high IQ waste of life?

I used to get dragged to Mensa meetings as a child. It was a bunch of old people who’d sit around and talk about how they got out of working. It’s really the only reason to be in Mensa (networking with other lazy bums).

My two cousins are MENSA types - they both work at the city water company, dad got them a job there and both are close to retiring. IMHO wasting your gift working for the water company is stupid. So, yes ... they are lazy wastes of brain power doing work that HS grads could easily do. Basically, average job, making average wages. meh.

the golden retriever of letsrun wrote:

does anyone else have a high IQ as tested by MENSA or school and feel they have wasted it?

I have an IQ of 154 as tested by Stanford-Binet and supported by multiple standardized test equivalents (GMAT, SAT, etc.).

I don't think I've wasted it, but my life certainly hasn't fit the mold of what most people think a person with a 1-in-4,000 sort of IQ would have. I graduated from a mid-tier private college at 22 and lived like a college student who wasn't in college from 22-24. I racked up some debt in this time period, and I actually graduated owing my college about $8,000. This put a hold on my transcript and made grad school impossible. I had a 2.9 college GPA (1.7 in high school). At 25, I started taking philosophy courses at a decently respected university as a non-degree seeking student, so they didn't need my transcripts. My plan was to pay off the college debt and apply to a PhD program. I excelled in the philosophy program, and I actually ended up getting a paper published in a top tier journal and had several well-known philosophers willing to write recommendations for me. But the job market in the humanities was terrible, and largely still is, so I decided to pass on the PhD route. I still think I was "born to be" a philosopher, and I'm both quite good at it and enjoy it.

After that, I was at a loss for what to do. I actually helped manage an Abercrombie (I know) for a year or so because I was just in need of a job. I was even a shirtless greeter at a Hollister for a while (I am very good looking). Around that same time, I decided to become a doctor because it seemed like a good job. I took two years of medical school prereq courses, only to realize that I didn't actually want to be a doctor. I did very well on the MCAT, but I didn't even apply. I was 29 or so when I made this decision.

So, here I was on the cusp of my thirties, and I really hadn't done anything to put me in a great spot in life. I was happy, though. I was married, philosophy had changed much of my internal though life for the better, and I had a whopping 222 undergrad hours. I had a couple odd jobs for the next couple years, including being a tutor/director for a test prep company and an aspiring house flipper who only did a couple projects. That takes me to about age 31, and I'm 34 now.

If my story ended here, it would just be depressing. I have an IQ of 154, everyone who has ever known me has probably held the belief that I could absolutely do anything I wanted to, and yet I had probably never made more than $35,000 in a given year. Three years ago, I decided to actually try at something that I wanted to do. I started a tutoring business. I worked pretty normal hours rather than just sh*tting the day away. I built a website, filed for an LLC, wrote curriculum (It was an SAT/ACT prep business). At first, I did the tutoring. Then I hired a tutor. Then another. I now have twenty tutors and am in nine cities. I'm also in the process of expanding internationally. The work is interesting to me, and it honestly doesn't seem hard. I really do wonder why more people don't start businesses. There is a very, very good chance that I will sell my business for more than $10 million within the next ten years.

So, that's a long story, I know. But I think it illustrates a couple things that are surprising to a lot of people regarding high-IQ folks:

1. People with high IQs are often interested in a lot of things. Probably too many things. The world rewards specialization, and it's tough to gain specialized skills when you want to try everything out.

2. People with high IQs are often risk takers. This means they can succeed wildly or fail miserably. I once had a business school professor tell me that he thought I was smarter than he was, and he could see me either being the most successful person to ever come out of our business school....or he could see me being homeless. And he wasn't sure which was more likely.

scored 147-151 on IQ tests from 3rd grade through high school graduation.

I went to a state university and only went to class for tests. I would normally have the highest score on the test but missed enough assignments that my GPA ended up around 3.3. I've never used my degree in my profession or needed to show my grades to anyone.

Now I'm 40 and quit my job to write short stories that have zero chance of paying the bills. I have no retirement savings, some credit card debt and a place that is almost paid for.

I move cities every 3-4 years and change careers every five. Careers have ranged from the most simple-minded and undemanding to relatively complex jobs where I definitely wasn't the smartest person in the room. As long they didn't require dealing with customers, I preferred the simpler jobs because they left my mind free all day.

Now I just want to mow grass or trim hedges and write the kind of stories that I like to read. I have no other ambitions beyond that.

I have no regrets, feel satisfied with the life I have now, and I think I will die content.

These theeads are guaranteed to get many responses, generally from people who have an inflated semse of their intelligence.

the golden retriever of letsrun wrote:

does anyone else have a high IQ as tested by MENSA or school and feel they have wasted it?

Yeah, I feel I wasted a lot of time. Then a few years I started writing novels and selling them on Amazon, the Apple Store, and the like and I feel that I've made up for several decades of waste due to the success I've experienced.

I should note that for some reason I have a minuscule attention span (here come the jokes). I scored 1580 on the SAT back before the test was re-centered and re-weighted (so the 780 math is easily an 800 today) yet my grades in school were mediocre. I would daydream in class, couldn't sit still to do homework because my mind would wander. Made it through college by cramming the night before every single test and being able to write even the lengthiest term papers in one night and so on. I am not bragging, I'm pointing out a big problem - today it would likely be diagnosed as ADD. If you're a sharp person and are wasting your potential please see a doctor.

