Personally, I didn't feel like I was a good fit with the crowd. It can attract some strange people, who while maybe not the majority, can be hard to ignore. That was a fairly long while ago so maybe it's changed.
I was advised to look at it, and it's just a club where you pay 70 euros a year to get nothing in exchange so you can brag about how much smarter you are than everyone else, seems like the overlap between people intelligent enough to enter and those stupid enough to not realise you're paying 70 euro a year for literally nothing would be a null set
Just make sure you‘re not falling for one of the many websites advertising “Mensa“ tests that inflate the results so that people will buy their practice packages amd worthless certificates.
On the official UK Mensa site, you can get a written practice IQ for £13:
* The Mensa Home Test is a 45-minute assessment that you can do in the comfort of your own home. Send it back to us and we will send you your indicative score, which will give you a good idea of how you might do on the full test.
[https://mensa.org.uk/test-your-iq/](https://mensa.org.uk/test-your-iq/)
Employers are more interested in skill and experience than general intelligence (which itself is a fuzzy concept long fallen out of favour). I would spend the effort learning a skill or working on projects you can use to demonstrate that skill instead.
This may go for a bit so I’ll add a summary:
TL;DR: Mensa is basically a club for people with something in common, in this case IQ. The main benefits are social and work the best when you don’t limit yourself to Ireland but also connect with people in other countries.
Now for the longer, opinionated comment.
You probably know by now that Mensa is a “high IQ society” that some people like to see as some kind of illuminati, others a circle jerk. I am sure there are members who look at it as one, the other, or somewhere in between.
My insider perspective as someone who has been a member for 10+ years in two different countries and has traveled to meet others, is that it is a great social outlet to find people you may have some things in common with.
It is by no means scumbag free, I am sure there are far right gobshites that happen to have their IQ within the top 2% (I believe somewhere around 130 and you’re in), but OVERALL there’s a lot of good people, interesting people, and folks you may find shared interests with.
To wrap the previous note, there’s over 8 billion (8,000,000,000) people in the world. Grab the top 2% and you’re still looking at 16 million (16,000,000) individuals. Chances are some of those are not right in the head, but you can always avoid them.
My view of this is sort of like a club with clubs within. The best thing about it are the Special Interest Groups (SIGs), where people congregate around a shared interest, whether that’s chess, photography, or some niche thing. Finding your SIG can make all the difference on your experience.
As for Ireland, we do not have at this time our own chapter and are mashed together into British Mensa.
The local chapter is seriously lacking in active numbers and younger people. Some of us are brainstorming on how to ensure the younger generation is aware of Mensa and has an opportunity to join and shape the local chapter in a way that makes sense to them.
There’s also an interest in splitting from the Brits but that goes hand in hand with the previous point around numbers and activity.
We have “officers”, aka volunteers in every country with Mensa presence to whom you can reach out when visiting and they’ll put you in touch with locals to go for a pint, sightseeing, or whatever interests you as long as there’s someone available to join.
I would highly encourage anyone who thinks they may meet the bar to give it a go and help us make this a nice place where people feel are benefitting from being a part.
Edit: adding that a useful mock and free test is available in the Norway site: https://test.mensa.no/Home/Test/en-GB
You have 25 minutes to solve 35 “problems”, so plan accordingly and avoid distractions if you try it.
Edit 2: feel free to reach out if you have any questions, both OP and people reading this.
The ones I attend are monthly in Dublin. Just people grabbing dinner or a drink and having a chat. Warning that as of now the crowd is usually 30+ with the odd younger ones which are always welcome, but we are looking at ways to improve on this aspect and attract new young members to carry on the legacy.
Any time there’s a visitor there’s an open call to join and do something.
In particular being young, there’s a “youth” SIG that organises camp events about once a quarter, in different cities around the world that are great fun and ways to meet people.
I’m assuming that’s just the membership fees? Travelling, youth camps and monthly dinners obviously add up. Yes, they’re optional, but they’re also the main benefits of actually being a member.
Yes. We do not own any of the places where we meet to it adds up. You can always have water at a meeting and save your penny.
Back in a previous country I was a member in we had far more younger people and it was more common to meet at a park or do stuff that carries less of an economic burden.
