Does MENSA help or hurt?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

iampurestyle

Member
10+ Year Member
5+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
58
Reaction score
0
Heeeeeeeeeeelllllllooooooooooo...

It is a fact that med students are the smartest people around. Many of you are probably members of a high iq society. But I am wondering if it is beneficial or detrimental to list MENSA or other orgs.

Suppose I have spent some time going to group meetings and barbeques. Should I list it or is it totally unnecessary and does it make me look like the posters who ask (such a sad, sad situation..boo hoo ) if they should go to jhu,penn, or Hah-vahd??

Members don't see this ad.
 
Seriously, how and why could it hurt?
 
iampurestyle said:
Heeeeeeeeeeelllllllooooooooooo...

It is a fact that med students are the smartest people around. Many of you are probably members of a high iq society. But I am wondering if it is beneficial or detrimental to list MENSA or other orgs.

Suppose I have spent some time going to group meetings and barbeques. Should I list it or is it totally unnecessary and does it make me look like the posters who ask (such a sad, sad situation..boo hoo ) if they should go to jhu,penn, or Hah-vahd??

I think it's unnecessary and would make you look like a bit of a prick unless you had some kind of leadership role or something. If you're just going to social events then I personally I wouldn't list it (and didn't list it). That said, if it's important to you, then maybe you should put it on, because it shows who you are.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Yea I agree with not listing, unless it is very important to you. Even then, though, it smells like douchebaggery to me.
 
iampurestyle said:
It is a fact that med students are the smartest people around.
Uh... That's a fact, huh?

But to answer your question, I doubt it would help or hurt. The adcoms might think you are a tool, though.
 
iampurestyle said:
Heeeeeeeeeeelllllllooooooooooo...

It is a fact that med students are the smartest people around. Many of you are probably members of a high iq society. But I am wondering if it is beneficial or detrimental to list MENSA or other orgs.

Suppose I have spent some time going to group meetings and barbeques. Should I list it or is it totally unnecessary and does it make me look like the posters who ask (such a sad, sad situation..boo hoo ) if they should go to jhu,penn, or Hah-vahd??

Mensa is a meaningless credential -- truly smart people don't need to be card carrying members of an organization to prove that fact. Also note that a while back (when adcom members were med school age) all it took to get into Mensa was a good SAT score -- so they won't be particularly impressed.
 
Hello there,

I don't think it's arrogant to list mensa. I think if you enjoy logic puzzles, riddles, and games, then it would be relevant and appropriate to list an activity that reflects upon that. Moreover, it may make your application that much more unique. I'm sure adcoms frequently come across applicants who volunteer at the hospital, but how often do they see "mensa" as an extra curric??

The whole point of your application is to sell yourself as best possible. Don't sell yourself short! It's quite a precarious game, though, because there's such a thing as selling yourself too much. That's where the arrogance can bite you in the ass, especially during an interview. Just remain humble throughout, but there's no need to keep something like your mensa activity secret, unless of course it is just an exaggeration (e.g. you go to one meeting, therefore you are an active mensa member.) Exaggerations are a no-no, unless you can successfully pull them off without coming across as phony, of course :rolleyes:

Good luck!
 
Law2Doc said:
Mensa is a meaningless credential -- truly smart people don't need to be card carrying members of an organization to prove that fact. Also note that a while back (when adcom members were med school age) all it took to get into Mensa was a good SAT score -- so they won't be particularly impressed.

It still only takes a standardized exam (SAT, ACT, LSAT, MCAT, etc.) score at or above the 98th percentile to qualify to join, but I wouldn't call it a meaningless credential. Membership in any club or group that lacked any criteria for joining would by necessity then be meaningless. At least MENSA makes you prove you can take tests well.

Like a previous poster said, if you've held an office or coordinated events, etc., then list it. Otherwise, as with all groups, it's just another thing you signed up for that you didn't get involved in. (How many folks in your premed club does that describe?)

MENSA member since 1992
 
I don't need to pay MENSA a few hundred bucks for them to tell me I'm smart.

