Mensa in General
Maryland Mensa Today
Maryland Mensa’s Beginnings

Mensa in General

Mensa was founded in Oxford, England in 1946 by Roland Berrill, an Australian lawyer practicing in the United Kingdom as a barrister (a courtroom advocate); and Dr. Lancelot Ware, an English biochemist, barrister, and recipient of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. They had the idea of forming a society for bright people with the sole qualification for membership being a high intelligence quotient. The society today welcomes people from around the world in every walk of life whose IQ is in the top two percent of the general population—that is, an IQ of roughly 132 or better—with the objective of enjoying each other’s company and participating in a wide range of social and cultural activities.

The word “Mensa” means table in Latin. Mensa is a round table society, where race, color, creed, national origin, age, politics, and educational and social background are irrelevant.

Mensa has three stated purposes:

  • to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity;
  • encourage research in the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence; and
  • promote stimulating intellectual and social opportunities for its members.

Although individual Mensans often hold strong opinions, as you’ll see in the International Constitution of Mensa, the organization as a whole takes no stands on politics, religion, or social issues.

There is no single prevailing characteristic of Mensa members other than high IQ. There are members for whom Mensa provides a sense of family, and others for whom it is no more than a casual social activity. Many marriages have occurred in Mensa, but for most people it is simply a stimulating opportunity for the mind. Nearly all Mensans have a good sense of humor, and many—though far from all—like to talk. Often they have a lot to say.

Mensans have ranged in age from 2 years old to more than 100, but most are between 20 and 60. In education they range from preschoolers through high school dropouts to people with multiple doctorates. There are Mensans on welfare and Mensans who are millionaires. The range of member occupations is extensive: Mensa has professors and truck drivers, scientists and firefighters, computer programmers and farmers, artists and dentists, military people, musicians, laborers, police officers, glassblowers, actors, accountants, civil servants, and nearly anything else you can imagine.

There are two primary ways to join Mensa:

  • If you’re age 14 or older, you can take a supervised, standardized test administered by one of Maryland Mensa’s registered proctors (contact Testing Coordinator Michelle Hirsh at 240-476-6464 or mensamichelle77@hotmail.com); or
  • You can submit evidence of prior testing in the form of scores from supervised, standardized tests like the Stanford Binet, Miller Analogies Test, and earlier versions of the SAT, GRE, and other college preparatory and military tests.

Either way, if you’ve scored in the top two percent, you’ll qualify for American Mensa. Then it’s just a matter of paying your annual dues (currently $70).

Today there are about 134,000 Mensans in 100 countries throughout the world. American Mensa—which was founded by Peter Sturgeon, a medical writer in Brooklyn in 1960—currently has more than 50,000 members. British Mensa has the second largest national organization, with over 22,000 members. Some other national numbers:

  • Mensa in Deutschland has 12,500 members
  • Mensa Nederland 4,300 members
  • Mensa Czech Republic 3,300
  • Mensa Finland 3,000
  • Mensa France 2,500
  • Mensa Australia 2,000
  • Mensa Canada 2,000
  • Mensa India 1,500
  • Mensa Japan 1,500
  • Mensa Danmark 1,400
  • Mensa South Africa 1,300
  • Malaysian Mensa Society 900
  • Hellenic Mensa 800
  • Mensa Switzerland 800
  • Mensa Bulgaria 600
  • Mensa China (People’s Republic) 300
  • Mensa Pakistan 250

Maryland Mensa Today

American Mensa is divided up into ten regions, which contain 129 local groups (plus group 999, Isolated M, for members who are geographically or otherwise inaccessible). Maryland Mensa is local group number 210, and is part of region 2—the Middle Atlantic. Region 2 contains nine other local groups:

  1. Central New Jersey Mensa (local group 070);
  2. Delaware Valley Mensa (080);
  3. Central Pennsylvania Mensa (170);
  4. Lehigh Pocono Mensa (181);
  5. Delaware Mensa (197);
  6. Metropolitan Washington Mensa (200);
  7. Richmond Area Mensa (224);
  8. Thomas Jefferson Mensa (227); and
  9. Tidewater Mensa (233).

Maryland Mensa (MM) is defined by geography: It contains all of Maryland except for Montgomery County and Prince Georges County, which are part of Metropolitan Washington Mensa (MWM). MM is bordered on the south by MWM, Tidewater Mensa, and Richmond Area Mensa; on the east by Delaware Mensa; on the north by Delaware Valley Mensa and Central Pennsylvania Mensa; and on the west by Vandalia Mensa (part of region 3: Great Lakes and Ohio Valley).

As of mid-August, 2018, Maryland Mensa’s membership was 613, which ranked us 26th in order of size in American Mensa (just above Lone Star Mensa and behind Northern New Jersey Mensa). MWM is the largest local group in region 2, with nearly 1900 members, and Delaware Mensa is the smallest (a little over 150 members). The largest group in American Mensa is Greater New York Mensa, with over 1900 members. The smallest group is currently Lubbock Mensa, with not quite 40.

Sixty-eight percent of Maryland’s Mensans are male and 32 percent are female, compared with 66 percent male and 33 percent female nationally. The elected leadership of both American Mensa, including both national and local officers, and Maryland Mensa is evenly divided by gender today. (MM’s ninth voting Executive Committee member, the Immediate Past President, is male.) Maryland Mensa keeps no membership age statistics, but nationally, about 38 percent of American Mensans are Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and the mid-1960s); 31 percent are Gen-Xers (born between the mid-60s and the early 1980s); and five percent are under the age of 18.

Fourteen percent of Maryland Mensans are life members of Mensa—that is, they’ve paid lump sums currently ranging from $1604 for a nine-year-old through $153 for a centenarian to secure membership in American Mensa for the remainder of their lives.

Maryland Mensa’s calendar listings ordinarily range from six to 10 events each month, with another 30 or so activities sponsored by Metropolitan Washington Mensans in each consolidated MM-MWM calendar. All of the members of both groups are invited to attend all of each other’s events. Typical activities include a general MM membership meeting (usually with a speaker) each month, salons, dinners, discussion groups, parties, games (including bridge), visits to local institutions (e.g., art galleries, museums, the Supreme Court), concerts, lectures, theater (live and film), target shooting, lunches, book swaps, hikes, gifted youth programs, and so forth.

Maryland Mensa’s governing body is called an Executive Committee. It contains nine voting members. Eight of them are elected officers—President and Local Secretary, First Vice President (Membership), Second Vice President (Programs), Treasurer, Recording Secretary, Newsletter Editor, and two At-large Members—with the ninth being a formerly elected officer: the Immediate Past President and Local Secretary. The Executive Committee also includes eight appointed positions: a Scholarship Chair or co-chairs, a Website Director or co-directors, a Regional Gathering Chair or co-chairs, an Annapolis Subgroup Coordinator, an Eastern Shore Subgroup Coordinator, a Western Maryland Subgroup Coordinator, a Northern Maryland Subgroup Coordinator, and a Southern Maryland Subgroup Coordinator. MM’s other appointed officers include a Social Media Coordinator, a S.I.G.H.T. Coordinator (Service of Information, Guidance, and Hospitality to Travelers), a Proctor (testing) Coordinator, a Gifted Youth Coordinator, a Parliamentary Advisor, a Mensa License Plate Coordinator (for Maryland automotive tags), a Newsletter Circulation Manager, and a Mediator. The responsibilities and functions for most of the positions are described in Article III (Officers and Duties) of MM’s current bylaws. (In order to view the bylaws, you’ll need to log into the Members Area of Maryland Mensa’s website using your member number and the password issued to you when you last renewed with American Mensa.)