Frequently Asked Questions About Mensa
What is Mensa? (and) What is MWM?
(Ultra-quick and snappy definitions for casual visitors)
Documents About Mensa
(The history of Mensa and other interesting documents)The ExComm (and Past LocSecs)
(a list of who’s who (and who was who) on the Executive Committee)The Cap-M Masthead
(The editors of MWM’s newsletter and its editorial policies)
Useful and Interesting
Learn about Little M.
The MWM E-Directory
(A few links for e-mail and WWW home pages of MWM members and famous Mensans) Our “Freedom of Speech on the Internet” policyRead all about the history of Little M.
The word "Mensa" means "table" in Latin. The name stands for a round-table society, where race, color, creed, national origin, age, politics, and educational or social background are irrelevant.Officially, Mensa's stated purposes are "to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; to encourage research in the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence; and to provide a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members."
Mensa takes no stand on politics, religion, or social issues. Mensa encompasses members from so many different countries and cultures, and with many different points of view. For Mensa to espouse a particular point of view would go against its role as a forum for all points of view.
Metropolitan Washington Mensa serves the greater D.C. area — the District of Columbia, the nearby suburbs of Montgomery and Prince George’s County, Maryland, and the nearby suburbs of Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax County, Virginia — and even a few hardy souls in West Virginia. Prospective members are welcome to “sample” us at our monthly gathering, the New Members’ Open House, which is usually held from two to five p.m. on the last Sunday of each month. Click here for a link to information about the next NMOH.
Could you become a Mensan?Mensa is a social club for people who do well on multiple-choice and similar tests. Members tend to be very good — among the top two percent of the population — at two out of the seven forms of intelligence (logico-mathematical [Einstein] and linguistic [Shakespeare]) and anywhere from genius to moron in the other five kinds (music [Mozart], aesthetics [Georgia O’Keefe], interpersonal relationships [Dear Abby/Ann Landers], intrapersonal relationships [Buddha], and kinesthetics, that is, physical intelligence [Babe Zakaris]). If you are reading this, you are probably eligible for membership in Mensa. We invite you to take the Mensa admissions test.
What are MWMers like? We run the gamut, of course, from naughty to nice, from weird to normal, from extrovert to introvert, having only our top-two-percent IQs in common. Brave souls have sent us short biographies — basically any information about themselves they’re willing for the world to know. Introduce yourself! — send a hundred words or fewer, written in the third person (as if by your best friend), to one of your friendly Webmasters.
Metropolitan Washington Mensa.