I do agree MENSA can be a great networking frame, tho.
 
Truce57 said:
It still only takes a standardized exam (SAT, ACT, LSAT, MCAT, etc.) score at or above the 98th percentile to qualify to join, but I wouldn't call it a meaningless credential.

Actually, I just looked at their website and now you need an IQ score of 98th percentile. Now me don't know how smart me am. Only SAT and MCAT scores say me smart, me no know me IQ.
 
Truce57 said:
It still only takes a standardized exam (SAT, ACT, LSAT, MCAT, etc.) score at or above the 98th percentile to qualify to join, but I wouldn't call it a meaningless credential.

Just to clarify, the MCAT will only qualify you for mensa if you took it before 1991....

"Mensa accepts the MCAT with the following guidelines:
Must have been taken between 4/78 and 11/91

The last two items--Skills analysis: Reading
and
Skills analysis: Quantitative
will be shown as "scaled scores". These two scores must total 23."

I think the SAT and ACT also have cutoff dates from quite a while ago.

To answer the original post...I'd go ahead and include it. Can't hurt.
 
iampurestyle said:
Heeeeeeeeeeelllllllooooooooooo...

It is a fact that med students are the smartest people around. Many of you are probably members of a high iq society. But I am wondering if it is beneficial or detrimental to list MENSA or other orgs.

Suppose I have spent some time going to group meetings and barbeques. Should I list it or is it totally unnecessary and does it make me look like the posters who ask (such a sad, sad situation..boo hoo ) if they should go to jhu,penn, or Hah-vahd??

I really think that any extremist groups are going to be a negative. If YOU consider MENSA an extremist group, then don't put it on. It's your call.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
iampurestyle said:
Heeeeeeeeeeelllllllooooooooooo...

It is a fact that med students are the smartest people around. Many of you are probably members of a high iq society. But I am wondering if it is beneficial or detrimental to list MENSA or other orgs.

Suppose I have spent some time going to group meetings and barbeques. Should I list it or is it totally unnecessary and does it make me look like the posters who ask (such a sad, sad situation..boo hoo ) if they should go to jhu,penn, or Hah-vahd??


Were you being serious when you said med students were the smartest people around? That's hilarious. I have been to so many jackass idiot doctors. Some of us are smart and some of us just memorize well and follow the rules. IQ is a racist, classist measurement of intelligence anyway.
 
Unfortunately, there are lots of doctors that are what I term "book smart and patient stupid". They can spout all kinds of garbage that will help them win $50 gazillion bucks on Jeopardy! but don't know how to treat a patient well if you waved a "student loan paid" check under their face.
 
Yeah, Mensa always comes across as snooty, so I wouldn't list it.

As an aside, although I think Mensa is silly, are the connections pretty good? I'm not thinking of anything along the lines of joining, but since frats provide connections, why shouldn't people take advantage of any honest organization they can use to network...
 
As an aside, although I think Mensa is silly, are the connections pretty good?



You are entitled to a club credit card which provides discounts at certain places (hotels, few restaurants, airlines)much like a AAA card,and a subscription to any MENSA publication. The only real benefit I have enjoyed is that this guy has taught me how to be infinitely better at chess (although I still suck). It's surprising but there are very few dorky people who show up. Most are middle-aged housewives and accountants, and are quite outgoing and friendly. As for networking, I cannot say that there are benefits. Maybe there are elsewhere??
 
MiesVanDerMom said:
Were you being serious when you said med students were the smartest people around? That's hilarious. I have been to so many jackass idiot doctors. Some of us are smart and some of us just memorize well and follow the rules. IQ is a racist, classist measurement of intelligence anyway.

Yes, there are many idiot doctors. Intelligence does not equal personality. That's why they should make admissions even harder!! lol...


As for your comments about IQ, I disagree completely. This reminds me of people in high school who complained that the SAT was not a true measure of anything simply because they didn't score well. Yes, there are definitely problems with IQ measurements. However, they are certainly not racist. The Bell Curve shows scientifically that there are inherent differences in cognitive abilites between people of different races. Why is it acceptable to say that people look and speak differently but not to say they think differently? IQ should be used more and more as a means of hiring people in any arena. It makes sense that those who are smarter should be our leaders.
 