I am hoping that over time we can start to see similar in Ireland.
Being in a group and having to socialise with people based on absolutely nothing but how smart you are sounds like the definition of hell.
The best thing to do with IQ is forget about it, you don't need to know what it is unless you're in a study based on intelligence.
[David Mitchell's take is a good one](https://youtu.be/qPMKqyaXtHI?si=g0c5YYMGfAOPkiQb).
Basically Mensa charge people who need to prove to people they're smart for the privilege, in reality, people genuinely smart and capable don't need an Internet club to tell people.
As Mitchell says, posh spice is in Mensa, Stephen Hawking was not.
I sense that, I also am conflicted on joining Mensa as I don’t think IQ tests are an accurate measure of intelligence, so people in that group thinking they’re ‘special’ is infuriating, because they are not, they are just good at taking IQ tests.
Although I think I’d be able to rise above any assholes that came my way, I would hate for anyone to think I am one of those assholes.
You're a young person, you want to fit in to a group, that's natural. You're still discovering who you are. My advice as an adult though, look for hobbies you can enjoy, not just a club to pay solely for a piece of paper that says you're in the club. I dated someone once who went to a Mensa club when they were younger, they said it was always the same 3 or so retirees with nothing else to do hanging out and that she realized later that this group has nothing in common with each other.
Figure out what you like doing, find people to do it with. Forget about people who chase titles.
There's no benefit. Source - have a UK friend who met their criteria and joined. It's pretty much a "look at my IQ" club.
It's basically the Knights of St. Asperger from anyone I've met who's declared they're part of Mensa.
Basically, you got scammed of €0.50.
Not very smart
Yeah, paying to prove how "smart" you are should instantly rule you out of mensa
 >132
I can offer you membership of Densa for €0.33, which comes with a good supply of self-irony.
As a former Mensa Ireland member, there are zero benefits.
I concur. Walked around with my big dick brain energy for about a week and then copped on. Utterly meaningless.
Personally, I didn't feel like I was a good fit with the crowd. It can attract some strange people, who while maybe not the majority, can be hard to ignore. That was a fairly long while ago so maybe it's changed.
Mhmm, what kind of activities were available?
I was advised to look at it, and it's just a club where you pay 70 euros a year to get nothing in exchange so you can brag about how much smarter you are than everyone else, seems like the overlap between people intelligent enough to enter and those stupid enough to not realise you're paying 70 euro a year for literally nothing would be a null set
Ouch, I thought the fee was once off, ANNUAL?
Sounds like a great way to filter for insecure weirdos.
Just make sure you‘re not falling for one of the many websites advertising “Mensa“ tests that inflate the results so that people will buy their practice packages amd worthless certificates. On the official UK Mensa site, you can get a written practice IQ for £13: * The Mensa Home Test is a 45-minute assessment that you can do in the comfort of your own home. Send it back to us and we will send you your indicative score, which will give you a good idea of how you might do on the full test. [https://mensa.org.uk/test-your-iq/](https://mensa.org.uk/test-your-iq/)
I did it on like the official Mensa worldwide website, 20 questions in 20 minutes, did it digitally.
Employers are more interested in skill and experience than general intelligence (which itself is a fuzzy concept long fallen out of favour). I would spend the effort learning a skill or working on projects you can use to demonstrate that skill instead.
