# Triple Nine Society

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. The society recognizes scores from over 20 intelligence and academic aptitude tests. TNS was founded in 1978, and, as of 2025, reports a member base of over 1,900 people in 53 US jurisdictions and 39 countries. Since 2010, the organization has been a non-profit 501(c)(7) organization incorporated in Virginia, USA.

## Organization

The society was founded by Richard Canty, Ronald Hoeflin, Kevin Langdon, Ronald Penner, and Edgar Van Vleck. All five were members of a similarly selective high-IQ society, with whose governance structure they were dissatisfied.
TNS is a deliberately non-hierarchical society in which the membership is both the main source of authority and the main driver of activity. It is served by an Executive Committee of nine officers; six are elected for two-year terms, and three are appointed.
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.

## 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.
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, 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).
TNS also accepts standardized test scores that have a well-established psychometric correlation with IQ, including SAT, GRE, LSAT, ACT, and the Miller Analogies Test. 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%.

## Notable members

* Robert Forster (1941–2019) — actor
* Ronald K. Hoeflin (born 1944) — American librarian, philosopher and amateur psychometrician, co-founder of the society
* Mike Keefe (born 1946) — American editorial cartoonist
* Andrew Koenig (programmer) (born 1952) — computer programmer
* Henry "Hammerin' Hank" Milligan (born 1958) — American retired professional boxer
* Jack Schaeffer (born 1946) — American musician, recording artist, record producer and arranger
* Andrew York (born 1958) — American classical guitarist and composer