eliseot@csusac.csus.edu (Tim Eliseo) (08/21/86)
Recently I have become very active in an organization known as Mensa. Mensa is an international social club, with chapters in most major cities. Mensa's sole qualification for membership is a score in the 98th percentile or better (compared to the general population) on an intelligence test (for example, the qualifying score for the SAT is 1250). Mensa's purpose is to allow like minded individuals to meet and have fun together (a majority of members, including myself, are single). Mensa received a bunch of publicity around November 1985 which made more people aware of its existence, and helped to dispel the myth that all members are eggheads who like to sit around, intellectualize, and talk about their test scores. (If you are interested in joining, try looking in your local phone book under Mensa to get more info.) I have been coordinating an Under 30's group and a Mensa-on-Campus group at CSUS, both of which operate as SIGs of Sacramento Regional Mensa. I have found that so far the enthusiasm locally for younger people's groups has been great, but the numbers have been relatively small. I would very much like to hear from anyone else who knows of similar groups in other cities and at other campuses (especially in California) to exchange ideas on events and advertising. I'd also like to hear from anyone who is interested in starting a new group in their area. If there is enough interest, we might even be able to get a national SIG started. Please do not post responses to the net, as we do not yet receive a full news feed. Please contact me via one of the methods below. I'll be waiting to hear from you! Tim Eliseo {ucbvax,lll-crg}!ucdavis!csusac!eliseot ihnp4!pesnta!csusac!eliseot 7673 Greenback Lane #1031, Citrus Heights, CA 95610-6627; 916-722-7437
obrien@randvax.UUCP (Michael O'Brien) (08/26/86)
I've been curious lately about whatever happened to a society I heard of many years ago, called the Four Sigma Society. It was supposedly a Mensa for Mensans: to get in you had to be four standard deviations out on the intelligence curve (high end only, I would imagine :-). Did this sucker fold due to lack of membership? Is it still around? Just curious... -- Mike O'Brien The Rand Corporation {sdcrdcf,decvax}!randvax!obrien obrien@rand-unix.arpa
gerber@mit-amt.MIT.EDU (Andrew S. Gerber) (08/27/86)
In article <163@csusac.csus.edu> eliseot@csusac.csus.edu (Tim Eliseo) writes: >Recently I have become very active in an organization known as Mensa. ... >Mensa's sole qualification for membership is a score in the >98th percentile or better (compared to the general population) on an >intelligence test (for example, the qualifying score for the SAT is >1250). I've always kinda wondered about Mensa. It really doesn't seem so special. According to the qualifying score, nearly everyone at MIT would be a member. Is this selective? -Andy -- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Andrew S. Gerber MIT '87 Visible Language Workshop | | gerber@mit-amt.MIT.EDU, gerber@mit-mc.lcs.mit.edu, gerber@athena.mit.edu | | UUCP: decvax!mit-eddie!mit-amt!gerber decvax!mit-eddie!mit-athena!gerber | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+