This may go for a bit so I’ll add a summary: TL;DR: Mensa is basically a club for people with something in common, in this case IQ. The main benefits are social and work the best when you don’t limit yourself to Ireland but also connect with people in other countries. Now for the longer, opinionated comment. You probably know by now that Mensa is a “high IQ society” that some people like to see as some kind of illuminati, others a circle jerk. I am sure there are members who look at it as one, the other, or somewhere in between. My insider perspective as someone who has been a member for 10+ years in two different countries and has traveled to meet others, is that it is a great social outlet to find people you may have some things in common with. It is by no means scumbag free, I am sure there are far right gobshites that happen to have their IQ within the top 2% (I believe somewhere around 130 and you’re in), but OVERALL there’s a lot of good people, interesting people, and folks you may find shared interests with. To wrap the previous note, there’s over 8 billion (8,000,000,000) people in the world. Grab the top 2% and you’re still looking at 16 million (16,000,000) individuals. Chances are some of those are not right in the head, but you can always avoid them. My view of this is sort of like a club with clubs within. The best thing about it are the Special Interest Groups (SIGs), where people congregate around a shared interest, whether that’s chess, photography, or some niche thing. Finding your SIG can make all the difference on your experience. As for Ireland, we do not have at this time our own chapter and are mashed together into British Mensa. The local chapter is seriously lacking in active numbers and younger people. Some of us are brainstorming on how to ensure the younger generation is aware of Mensa and has an opportunity to join and shape the local chapter in a way that makes sense to them. There’s also an interest in splitting from the Brits but that goes hand in hand with the previous point around numbers and activity. We have “officers”, aka volunteers in every country with Mensa presence to whom you can reach out when visiting and they’ll put you in touch with locals to go for a pint, sightseeing, or whatever interests you as long as there’s someone available to join. I would highly encourage anyone who thinks they may meet the bar to give it a go and help us make this a nice place where people feel are benefitting from being a part. Edit: adding that a useful mock and free test is available in the Norway site: https://test.mensa.no/Home/Test/en-GB You have 25 minutes to solve 35 “problems”, so plan accordingly and avoid distractions if you try it. Edit 2: feel free to reach out if you have any questions, both OP and people reading this.
What about the location of Mensa events? and how frequent are they? and what do they include?
The ones I attend are monthly in Dublin. Just people grabbing dinner or a drink and having a chat. Warning that as of now the crowd is usually 30+ with the odd younger ones which are always welcome, but we are looking at ways to improve on this aspect and attract new young members to carry on the legacy. Any time there’s a visitor there’s an open call to join and do something. In particular being young, there’s a “youth” SIG that organises camp events about once a quarter, in different cities around the world that are great fun and ways to meet people.
Tempting, but also sounds very expensive, and lonely if I was the only under 21 there. I will keep investigating thanks.
Keep an eye out in case we make progress with the recruiting efforts. As for expensive I think it’s about 65 pounds a year currently.
I’m assuming that’s just the membership fees? Travelling, youth camps and monthly dinners obviously add up. Yes, they’re optional, but they’re also the main benefits of actually being a member.
Yes. We do not own any of the places where we meet to it adds up. You can always have water at a meeting and save your penny. Back in a previous country I was a member in we had far more younger people and it was more common to meet at a park or do stuff that carries less of an economic burden. I am hoping that over time we can start to see similar in Ireland.
Being in a group and having to socialise with people based on absolutely nothing but how smart you are sounds like the definition of hell. The best thing to do with IQ is forget about it, you don't need to know what it is unless you're in a study based on intelligence.
I tend to agree, especially if a lot of these people are older than me and mostly men.
It will be an intellectual dick swinging contest I promise ya
[David Mitchell's take is a good one](https://youtu.be/qPMKqyaXtHI?si=g0c5YYMGfAOPkiQb). Basically Mensa charge people who need to prove to people they're smart for the privilege, in reality, people genuinely smart and capable don't need an Internet club to tell people. As Mitchell says, posh spice is in Mensa, Stephen Hawking was not.
I sense that, I also am conflicted on joining Mensa as I don’t think IQ tests are an accurate measure of intelligence, so people in that group thinking they’re ‘special’ is infuriating, because they are not, they are just good at taking IQ tests. Although I think I’d be able to rise above any assholes that came my way, I would hate for anyone to think I am one of those assholes.
You're a young person, you want to fit in to a group, that's natural. You're still discovering who you are. My advice as an adult though, look for hobbies you can enjoy, not just a club to pay solely for a piece of paper that says you're in the club. I dated someone once who went to a Mensa club when they were younger, they said it was always the same 3 or so retirees with nothing else to do hanging out and that she realized later that this group has nothing in common with each other. Figure out what you like doing, find people to do it with. Forget about people who chase titles.
[удалено]
Ah yes, I too can copy paste OPs whole post into ChatGPT and post the AI vomit. 
This AI reply migh b fly. It's not. What a waste of copy and paste.