What is Mensa and Joining
What is Mensa?
Mensa is a worldwide social organization that fosters the interaction of smart people at the local, regional, national and international levels. Mensa International, Ltd counts 100,000 members around the world in over 100 national groups. Our national group, American Mensa, has about 57,000 members in over 130 local groups.
Member interaction takes place at local meetings, regional and national gatherings, through newsletters and in Internet discussion forums. Members can optionally elect to participate in about 140 official Special Interest Groups (SIGs). These SIGs, conducted through the Internet and newsletters, cover every imaginable (and un-imaginable) subject. The official SIG directory includes the following categories: Animals, Business/Industry, Computers/Internet, Crafts/Hobbies, Discussion, Education, Energy/Environment, Food, Games/Puzzles, Health/Exercise, International, Investments, Language, Lifestyle, Literature, Mathematics, Mensa Organization, Music/Entertainment, Outdoors, Parenting, Philosophy/Religion, Politics, Science, Social, Support, and Writing. This extensive listing is a great example of what Mensa members "are into" - basically everything. Note that while you'll run across a wide gamut of opinions when interacting with Mensa members, the organization itself "does not hold any opinions, or have, or express, any political or religious views."
The Mid-Hudson Group
Local Groups are at the focal point for member activities. Our Mid-Hudson group covers a large area of New York State: the counties of Dutchess, Orange,
Sullivan, Ulster, the mid and southern parts of Columbia, western and southern Greene, parts of south and west Delaware and small parts of Schoharie, Schenectady and Putnam.
Mid-Hudson Mensa members receive a monthly newsletter of news, views and local events and can interact electronically through our private discussion forum. Local activities are all proposed and organized by the membership. Most every month we meet-up for Scrabble Night, Eclectic Eatery Expedition, and Southern Orange County Evenings. Additional events we've hosted include museum trips, hiking and the Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo, NY.
How to Join
The key qualification for membership is to have scored at or above the 98th percentile - that's one person in 50 - on a standardized intelligence test at some point in your 
life. You can qualify for membership through a locally administered Mensa Admissions test or based on prior evidence, such as an elementary school cognitive test, college admissions test, psycholocical inteligence test, and military enlistment test. Don't worry if your prior evidence exam took place decades ago: scores are good forever! Some examples of commonly administed prior evidence tests, of the approximately 200 recognized by Mensa, include: SAT (prior to 1/31/94), GMAT, LSAT, Miller Analogies Test, Stanford Binet, and Otis-Lennon Tests.
Steps for Joining American Mensa
- Visit the American Mensa website and click the [JOIN MENSA] link for complete information on joining and member benefits.
- If you have to take the Mensa Admissions test or have additional questions, contact Mid-Hudson Mensa's Membership Officer, Chuck Whitesell at (845) 462-6184 our through e-mail.
If taking the Admissions test: have confidence! Nationally, more than six million people qualify for membership.
