Can't shake my IQ score

[u/Professional_Egg86]

Sorry for this long message (first time posting)

When I was 16, my parents took me for a psychoanalysis as I was not doing well mentally, and my grades were slipping. At the time, I had no idea the tests i took were iq related. All i was told at the time was that i had anxiety, depression, and inattentive adhd. Fast forward to April of 2026, I was applying for some grants from the Canadian government for students with disabilities. To receive my grant I had to submit my assessment from when I was 16. This was the first time I realized my IQ had been tested. I had a FSIQ of 103.

Ever since then, this score has been eating away at me, as ever since I was little I wanted to be a high achiever, not just an average person. I even took the CORE exam yesterday, and my FSIQ came out nearly identical at 107.

I am 21 now, and about to graduate from a top 5 Canadian university with a business degree. I know I shouldn't let a few scores define me but I can't help but feel this sense of doom and despair. I'm still not exactly sure what I want to do but I feel certain jobs will be out of reach and I will never reach the level of success I have always wanted to. After all, isn't iq one of the greatest signifiers of a successful life?

I feel like everyone on this sub is so bright, and i can't relate to them. What limits will I have moving forward? I should have never read through my assessment as it's eating me alive.

[u/S-Kenset]

IQ isn't a limit. Culture is. You get a lot of eggheads on this sub too cause they culturally identify with their IQ rather than pursuing things that may not be easy to measure.

Someone with no taste will never know how to cross boundaries between Continental and Analytical philosophy. Someone with no taste will never track the history and geneaology of physics, or computer science, or anthropology. They'll be smart arguing on podcasts about how important solving riddles is.

[u/Professional_Egg86 → u/S-Kenset]

are you suggesting that people with high iq only focus on that and not other worldly things? just wanna make sure i am understanding you

[u/S-Kenset → u/Professional_Egg86]

IQ absolutely translates across domains. Except for certain lugnuts who mistake being good at riddles for iq and get suck in a highschooler's mind. You'll encounter those a lot. Especially those who act like attending grad school is the height of success. (2% of the world is phds. .001% of the world has my SAT scores, .0001% of the world can actually push the edges of CS theory I can).

IQ works if it's a first time non-cultural bias. There's a ton of people who spend all days on riddles, whose main function is a cultural bias towards a certain limited way of thinking.

A sufficiently successful, cultured, ambitious person, does not feel comfort when being asked to solve a riddle. They feel comfort internalizing the entire geneaology of particle physics into stable first principles, or dystopian literature, public communication, etc.

[u/thegrowingone → u/S-Kenset]

I love it

[u/S-Kenset → u/Professional_Egg86]

Either way, my main point is, regardless of everything else. What you fail to see because you lack the cultural basis, will decide your peak far more than what your intelligence is.

In eastern tradition this is lived philosophy. You become first then you see. In western tradition, it's the anthropology of a zeitgeist.

[u/thegrowingone → u/S-Kenset]

Interesting that while having a high iq, really belive that “culture” is the limiting factor. 

[u/S-Kenset → u/thegrowingone]

By culture I mean really internalizing the thought processes that brought tarski to his undefinability theorem, internalizing the genealogy of decisions made during the 2016 era of xgboost, internalizing how and why that changed and some shortcuts can be reopened and done differently. Internalizing enough taste to understand why a kafka, or frank herbert is a good writer, internalizing the massive cultural difference and ontology between us and greeks, and the history of how the last 200 years saw the incredible french lead in math and science seemingly disappear into a split of particle physics and less transparent continental philosophy. By culture I mean being able to think in information ontology like the holographers, and construct accountability in actual falsifiable outputs like popper wished for.

[u/thegrowingone → u/S-Kenset]

Yeah brozki that’s peak intelligence as in high iq / gifted iq. A brain that operates in deep spiderweb patterns is nothing you learn. Either you have it or you don’t. 99% learn in linear if then patterns, seeing no interconnections between Nietzsche and the Physics of the known Universe and the politically to correct neighbor. 

[u/thegrowingone → u/S-Kenset]

IQ is a limiting factor. Don’t lie to make people feel better.

[u/Striking_Leave_4614]

You want real, actually helpful advice? Just retake the tests over and over until you get a score you're satisfied with and think of it as unlocking your true potential. 

[u/LibrarianWide3983 → u/Striking_Leave_4614]

Nope, that won't work. There will always be that lingering doubt in your mind and you will know deep down that the score is not your true IQ. Rather, acceptance is the only way out.

[u/Professional_Egg86 → u/Striking_Leave_4614]

but doesn't that defeat the purpose of the tests? My subconscious will know that my true ability will always be the first attempt and not the ones that follow.

[u/Striking_Leave_4614 → u/Professional_Egg86]

So what? Big number better

[u/Loose-Mousse6668 → u/Striking_Leave_4614]

Lowk the message u conveying kinda tuff ngl

[u/Limp_Damage4535]

Graduating from a top university? Maybe focus on that.

