Triple Nine Society

For the television series, see Triple Nine (TV series).

The Triple Nine Society (TNS) is an international high-IQ society for adults whose score on a standardized test demonstrates an IQ at or above the 99.9th percentile of the human population.^[3][4][5] The society recognizes scores from over 20 intelligence and academic aptitude tests.^[6] TNS was founded in 1978, and, as of 2025^[update], reports a member base of over 1,900 people in 53 US jurisdictions and 39 countries.^[2] Since 2010, the organization has been a non-profit 501(c)(7) organization incorporated in Virginia, USA.^[7]

Triple Nine Society

Formation	1978
Founder	Richard Canty, Ronald Hoeflin, Kevin Langdon, Ronald Penner, Edgar Van Vleck
Type	High IQ society
Tax ID no.	27-5473103[1]
Membership	≈ 1,900[2]
Official language	English
Regent	Steve Condie
Website	triplenine.org

Organization

The society was founded by Richard Canty, Ronald Hoeflin, Kevin Langdon, Ronald Penner, and Edgar Van Vleck,^[8][9] as a split-off of the ISPE, a similarly selective high-IQ society, with whose governance structure they were dissatisfied.^[9]

TNS is led by a "Regent" and served by an Executive Committee consisting of the Regent and eight further officers, all of which are elected for two-year terms.^[10]

In 2015, TNS established a 501(c)(3) subsidiary charitable organization, the Triple Nine Society Foundation, to provide scholarships to intellectually gifted students pursuing higher-education goals and for other charitable work.^[11]

Communication

TNS publishes a bimonthly journal, Vidya, which contains articles, poetry, puzzles, and other creative content contributed by members conversant with a variety of subjects, as well as officer reports and other official business of the Society.^[12]

TNS members mostly communicate online on the official TNS Discourse forum, official TNS Facebook group, and a variety of unofficial venues ranging from Discord to Telegram and special groups like TNS Youth and TNS LGBTQ+.

Every autumn, the society organizes an annual meeting in the United States called ggg999,^[13] with "ggg" referring to "Global General Gathering". A privately organized European gathering, egg, usually takes place in late spring.

Qualifying test scores

To qualify for membership, an applicant must submit a qualifying score earned on any of the standardized tests recognized by the society; these include IQ tests as well as various college admission exams and military classification tests.

For IQ tests, a qualifying score corresponds to an IQ of at least 146 for tests with standard deviation of 15 (e.g., WAIS, Stanford–Binet 5), at least 149 for tests with a standard deviation of 16 (e.g., Stanford–Binet IV and CTMM), or at least 173 for tests with a standard deviation of 24 (e.g., Cattell III-B).^[14]

TNS also accepts standardized test scores that have a well-established psychometric correlation with IQ,^{[citation needed]} including SAT, GRE, LSAT, ACT, and the Miller Analogies Test.^[6] Required score will differ depending on the year those tests were taken.

TNS also accepts a GMAT score of 750 (for tests taken between 2000 and 2023) or a GMAT Focus Edition score of 705 (available since 2023), both of which correspond only to a percentile score of 98.2%.^[15]

Notable members

• Robert Forster (1941–2019) — actor^[16]
• Mike Keefe (born 1946) — American editorial cartoonist^[17]
• Andrew Koenig (programmer) (born 1952) — computer programmer^[18][19]
• Henry "Hammerin' Hank" Milligan (born 1958) — American retired professional boxer^[20]
• Andrew York (born 1958) — American classical guitarist and composer^[21]

See also

• Mensa, high-IQ society above the 98th percentile
• Intertel, high-IQ society above the 99th percentile