Do you consider yourself a smart person?

[T-6005]

Serious question. No stupid quizzes attached to this and you don't have to name your favorite color.

The question is simple - do you consider yourself to be a smart person? Or rather, smarter than most of the people around you? Do you see the majority of the people around you as intellectual chaff?

I'll admit that I do occasionally view myself in this light. I believe I'm a smart person, or at least smarter than most of the people around me. I wouldn't say that I'm the only brilliant person in the room, or that other people are too dumb to keep up with me, but I definitely have a fair amount of confidence in my own intelligence.

And if it sounds like I'm overly into myself, well then I'm sorry. I'm absent-minded to a fault and I have occasional flares of temper, so there are a few faults that make up for my general smarts.

So, serious question - do you think you're smart?

[mrconeman]

It's a very good question - one I suppose in which the answer could prove or disprove itself.

I do consider myself to be intelligent, yes. Somewhat more so than alot of the people around me. But at the same time, I hardly consider myself a genius, and there are people who would dwarf me intellectually, and I don't just mean geniuses by that either. But honestly, yes, I consider myself more intellegent than...hmm...I don't know if I want to say most people...maybe the average person.

But there are alot of different forms of intelligence, or ways to judge how intellegent somebody is. For example, vocabulary, I think I have an excellent vocabulary, and often find myself toning it down when I talk to people. However, hand me some reasonable basic maths and I'll sit there puzzled. There's musical intellegence, situational intellegence, alot of this sort of thing. So I can't be bothered going into them all.

I could go into more depth, but I guess people will get the point.

[KyleW]

So, serious question - do you think you're smart?

Serious answer - yes i do. And to be honest I think most people would say yes. Statistically my grades have always been in the top 5-10% of my class which is my only real indication to be honset but I think its legitimate enough.

When it comes to common sense I have have practically none though. I can't cook to save my life and I always ask pretty obvious questions.

I do pride myself on a great vocabulary though

[Thomas]

I've never really considered myself to really be that smart, just good at multiple choice tests. From 3rd grade to 8th grade I was in the gifted program at my schools, and i ended up going to a college preparatory (turns out that word is surprisingly hard to spell, ironically) high school. I never really excelled in any of these programs, but I survived with just about a 3.0 GPA throughout.

Now that I'm in college, though, I do feel a lot smarter than a lot of people around me. I'm taking REALLY easy classes this semester (college algebra, spanish 202, english 101, etc) and I really don't have to study or anything and I'm doing pretty well so far. Or rather, at least better than the people around me in those classes.

I do tend to surround myself with people a lot smarter than me, though. Almost all of my friends are in, like, Calc 2 or 3 as freshmen or taking tough chemistry classes that I probably would never be able to handle.

[JohnnyNemesis]

Brief answer:

Most everyone I know considers me a genius, but I honestly just think of myself as average, despite my academic success and shockingly high IQ (shocking to me, at least). There's just so much I can't wrap my head around, and I'm prone to brainfarts and stupid/slow comments. Sometimes common sense and practical shit just goes right over my head.

I think it all depends on how you measure intelligence of course.

Though I will admit that, though I try to stay humble about it, I can't help but think that maybe I'm smarter than I'm willing to admit when I meet certain people. You know what I'm talkin' about.

[randman21]

Like I imagine most people would say, I'm smart in some things and not so smart in others. I was often considered a genius by my peers, but I can explain it away by being a great learner, excellent test taker, and having photographic memory, not to mention the fact that I actually listen in class. So I never had to study or apply myself, but still got damn good grades. For things that would actually help me out in the real world, though, I find myself to be utterly useless.

[Al Coholic]

Yes. First of all, I was lucky enough to be brought up by two very nurturing intellectual parents that challenged me from the get-go. I also worked hard to acquire a lot of the book smarts I have now. But I'm an American. I think in a lot of other countries school's I'd be average, especially in Europe and east Asia. I think I'm above average.

[wheelchairman]

I am arrogant, but this is not my view I'm afraid.

I will admit that I think I am fairly intelligent. Generally however I wouldn't say that I'm the smartest over the majority. Just that there may be fields in which I would have the advantage, and other fields in which I would not have the advantage.

[WebDudette]

Short Answer: I do believe I am a reasonably intelligent person, especially in comparison to my surroundings. My academic success (or lack of) would not tell you this, at all. I have had very few A's throughout High School, I would be surprised if I have anything above a 2.0 GPA, and I am on the verge of not graduating. On the other hand I have been in (and passed) several honors classes. I'm also kind of arrogant, and do/say some really absent minded things without thinking sometimes.

[IamSam]

I think it depends. On the BBS I feel pretty average, although there are individuals that make me feel like a genius. In my real life I'm not afraid to admit I am much more intelligent than those around me.