<p>Does an ultra high IQ, where "ultra high" is above the ceilings of well-respected IQ tests, count toward anything when applying to colleges? Note that I am not dysfunctional (many high scorers are), and have decent grades in school.</p>
<p>As far as I know colleges don't even see an appliacants IQ, since it is considered confidential. So unless you were to tell them in an interview, I doubt it matters. By they way, what is your IQ?</p>
<p>well if hes a member of the iq society for his score...he could put that on his resume or something...its kind of arrogant...but idk</p>
<p>No, but if you can use your intelligence to do something productive (win math/science competitions) it will help you greatly.</p>
<p>Vivious is correct, they could care less unless it translates into brilliant school performance, high test scores and teachers checking the box indicating you're among the best students they've ever taught.</p>
<p>tmos67: Well, I'd have to do what north_face and I agree is "kind of arrogant." Join up with the most absurdly selective IQ society, and put it on the resume.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what my IQ is. My ratio IQ was incorrectly given as in the middle 200's when it should have been 200+ (significant figures). That could correspond to any SD IQ, really. Having seen the stats with which IQ at the upper levels has been extrapolated, I'm not convinced it's a legitimate or relevant method of measuring intellectual capacity. Of the many IQ tests that claim the ability to measure deviation IQ in the realm of 150-200, only one test designer has gone through the trouble to norm his data with any prudence. His unsupervised tests seem too easy to be capable of what he claims. </p>
<p>I'm with those who say IQ isn't useful in and of itself. However, I'm not a college or university admissions officer. Could be that they're likely to be impressed with it, in which case I'll make note of it on my resume. I'm certainly not counting on it, though.</p>
<p>So - could the elitism of top schools help me in this case?</p>
<p>I vaguely recall that Hopkins ED applicants could put down IQ test scores optionally but I could be very wrong.</p>
<p>As someone who once was a college admissions officer, it can only make you seem arrogant and pretentious to discuss it. Again, if you have a high IQ and have utilized it fully, evidence of it will be all over your transcript, scores and accomplishments.</p>
<p>Research shows that people with IQ's of about 135 are most successful. They are very bright without being tortured by the less brilliant around them.</p>
<p>Just as a side note, IQ tests used to be used as an admission factor to schools. My dad had to take an IQ test to get into the magnet school he went to when he was a teenager.</p>
<p>hmom5:</p>
<p>That's the thing - I read. I've read through 3 libraries. I have plenty of "accomplishments" to list, but none of them indicate the level of intelligence that an ultra high IQ is supposed to indicate, and that's because I spend so much of my time in my head (not searching for resume items). Where is the "I believe I have profound insight into the nature of various things" accomplishment? I know that most successful applicants to the top U.S. schools have saved the whales, established nature reserves, saved thousands of African children, etc. But quite honestly, we know that very few people have <em>actually</em> done anything really impressive before leaving high school. It's about potential, even though colleges have done a damn good job of convincing kids that they need to have done things which would display how little they need college before getting in. And an IQ theoretically indicates potential. High IQ, great potential. </p>
<p>I don't know, it just seems like it'd be a waste not to get it in somehow. I'll get high test scores, but again, how does that display anything at all? An above average kid with lots of reference material can get a perfect score on the SAT or ACT. </p>
<p>That reminds me - the SAT was huge on applications when it was nearly impossible to get a perfect or near-perfect score. Wasn't it effectively an intelligence test? </p>
<p>Just one more thing: success and IQ correlate very well until you reach the upper end. It's a crapshoot from there. I'm not aiming to present myself to colleges as an ultra-successful workaholic, because I'm not and don't want to be. I like to think, want to think, above all else. Is that sentiment appreciated at all amongst admissions officers?</p>
<p>I hate to break this to you, but everything everyone has been saying in this post about pretentiousness and superciliousness are completely evident throughout your posts.</p>
<p>Just by saying that "you have profound insight into the nature of various things" shows the fact that you think because you have a high IQ, you are better off than others, should go to a prestigous school, will discover something alarmingly important, and are destined for the betterment of humanity.</p>
<p>That is the exact kind of thing that will show through by listing it on your application. Granted, I'm not an expert, but IQ doesn't really mean much. You can think abstractly, and I guess you may be more intelligent, but if you can't put that intelligence to work through great SAT scores, good grades, and good EC's, colleges aren't going to give a damn.</p>
<p>I would have to disagree that pre college achievements do not give us a window into future success. After all, that's the basis on which top colleges choose kids and they have been very successful in being able to identify many who become very successful.</p>
<p>Success requires harnessing your abilities and talents and finding meaningful outlets for them. If you've read through 3 libraries, surely all of your teachers will say you bring a depth to everything that few do. Your intelligence will bowl over all you meet and the brilliance of your essays will be clear to all.</p>
<p>You, as one of the smartest humans alive, will have no need to toot your own horn, all around you and your own words will tell the story.</p>
<p>So you have a high IQ... why should you get what you want when people who didn't have your abilities have accomplished more? Doesn't that mean they try harder?</p>
<p>You'll get in somewhere, don't worry. Just give it your best shot and apply to some safeties. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to attend the best school to be the best in your field. If you're so smart, you should be able to learn more than other people wherever you go.</p>
<p>As you certainly know, (but for the benefit of others) commercial IQ tests aren't designed to accurately measure IQ either on the micro low end or mega high end (anything in the top 1% and certainly not in the top .001%). There's no money in it. So IQ beyond a certain point (depending on the test of which there are dozens) is just a guess... anything above 150 or so on the Stanford Binet LM III. There are ways to correlate SAT scores to IQ and some IQ societies will accept SAT scores to prove IQ, but again the SAT maxes out at probably about 130 or so.
