mensa

A society for the intellectually pretentious. Not all Mensa members are pretentious egomaniacs, but... ok, yes we are. But, some of us aren't snobs. Some people makes jokes about paying money to have an IQ test administered and then paying more money in annual dues just for the right to be in such an organization. I make those same jokes and I'm a member (It does make for good resume fluff and I will confirm that it has helped when my potential employers knew of the organization). The conversations are agonizing and the Mensa Bulletin (monthly magazine) runs a high probability of making your eyes bleed. The best part about being a Mensa member is knowing someone with about 130 IQ and calling them "normie" (cute term for those with normal intelligence. Get it?! Ha...) and talking down to them. Entrance to the organization requires a professionally administered IQ test with a result showing the taker to be in the top 2% of the population. For those without any previous qualifying tests, Mensa administers two tests ($30, which really isn't terribly bad for a professioanlly administered and graded test). A 98th percentile passing grade is only needed on one of the two tests. Scoring 99th percentile doesn't earn any kind of cool decoder ring, though, much to my dismay. Mensa members are frequently found with useless degrees like an Ed.D. They do this to be called "doctor." It's easier to get an Ed.D. than it is to get a real doctorate, but it requires less "useful" knowledge, and no one will have to know!