So you have decided to join Mensa! Congratulations! Joining Mensa is a great honor and gets you access to tons of benefits. With over 100,000 members across the globe, Mensa offers a great community for anyone looking to challenge themselves intellectually and continue to foster more and more connections with new friends worldwide.
Joining Mensa might seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In this article, we’ll be breaking down just what it takes to join Mensa. From taking an IQ test to paying your membership fees, we’ll be discussing it all. We want you to feel prepared to go out and join Mensa, so we are equipping you with all the tools necessary to do just that!
What Does Mensa Do?
What Does Mensa Do?Mensa is an organization that is designed to provide a sense of community and foster continued educational discussions amongst the world’s top 2% intellectually. The organization has been around since 1946 and functions worldwide. Mensa has over 100,000 members who are all able to connect and learn from one another through their membership with Mensa.
Mensa means table in Latin and is used to signify the goal of the organization, which is to bring people together and foster intellectual conversations. This style of discussion is typically called a round-table discussion; thus, the organization’s name was born.
What are the Benefits of Joining Mensa?
Mensa offers its members lots of benefits. It might seem a little pricey when you first look at the Mensa membership fees, which we’ll discuss in detail later on in this article. Still, it is important to remember that Mensa comes with lots of benefits, not only in your home country but also within the greater international community.
The main benefit of joining Mensa is that you get access to a community of like-minded individuals who live all over the world. Mensa provides means for its members to connect and discuss all sorts of different issues and topics. The goal of the organization is to help foster intelligence for the benefit of humanity, and it does this through its members.
Another excellent benefit of Mensa is its SIGHT program. The Service of Information, Guidance, and Hospitality for Travelers program, or SIGHT for short, is a Mensa-only couch surfing program. The aim is to make international travel more accessible for Mensa members and to allow them to connect with other Mensa members all over the globe.
The third big draw to Mensa in the US is the special interest groups or SIGs. These SIGs allow people to connect across the US and discuss topics that they enjoy. This could be a gardening SIG, a computer programming SIG, or pretty much anything else you can think of. There are well over 100 SIGs that Mensa members can join in the US, making it a big draw to the organization.
Similar to SIGs, the online Mensa community offers members access to Workplace by Facebook. This online community serves as an international version of SIGs and allows Mensa members to connect with other Mensa members over shared interests. Using Workplace is a great way to meet Mensa members from all over the world who are interested in the same topics as you!
Who is Eligible to Join Mensa?
The short answer is that anyone is eligible to join Mensa as long as they meet the intellectual baseline. In order to be eligible to join Mensa, you will need to take either the IQ test that Mensa offers or any of the other IQ tests that are pre-approved by Mensa. You will need to score in the top 98th percentile or the top 2% of all test-takers in order to join Mensa.
That all being said, ultimately, there are no restrictions besides that to join Mensa. The organization accepts people of all ages, from all backgrounds, from all over the world, who do all different types of professions. The only criterion to join is that you score intellectually in the top 2% of the world.
How Much Does It Cost to Join Mensa?
Joining Mensa can be a little costly, so make sure you think about whether joining is really the best choice. There is a yearly cost associated with being a member of Mensa, but we’ll discuss all the different ways you can pay it below. In general, the membership fees for Mensa cover all the great programming they offer for their members, as well as help, cover some of the test publication and oversight costs.
If you only want to pay for one year of Mensa, you will be paying $79. If you want to pay for three years at a time, you can save $22 and just pay $215. The other year-based option for paying for your membership is to buy a five-year membership to Mensa. The five-year membership will save you $45, but it will cost you $350.
The other option to join Mensa is to pay for a lifetime membership. Lifetime membership prices are calculated based on your age when you apply for them, so younger members will pay more since it is expected that they will be in Mensa for longer. If you think Mensa is a good long-term choice for you, you may want to check and see if it is more cost-effective for you to invest in lifetime membership.
When Can I Take the Mensa Test?
The short answer is anytime. You can test into Mensa at any point in your life. If you are under 14, the testing requirements vary slightly from that of adults, but you are still able to test into Mensa. You can test into Mensa as young as two years old, so don’t let age be a factor that holds you back from looking into how to join Mensa.
Joining Mensa can have immense benefits for anyone of any age. You need to find a Mensa-approved test that will work for your age group. If you are looking to take the Mensa IQ test itself, you must be over 14, but Mensa still accepts other tests for children under 14.
Assuming you are an adult, you are able to take the Mensa test either in person at a testing center, or you can pay a slightly higher fee for a private, electronic exam to be administered. If you opt to test at a testing center, you will be paying around $60 for your Mensa IQ test. If you opt to take the private electronic exam, you should expect to pay approximately $99.
3 Steps How to Join Mensa
Joining Mensa is relatively straightforward, but it is important to know what to expect from the process. Here we’ll break down the three main steps to joining Mensa. Keep in mind that this article is focused primarily on joining the US chapter of Mensa, but that many of these steps apply to many different chapters of Mensa worldwide.
Take a Mensa IQ test or equivalent.
Taking a Mensa administered or Mensa approved test is the only way to be admitted into Mensa. We recommend taking a Mensa practice test first to see if you might get a score that would qualify you for Mensa. There are many different testing options available to you, so make sure you find the one that works best for you and is financially doable for you.
There are options that require you to go to a testing center in order to take your IQ test, but there are also options that allow for remote testing. Of course, Mensa has virtual testing options available in this digital day and age! If you are someone who doesn’t live near a Mensa-approved testing center, you have nothing to worry about.
Receive your score back from the testing agency
Depending on the testing organization that you go with, you may have to wait a little bit to get your scores back. In this case, just wait until the organization sends you your official scores. You will need your official scores to be admitted into Mensa, so don’t even bother trying if you only have your unofficial scores. Wait for your official scores to sign up for Mensa.
We cannot stress enough that you need your official scores in order to sign up for Mensa. If you try to sign up and create an account with an unofficial score, like the ones that some testing organizations give you on the day of your test, you won’t be accepted into Mensa.
Sign up for your Mensa membership online
You will sign up for Mensa through your national chapter’s website. You will need a credit card to pay the membership fees and an official copy of your test scores from a Mensa-approved testing organization. If you go to the international Mensa website, they have links to all national Mensa chapters across the globe.
After signing up online, wait for about ten days, and you should receive your new Mensa membership card in the mail. Along with your Mensa card, you should receive a Mensa welcome packet. The welcome packet will break down all the benefits that you will receive as a part of Mensa and let you know of any opportunities that you might now be able to take advantage of.
If you were a member of Mensa before and just let your membership slide, don’t worry, you don’t have to retest. You will need to start paying your membership fees again and reactivate your Mensa account, but once you have tested once, you won’t ever need to test again!
Wrapping Things Up: How to Join Mensa: 3 Steps to Success
Joining Mensa is quite a simple process, but it can have lots of advantages. Once you are a member of Mensa, you are considered to be in the top 2% intellectually of the world. That is a considerable achievement that can’t be overstated. As a member of Mensa, you will be a part of an international community of over 100,000 strong that is dedicated to fostering human intelligence through connection and communication.
We hope that we have provided you with enough information to go out and join your local chapter of Mensa! Regardless of where you live in the world, there is a Mensa chapter that you can join. Remember, the only requirement to be in Mensa is that your test scores must be in the 98th percentile or above.
Because you read this post, you may also enjoy our post on the best Mensa reading list here.