You might consider taking the GRE or other graduate level tests (LSAT, GMAT, MCAT) to demonstrate your full level as well as the ACT, SAT IIs, and APs.</p>
<p>Bob.Dylan.: I didn't say that. I said I <em>believe</em> that I do. I'm very clear on my lowly position in this world, universe, cosmological entity. I want to go to a decent school, of course. Since this website is entirely dedicated to gaining competitive edges and generally gaming the admissions process, I thought it would be reasonable to bring up and talk about one angle that I could use. I'm not wearing a FRIGGIN' HIGH IQ pin.</p>
<p>hmom5: most kids have nothing notable to mention at all before they get to college. And rightly so, because kids are kids, and being a kid shouldn't be about partaking in activities that will appeal most to colleges. Does not having gone through the motions as much as other have reflect poorly on you? From an admissions standpoint, sure. But nobody said admissions has anything to do with reality. Admissions standards encourage fakery and insincerity. </p>
<p>Now, sarcasm and belief that I'm trolling aside, I hardly know anyone, and those I do know I don't say very much to. I don't speak to my teachers; they hardly know me. I turn in my work, sometimes, and take my tests. Just because I say I'm "smart" doesn't mean I'm not also socially inept and disinterested. That's what your successful 135 IQers are for, like you said. I read and think. Sometimes I read outside, but it's always distracting and I go back inside after a while. I have my own accomplishments to speak for me, but very few individuals. After getting a recommendation, it struck me how few people I can go to for admissions stuff. I need to do as much for myself as possible.</p>
<p>AuburnMathTutor: I've accomplished about the same as most ambitious high schoolers. I haven't, however, done nearly as much as many of the kids scrambling to get into Harvard, Yale, etc. From what I've seen, people get diminishing returns on their activities after a while anyway. </p>
<p>I'm looking to get into a top school because I know that I'm likely to leave and not come back if I'm not interested. It's that simple. Then I'll have to listen to the fallacious "high IQ wasted on _____" for the rest of my life. A waste of everyone's time.</p>
<p>mrego: the "old" SATs had a much higher IQ conversion ceiling. The current "re-centered" SAT isn't even considered for the most part.</p>
<p>I haven't taken the SAT I yet. I'll take it in March. I have six AP 5's from freshman year and seven AP 5's from sophomore year. These standardized tests are getting on my nerves. They don't measure anything useful at all. Cis-trans isomers, series divergence and convergence, bad theories about cave painting, intellectually bankrupt analysis of literature, etc. I've yet to find a use for most of the garbage I pick up in school. </p>
<p>I was considering taking some of Ronald Hoeflin's IQ tests (Titan and Mega), but it seems like a waste of a scoring fee.</p>
<p>If you don't have enough interest to stay at college wherever you end up and make the most of it to learn as much as possible, then that's your fault and no one else's. It's not about being smart. It's about applying yourself.</p>
<p>Just chill out. If you would drop out of college because you were bored, then you don't deserve to have people think highly of you. Deal with it.</p>
<p>AuburnMathTutor: it's not a matter of boredom. Lots of people with high IQs can't stand being around people. I'm one of them. So I'd rather go to a place with more distractions and more distracted people. </p>
<p>Thanks for the life lesson.</p>
<p>Disco, one of my kid's, who is probably only a 135er, is extremely shy. For years never spoke in classes. He didn't need to for his teachers to glean how bright he was. When he put pen to paper, they knew. And thus the teacher recs read "more depth than other students, thinks on a different level."</p>
<p>Hard to believe your teachers could miss your vast intelligence.</p>
<p>Being impressed with one self, as I tell my very brilliant young employees, can certainly be a benefit. But only if you keep it internal and don't let on to others.</p>
<p>What IQ test did you take because as mrego stated commercial IQ tests don't accurately measure IQ: in fact they really are horrible indicators of IQ. And if you took some IQ tests online, hahahahahhahahaha. Seriously, having a high iq is great and all, but if all you have to show are some abstract accomplishments that can't really be applied, what's the point?
Moreover, no one really cares if you have a high iq--hich so far seems dubious--and its wasted, at least not anyone outside your immediate family. As for IQ societies: MENSA. Although probably hackneyed, MENSA is THE high IQ society. Don't join the International High IQ Society,because it is ridiculously easy to get in and is based on an online test.
So far it seems to me that you claim to be one of the smartest individuals in the world and yet you do not understand the mechanics of getting into a decent university. No one really cares about your dissent against admissions comittees. Furthermore, your self righteous attitude is very annoying and reflects poorly on your "high" iq.
Well, if you feel that you will leave the intellectual world of academia because you are disinterested, then perhaps your iq isn't as high as you say. Having a high iq usually entails a passion for learning and cultivating a broader understanding of the universe. If you feel that you can't stimulate your mind outside of college then you are naive. There may not be employment opportunities that rival a college degree but that should not deter your intellectual pursuits rather it should free up some time for them. This is not to be taken as an advocation for abandoning school, just that you as a self-proclaimed genius should be able to get along fine without the guidance of professors.</p>