General Mensa Info

What is Mensa?

Mensa is an international society which has only one requirement for membership: a score in the top 2 percent on a standardized IQ test. Mensa follows no political agenda and holds no opinions, but rather serves two purposes: (1) as a social organization, it provides a means of communication and assembly for its members, and (2) under the auspices of MERF (Mensa Education and Research Foundation), promotes research and understanding in the area of human intelligence.

Mensa is mostly a social organization. Local groups usually have monthly meetings where members gather and engage in conversation. In addition, there are other activities that each local group can organize. For instance, New Orleans Mensa has a restaurant group and a happy hour group.

In addition to the local group activity, many local groups across the US hold Regional Gatherings (RGs) where Mensans from all over gather at a hotel and have fun playing games, listening to lectures, dancing, eating, and more often than not, things involving chocolate. There are so many local groups in the United States, that there is likely an RG going on every weekend of the year somewhere.

Every year, there is an Annual Gathering (AG), held around July 4th weekend, where Mensans from all over the US (and from other countries) meet. The attendance at the AGs is usually over 1,200. It's like an RG, but on a much bigger scale.

Since Mensa is an international society, there groups in countries around the world.

Qualifying Scores

Below are some of the more popular tests; more scores are available at the American Mensa web site on the page http://www.us.mensa.org/join/testscores/qualifyingscores .

Notice that most of these tests have dates; they apply to when the test was taken, not when you submit your application. If you do not see a particular test on this page or on the Mensa web site, you may contact the national office directly at the address below.

Also, note that you only have to pass ONE of these test ONCE.

If you do not have a qualifying test, Mensa offers its own qualifying test (limited to people ages 14 and older) in both a proctored form (alone or in a group) and a take-at-home form.

The current testing fees are:

• Proctored Mensa qualifying test: $40.00
• Evidence of prior testing evaluation: $40.00
• Mensa home test: $18.00

Dues

The current dues for the year 2012 is $63 for one year. There are multi-year payment plans available. There is even a Lifetime Membership option which is based on actuarial statistics (the younger you are, the more you pay --- it's cheap if you're already 100 :-).

Contacting American Mensa

The U.S. Mensa society can be contacted through:

American Mensa, Ltd
1229 Corporate Drive
West Arlington, TX 76006-6103
Phone: (817) 607-0060
Fax: (817) 649-5232
Info Line: 1-800-66-MENSA
Email: mailto:AmericanMensa@mensa.org
Web site: http://www.us.mensa.org/

The International Mensa Organization web site is at: http://www.mensa.org/ .