The Bell Curve shows scientifically that there are inherent differences in cognitive abilites between people of different races.

Please tell me you've gone out for a troll ...

"The Bell Curve" was also denounced as classist, racist, reactionary, etc!

I rocked the SAT, the GRE, and the MCAT and I still believe that standardized testing is a grossly innacurate measurement of intelligence.
 
Truce57 said:
Membership in any club or group that lacked any criteria for joining would by necessity then be meaningless.

Really?
 
prana_md said:
Please tell me you've gone out for a troll ...

"The Bell Curve" was also denounced as classist, racist, reactionary, etc!

I rocked the SAT, the GRE, and the MCAT and I still believe that standardized testing is a grossly innacurate measurement of intelligence.


Yes, but Socrates, Galileo, Newton, Gandhi, Joan of Arc, Jesus, Salk were all denounced as well. Denouncements don't necessarily mean anything.

And The Bell Curve IS classist, racist, and reactionary BECAUSE that is exactly its point. The point was to show that there are inherent differences between people. And people got offended because the results may not have favored their "people". No one questions that Eastern Europeans (notably Uzbeks and Russians) are excellent chess players. Asians are great at martial arts and competitive cooking (Iron Chef..yeehaaa). Jamaicans are good at bobsledding!! There is nothing wrong with classifying people based on their abilites. Other species have certain members that are stronger than most, have prettier plumage, or swim faster. It is a totally egotistic illusion to try to make everyone on an equal playing field. It does not mean one people is *better* or *worse*, it just means they're *DIFFERENT*. As soon as people realize this the world will be a lot better.
 
Does anyone else think MENSA is kind of a stupid idea? I admittedly don't know that much about it, but is it just to meet and do smart people things? I think the only reason to be in a high IQ society is if you are really so smart that you just can't relate to other people, but MENSA isn't that selective. I know there are some IQ societies where you have to be like 99.999%ile or something and I can kind of see the purpose of that because if you are that smart, talking to a normal person is probably like me talking to a dog. But if your IQ is like 140, I think it's kind of douchey to be in a high IQ society because you're really not that much smarter than anyone else.
 
I don't buy the whole IQ thing. There are many reasons to take issue with it, but I'll just talk about the biggest one. And yes, some will dismiss this as sour grapes, but here goes:

The IQ tests are written by psychologists who may be intelligent but aren't necessarily in the top 1st, 2nd, 5th, or even 10th percentile. How can someone make a test that tests people of higher intelligence than himself? That makes no sense. I am intelligent as I think I am. If I could see the errors in my thinking, I wouldn't make them. Therefore, the mental ****** is the most intelligent person to himself, as is G.W. Bush, Tolstoy, Newton, and everyone else. At some point, you lose the capacity to see that an alternative view is logically (or in some other way) superior to your own. So, yes, I don't see any basis for someone with a nominal IQ of 125 to be writing a test that allegedly measures IQs up in the 190s. Unless you're saying that the people who write these tests are geniuses, but if they were, I doubt they'd spend their time writing such silly (and useless) tests.
 
mercaptovizadeh said:
The IQ tests are written by psychologists who may be intelligent but aren't necessarily in the top 1st, 2nd, 5th, or even 10th percentile. How can someone make a test that tests people of higher intelligence than himself? That makes no sense. I am intelligent as I think I am. If I could see the errors in my thinking, I wouldn't make them. At some point, you lose the capacity to see that an alternative view is logically (or in some other way) superior to your own. QUOTE]


Interesting point. I agree with you on principle, but it is not the case that individual psychologists must be at the IQ level for which they are testing. Those tests are designed by a team or teams of psychologists, which, according to the understanding of IQ as the ability to process information beyond one's expected ability at a certain age, the group arrangement essentially packs a ton of knowledge into one super IQ. The 15 people writing the test act as a single body, and thus have an enormously high capacity for creating chellenging tests for even those above the 200 mark.
 
