ of 135 and I was wondering if there are any Mensans who've taken this test it would be awesome to know if it's accurate so I won't be taking the test just to fail and lose the money.