GMAT
It stands for Graduate Management Admissions Test.
I wrote the GMAT on the 11th of June. I’m considering business school you see and almost all business schools require a certain GMAT score as part of the admissions process. I got 610 out of a potential 800. The average is 530 and most schools require 550. The nature of the program I applied for demands a slightly higher academic component to make up for the lack of business management work experience (which I have little to none of).
Writing of the GMAT requires, in most cases, fingerprinting and a photograph as well as a signature, don’t ask me why. Check out the fine print though:
You have agreed to the terms and conditions set forth in the GMAT® Information Bulletin including without limitation those related to testing; score cancellations; exclusive remedies for testing/scoring errors; examinee misconduct/test irregularity policies; privacy policies; collection, processing, use and transmission to the United States of your personally identifiable data (including the digital photograph, fingerprint, signature and video recording collected at the test center), and disclosure of such data to GMAC®, its service providers, any score recipient you select and others as necessary to prevent unlawful activity or as required by law.
I don’t know if the US government having this kind of data would bother you, but it bothers me. Funnily enough, there’s no way around this. It’s possible to not take the GMAT. If you want to apply to business school you have to take it, in Canada and in many countries of the world. I think that’s crappy.
Hopefully I won’t have to rewrite it. If the competition is strong enough I might have to I suppose, alas I won’t worry about that now. In about three week’s time I should know better whether I’ve been accepted or not. I will keep you posted.