My inability to focus caused problems in relationships and in employment. I'm only mentioning my particular experience in the hopes of helping others avoid spending 20 years of their lives bouncing around. People can make jokes and say that all one has to do is knuckle under but there can be underlying problems that an individual may not be able to control on their own. Good luck to you.

vertical j wrote:

These threads are guaranteed to get many responses, generally from people who have an inflated semse of their intelligence.

These threads are guaranteed to get many responses, generally from people who feel threatened by people who might be more intelligent than them.

It's funny that if someone started a thread for sub 14-min 5k runners, people wouldn't claim that the runners who have run sub 14:00 have an inflated sense of their own speed.

I don't get the sense that the people self-reporting ~150 IQs on these threads view a ~150 IQ score as anything more than what it is.

It's the haters that come across as the jerks most of the time.

plus this wrote:

vertical j wrote:

These threads are guaranteed to get many responses, generally from people who have an inflated semse of their intelligence.

These threads are guaranteed to get many responses, generally from people who feel threatened by people who might be more intelligent than them.

It's funny that if someone started a thread for sub 14-min 5k runners, people wouldn't claim that the runners who have run sub 14:00 have an inflated sense of their own speed.

I don't get the sense that the people self-reporting ~150 IQs on these threads view a ~150 IQ score as anything more than what it is.

It's the haters that come across as the jerks most of the time.

You are supremely stupid. End of thread.

doctor j wrote:

plus this wrote:

These threads are guaranteed to get many responses, generally from people who feel threatened by people who might be more intelligent than them.

It's funny that if someone started a thread for sub 14-min 5k runners, people wouldn't claim that the runners who have run sub 14:00 have an inflated sense of their own speed.

I don't get the sense that the people self-reporting ~150 IQs on these threads view a ~150 IQ score as anything more than what it is.

It's the haters that come across as the jerks most of the time.

You are supremely stupid. End of thread.

Exhibit A

IQ of 173 here. Not sure if I have wasted my life. Just wanted to report my IQ.

180+ here.

The more complex it becomes, the better I am. I suck at simple things though.

Charisma has more value than intelligence.

After reading so many threads like this I think I'd be more surprised to find someone who self-reports a high IQ and is successful.

I'm always a little surprised when someone claims to have had an IQ test administered. In my experience that is not typical of American schools; and since there are lots of reasons to be skeptical of self-reported IQ scores to begin with, when someone says they have a particular IQ I immediately wonder how exactly that came up.

Rexx wrote:

I'm always a little surprised when someone claims to have had an IQ test administered. In my experience that is not typical of American schools; and since there are lots of reasons to be skeptical of self-reported IQ scores to begin with, when someone says they have a particular IQ I immediately wonder how exactly that came up.

It is not typical for most students to have done an IQ test. Highly gifted students are far more likely to have had one done.

the golden retriever of letsrun wrote:

does anyone else have a high IQ as tested by MENSA or school and feel they have wasted it?

I doubt you have a high IQ.

Just like grade inflation, there's definitely been IQ inflation over the past 10-20 years. You can't find a person with an IQ lower that 120 these days. Everyone is 'smart'.

So ease up and relax, your IQ is probably average - you have been taught to think you are special, when in fact you are nothing more than an average joe.

Rexx wrote:

I'm always a little surprised when someone claims to have had an IQ test administered. In my experience that is not typical of American schools; and since there are lots of reasons to be skeptical of self-reported IQ scores to begin with, when someone says they have a particular IQ I immediately wonder how exactly that came up.

Yeah, I don't know what mine is, but it's way up there. It's cool, and stuff.

Relax - you're average wrote:

the golden retriever of letsrun wrote:

does anyone else have a high IQ as tested by MENSA or school and feel they have wasted it?

I doubt you have a high IQ.

Just like grade inflation, there's definitely been IQ inflation over the past 10-20 years. You can't find a person with an IQ lower that 120 these days. Everyone is 'smart'.

So ease up and relax, your IQ is probably average - you have been taught to think you are special, when in fact you are nothing more than an average joe.

IQ is normalized, so the average is and always has been 100. Due to the Flynn Effect, the absolute levels of intelligence have risen significantly since the start of the 20th century. But the average IQ score is still just 100, and a score of 120 is still roughly a 1-in-10 sort of score. If everyone claims to have a score of 120, many of them are either using useless online tests or just lying, assuming you don't hang around a self-selecting group.

Sure, but the point is that people don't get accurate assessments of their IQ. Just like grade inflation, now average kids/students/people get all As and Bs, when 30-40 years ago they were getting Cs and Ds.

There's no school board/organization out there that will administer an 'iq test' where ~50% of students go home telling their parents they have in iq less than 100. That school/organization would be accused of being 3rd rate.

There's also no such thing as a 'retarded' person today, the term is banished (unless you're a lawyer arguing a mitigating circumstance for a client).

I could go on.....but you get my point.

if your point was that you have zero knowledge of the subject....then yeah you made it.