iampurestyle said:
mercaptovizadeh said:
The IQ tests are written by psychologists who may be intelligent but aren't necessarily in the top 1st, 2nd, 5th, or even 10th percentile. How can someone make a test that tests people of higher intelligence than himself? That makes no sense. I am intelligent as I think I am. If I could see the errors in my thinking, I wouldn't make them. At some point, you lose the capacity to see that an alternative view is logically (or in some other way) superior to your own. QUOTE]


Interesting point. I agree with you on principle, but it is not the case that individual psychologists must be at the IQ level for which they are testing. Those tests are designed by a team or teams of psychologists, which, according to the understanding of IQ as the ability to process information beyond one's expected ability at a certain age, the group arrangement essentially packs a ton of knowledge into one super IQ. The 15 people writing the test act as a single body, and thus have an enormously high capacity for creating chellenging tests for even those above the 200 mark.

Yes, but this doesn't sound like intelligence, it just sounds like 1+1=1. I mean, let's say someone has an idea for a puzzle. Them someone else has an better idea (objectively speaking). If most of the group is at the level of appreciating the lower level puzzle, they will find this one attractive and interesting and the other one will, at some point, become entirely incomprehensible to them. So, the test will reflect the alleged mean intelligence with some scatter aroun that, but it cannot become some sort of absolute standard.

I mean, if you think about it, many of the greatest scientific discoveries were made by people who went beyond conventional logic and into the realm of the "illogical" - or some might even say "stupid." Relativity and quantum mechanics make little sense to conventional thinking. Most people (in fact all, innately) are Aristotelians, not Galileans.

So, at some level intelligence is no longer purely the ability to carry out a logical sequence to its "logical conclusion" but rather involves a creative element. It is this element that is absent in the IQ tests.

Added to that, they often test your knowledge base, which has zilch to do with intelligence.
 
crazy_cavalier said:
Hello there,

I don't think it's arrogant to list mensa. I think if you enjoy logic puzzles, riddles, and games, then it would be relevant and appropriate to list an activity that reflects upon that. Moreover, it may make your application that much more unique. I'm sure adcoms frequently come across applicants who volunteer at the hospital, but how often do they see "mensa" as an extra curric??

The whole point of your application is to sell yourself as best possible. Don't sell yourself short! It's quite a precarious game, though, because there's such a thing as selling yourself too much. That's where the arrogance can bite you in the ass, especially during an interview. Just remain humble throughout, but there's no need to keep something like your mensa activity secret, unless of course it is just an exaggeration (e.g. you go to one meeting, therefore you are an active mensa member.) Exaggerations are a no-no, unless you can successfully pull them off without coming across as phony, of course :rolleyes:

Good luck!

Well being in MENSA didn't seem to help me any. I guess it didn't hurt me either. I don't think I'm going to list it this year, because all I did was take the test to see if I could pass. Maybe they saw that as arrogant?
 
-
 
Last edited:
iampurestyle said:
Heeeeeeeeeeelllllllooooooooooo...

It is a fact that med students are the smartest people around. Many of you are probably members of a high iq society. But I am wondering if it is beneficial or detrimental to list MENSA or other orgs.

Suppose I have spent some time going to group meetings and barbeques. Should I list it or is it totally unnecessary and does it make me look like the posters who ask (such a sad, sad situation..boo hoo ) if they should go to jhu,penn, or Hah-vahd??

Hey, if you're in MENSA, then shouldn't you know whether it's a good idea to list it on your application? ;)
 
-
 
Last edited:
every1blowz said:
MENSA is so lame, and members are usually full of ****, and take themselves, and their little horde, way too seriously.

But sure, if done right and you don't come off as a jacka$$, it'll look good.

DENSA is where it's at. ;) :thumbup:

SDN is so lame, and members are usually full of ****, and take themselves, and their little horde, way too seriously. :)
 
Ummm....

 

Attachments

  • bunny.jpg
    bunny.jpg
    22.1 KB · Views: 104
Top