TOP 2 IQ Percentile Re: [extropy-chat] Seven cents an hour?

[Adrian Tymes]

--- xllb <godsdice at gmail.com> wrote:
> 1. Has anyone included MENSA membership on a resume? What was the
> reaction
> of the readers?

Someone, somewhere, has undoubtedly done so, and someone, somewhere,
has undoubtedly done so to positive effect.  However, the consensus,
whenever this is raised within Mensa's disucssion lists, is that it's
most often better to omit it lest it be perceived as evidence of
arrogance, boasting, and other qualities unhelpful to most jobs.  (In
the rare case that the employer wants Mensans specifically, the
employer will usually explicitly ask, either in the want ad or in the
interview.)

> 2. I thought it might be affirming to find out that I qualified.
> MENSA's web
> site told me that a high enough LSAT score would automatically get me
> in. I
> immediately called my Law School Records Office to ask how I'd go
> about
> getting confirmation of my score.

Mensa accepts most of the standardized tests used for college
admissions, albeit depending on the year you took them (to reflect
changing demographics and, more importantly, changing tests - a score
that would qualify in one given year may only reflect the upper fifth
percentile in another year).  I recall there was some controversy a few
years back about dropping one of them - it may have been the SAT -
because the test was becoming too subjective to measure IQ.

> 3. It turns out that their records don't go back that far. I have
> never felt
> so old.

This relates to a topic I've idly wondered about on occasion, but never
enough to google it: how much of a problem do 30-and-overs, who have
not been in an academic environment for many years, but who now seek to
enter or re-enter college (say, to get the degree they should have
sought immediately after high school but did not for whatever reason),
face from the fact that their transcripts, test scores, and other
academic records (normally used by colleges for determining who to
admit) are largely no longer available?