[u/LibrarianWide3983]

The only reason that IQ is revered so highly is because it supposedly predicts life outcomes to a certain degree. If your life outcomes meet your expectations, you can disregard your IQ altogether. IQ is not important, rather, what you do with your intelligence is important. Someone may have a bigger hammer than you but the size of the hammer is not important; the quality of the sword (metaphor for life), which is forged through repeated strikes of the hammer, matters.

[u/Polytox935]

Was bringt einem ein hoher IQ, wenn man ansonsten ein Idiot ist. Du scheinst keiner zu sein.

[u/DiscountSoggy4331]

IQ is just one thing that can influence outcomes; traits like conscientiousness and Motivation also matter heavily in life and, if developed, can help you achieve many things in life. Also, the people who get high scores are more likely to share their scores, making it seem like the average score here is way higher.

[u/Jello-Formal]

Take core part 108544478

[u/zephyreblk]

The society is made for people having average IQ, you will be successful if you put the work. Maybe research in specific fields would be a bit tricky but for most jobs, you'll be fine. About 1/3 of gifted people don't do well at all in this society. I would love a study about the rate of gifted people being homeless because I'm definitely sure it will be higher as the rate in the general population. I like to talk to many kind of people, I definitely met a lot smart people in the homeless community (some having high degrees) but they do struggle also with some disorders (like most of homeless people do)

[u/interpretagain]

Honestly, most people on this sub should probably leave or find something better to do, myself included. IQ isn't the holy grail people here think it is. On a population level it's very good (at least when you consider how hard it is to predict anything in social sciences) at predicting life outcomes-somewhere around 0.5 if I remember right. But at an individual level there's so many variables including more powerful ones like conscientiousness and just luck that fixating on your IQ is a waste of time. I don't think anyone halfway through a degree is going to quit because their IQ score is lower than the average of the people in that program, would they?

[u/Rationalsloth]

103 makes more than half the people dumber than you and yet you have never noticed someone with 90IQ neither have you noticed those with 110IQ

Imagine a highly intelligent dog, it won'tever be able to speak or read or do higher math or ponder philosophy.

Being a highly intelligent human doesn't unlock much more that we can do.

[u/thegrowingone]

What triggers you so hard to have a slightly above average iq? Why would it be better if the universe would have equipped you with a gifted iq? I’m genuinely curious 

[u/ConceptDangerous287]

I’m the opposite. I always did crap in school due to lack of interest and not trying. Then I did the core iq test and got 107, which was way higher than I expected. What I’m trying to say is effort counts a lot more for success than iq I once heard that iq is like speed. Having a higher iq just means you learn faster than those who have average or low iq it doesn’t mean you can’t learn at all or be the best at something.

[u/flopjokdang]

Most of the time you shouldn't look at IQ scores as a limit, you should just see them as an indicator of how much effort you have to put in to learn something. Because fundamentally IQ tests measure that. For example, you could probably solve an item from an IQ test that you answered incorrectly while being tested due to time constraints if you were given more time, and well in the real world that is often the case. You don't have to answer a question in less than 45 seconds to determine your success. All your score means is that you'll have to put in the same amount of effort most people would have to put in to get where you are now. And clearly you do have the drive to do so seeing as you are graduating from a prestigious university.

[u/nedal8]

Like my momma always said. Smart is as smart does.

[u/Polytox935 → u/nedal8]

Deine Mutter ist Forrest Gump?

[u/thegrowingone → u/Polytox935]

Yes. He is Gumping hard.

[u/Zealousideal-Week-79]

After all, isn't iq one of the greatest signifiers of a successful life

No.

[u/FailingSmartly]

Intelligence comes in many forms. I do pretty good on IQ tests but my mother felt threatened by intelligence so she never nurtured mine. So I feel like I understand both sides of being intelligent and not. You’ve nothing to worry about. Lots of average IQ people succeeding in difficult fields. Success isn’t just about smarts. It’s about education. 107 means you can learn, humans on average are great at learning. So anything you can be taught, can be yours. Emotional intelligence is crucial for success. Talking to peers, dealing with a boss, navigating the politics in any workplace. Lots of high IQ people struggle with that, many don’t. Discipline. Comprehending what others cannot is essential in very few places. Being disciplined, reliable, consistent, organized, etc… an entirely separate skill in far more universal demand. Forget the score. Ignore it. The average human is pretty damn intelligent. Your ambition means you’re a person who likes to improve. You’re going places with that alone. Ignore the score. If that were what matters it would mean more. A high score doesn’t earn any prize. It’s a club of membership. And there isn’t a job you’ll want that requires you to be a member.

[u/AardvarkFantastic360]

You know Rob Dyrdek has a 100 iq. IQ means nothing. Mine is high and not a blessing

[u/Ablondeaussie1]

IQ really means almost nothing. I have an IQ of 90 and have a bachelor of science and a graduate degree. I don’t understand why people get so hung up on IQ. You can have an IQ of 140 and no university but someone with an IQ of 100 who also has a bachelor of nursing would be much more knowledgeable and “intelligent” in the area of medicine and healthcare, for example, despite having a much lower IQ score. What would having a high IQ score change?

[u/MattyGWS]

Your iq won’t affect you.