Effective Date: October 10, 2008

Purpose

Thank you for visiting gmac.com, a website developed and maintained by the Graduate Management Admission Council®. This privacy policy, as part of our overall Terms and Conditions, covers personally identifiable information ("PII") collected from you by GMAC or our service providers through the website gmac.com (the "website" and the "site") as well as data we may collect offline at GMAC Customer Support or through our graduate management education industry relationships. 

Users of gmac.com generally include—

• anonymous visitors
• professionals who register on gmac.com
• professionals from institutions that use the GMAT® test or receive GMAT score reports, who register on gmac.com
• users of GMAC products and services, including subscribers of the Graduate Management Admission Search Service® (GMASS®)
• subscribers of communications or publications and participants of events or surveys
• GMAT score report recipients

Registrants of gmac.com, survey research participants, and users of GMAC products and services understand that we will process their data in accordance with the privacy policy in effect at the time the data is collected. Certain sections of this detailed privacy policy refer to Special Notes, which clarify important information for Professionals from GMAC Governing Schools, GMAT Score Report Recipients, Event Participants, and Survey Participants. The privacy policy adheres to our overarching Privacy Principles the Council has adopted to guide us in our collection, use, and protection of data.

Information Collection

You are not required to register with gmac.com. Much of the content on the site can be accessed even if you are not a site registrant. However, to access certain gmac.com services, you must be an authorized professional validated by GMAC using personal information you submit through gmac.com.

We clearly identify data that must be provided for us to deliver the various products and services that you may request. Registrants may also provide opt-in preferences and additional or optional information, online or offline, depending on the services they use or communities in which they participate. The categories of information we may collect include:

• Basic business contact information, including full name, work address, telephone and facsimile number, work email address, and GMAC product/service transaction history
• Your GMAC Profile preferences, e.g., whether you would like to receive optional information from GMAC, including communications and publications
• Information about your graduate business school/program
• Certain background information, such as demographics
• Payment information (credit card, check, or purchase order) required for purchasing certain products and services, such as GMASS subscriptions and search results or event registration
• Data submitted voluntarily at private online bulletin boards, which may be available to individuals who participate in particular programs
• Data used to verify and authenticate your identity as a professional authorized to use certain GMAC products and services, access GMAT score reports, and participate in certain governance activities as a designated representative from a governing school
• Email address of any person to whom you send an email using our “Email-a-Friend” feature in certain online publications

Cookies are Set Automatically

Like most websites, we use technology called cookies to let us remember information about your preferences and passwords and allow you to move within our website without the need to repeatedly enter the same information. A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your computer by a Web server. Cookies contain information that can later be read by the Web server that originally placed the cookie.

Recent versions of popular internet browsers provide features to let you view and manage cookies. If you choose to block the use of cookies from our site, you may still use our site. However, choosing to do so will limit your user experience and access to functional site areas, such as areas that require login, like your Profile or My Account.

Log Files are Collected in Anonymous Form

Like most standard website servers, we use log files to automatically collect system and security-related information. This includes Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks. In some cases, this information may identify you, or could be linked to your personal information. We use this information to analyze trends, administer the site, track aggregate user movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. Information collected in log files cannot be used to identify you individually.

Refer to Special Notes for Professionals from GMAC Governing Schools, GMAT Score Report Recipients, Event Participants, and Survey Participants for additional details on Information Collection.

User-Submitted Content

GMAC has established several ways you may communicate with other users and with GMAC including responding to blog posts and submitting contact requests. All user communications made to or through gmac.com are referred to as "User-Submitted Content." To comment on any portion of gmac.com, we encourage you to first register with gmac.com and agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. However, submitting requests for contact do not require registering with gmac.com. By submitting content, you agree that:

• Your submitted content is not illegal, indecent, profane, threatening, or defamatory; and does not consist of or contain software viruses, political campaigning, commercial solicitation, chain letters, mass mailings or any form of "spam."
• Your submitted content does not infringe on the copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights of any person or entity, or contain any confidential or proprietary information of any person or entity, or otherwise violate the legal rights of any person or entity
• Your submitted content does not contain personally identifiable information about other persons, such as their phone number, contact information or email address, or information about that could result in an invasion of their privacy or their harassment
• You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable and fully assignable and sub-licensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, edit, reformat, create derivative works from, distribute and display content throughout the world for any purpose and in any media (including for advertising or other commercial use)
• You grant us the non-exclusive right to seek to enjoin and/or obtain damages from any third party from the unauthorized use or reproduction of your content. If we publish your content or authorize or license others to do so, your content may be edited for length or clarity or for any other reason either before or after it is published. We reserve the right (but not the obligation) to remove any content for any reason from gmac.com
• You agree that you will not use or reproduce any content in any manner or in any media, including posting or republishing any such content on any other website

Data Uses and Your Choices

Information Use

We use the information we collect for many purposes, including, but not limited to those listed below:

• Allow you to create and update your Profile with gmac.com and manage your preferences
• Administer the GMAT® exam
• Provide online services you request from GMAC, such as MBA Pathfinder®, Recruiting Calendar, GMASS®, Validity Study Service, GMAT Interactive Profile, My Account, publications, and registering for the Council’s events, such as professional development programs
• Determine eligibility for participation in events
• Manage event logistics; communicate with event participants, speakers, and facilitators; and administer event discussion forums;
  soliciting survey participation
• Solicit survey participation
• Authenticate you as a valid professional from an institution that uses the GMAT exam or receives GMAT score reports
• Contact you regarding GMAC news, graduate management industry updates, and products/services, if you opt in
• Email any individual to whom you send an email using our “Email-a-Friend” feature in certain online publications (Note: GMAC will not send additional communications without first obtaining opt-in consent from those individuals)
• Enable you to fulfill your governance responsibilities, if applicable, as a designated GMAC governing school representative or member of the Council’s Board of Directors
• Enable you to participate in a GMAC committee, task force, or advisory group, if applicable
• Maintain the integrity and quality of our services, customize site content to meet your specific needs, and make technical improvements to gmac.com
• Cooperate as required by law or in legal proceedings, and as necessary to detect or prevent fraud and other unlawful activity

Choices and Control of Your Personal Information

GMAC has implemented important privacy safeguards because we are dedicated to protecting your privacy. GMAC retains personal information only to the extent necessary to serve your needs, administer the GMAT test, provide GMAC® services, fulfill our joint GMAC governance responsibilities, detect and prevent unlawful activity, and fulfill legal requirements.

You may opt into receiving communications or publications related to services offered by GMAC® , including:

• Communications
  • GMAT exam information
  • Research and trends
  • School products and services
  • Professional development
  • Industry news and updates
• Publications
  • Graduate Management News
  • Deans Digest

If you later decide that you no longer want to receive any of this information, you can change these settings in your profile on gmac.com or by calling GMAT Customer Service. Regardless of the options selected above, you may receive correspondence related to:

• Services that you or your school subscribe to,
• GMAC® governance activities, if applicable,
• Invitations for you or your school to participate in GMAC surveys, and
• Conferences or events that you or your school has registered to attend

Refer to Special Notes for Professionals from GMAC Governing Schools, GMAT Score Report Recipients, Event Participants, and Survey Participants for additional details on Data Uses and Your Choices.

Data Security

Security of Your Personal Information

GMAC utilizes security safeguards incorporated within an enterprise security program (ESP). The ESP is administered by appropriate GMAC officials and incorporates administrative, technical, and physical safeguards over your data and our systems to protect your information from loss, unauthorized disclosure, misuse, alteration, or destruction. The ESP is designed to incorporate biannual audit and review processes and employee awareness training. Payments, registration, and all data transfers to third parties on gmac.com (e.g. Pearson VUE) are protected by SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption.

Access, Data Integrity, and Retention

As a gmac.com website registrant, you may access your Profile at any time to modify your personal information and any optional data or preferences that you have provided. You are responsible for the accuracy of any information you provide on this site and for maintaining the confidentiality of your personal information, through keeping your self-selected User ID (email address) and password secure.

If you no longer desire to use gmac.com, you may request to have your Profile deactivated by contacting GMAC Customer Support or webmaster1@gmac.com. Inactive accounts will be subject to appropriate retention and archiving procedures to support the Council’s business needs and legal and data integrity requirements.

Data Sharing

GMAC Key Service Providers

GMAC has a number of key service providers and strategic partners who fulfill online and offline services through gmac.com. Each is subject to our strict confidentiality or Terms of Use requirements. Our key service providers include:

• Pearson VUE, a business of NCS Pearson, Inc., for GMAT exam registration, customer service, test administration at test centers worldwide, and official test score reporting
• ACT, Inc., for test development and scoring, and administration and analysis of certain assessment surveys.
• ETS and Prometric® for test takers prior to 2006, (other than the test takers who participated in the 2005 Limited Summer Test)
• Bank of America® for processing gmac.com credit card transactions online
• KPMG® for our MBA Pathfinder® Agreed Upon Procedures Audit process
• Bulk fulfillment distributors
• Information technology (IT) vendors and other GMAC consultants
• Survey research vendors

Our key strategic partners include:

• Schools that use the GMAT exam
• Scholarship-granting organizations
• Other organizations in the graduate management education industry

Transborder Data Flows

GMAC is a global organization. As such, users and registrants of gmac.com, professionals from institutions that use the GMAT exam or receive GMAT score reports, users of GMAC products and services, subscribers of communications or publications, and participants of events or surveys understand that data is processed and controlled in the countries in which the data is collected, and then transmitted into and out of the United States, which is the primary processing location for GMAC and its service providers.

Law Enforcement and Fraud Prevention

GMAC may provide access to personal information as required by law, to comply with requirements in a judicial or other governmental proceeding (for example, a court order, warrant, or subpoena) or in instances where we determine that it is necessary in order to detect or prevent fraud or other unlawful activity.

Links to Third-Party Sites

Some GMAC Web pages may contain links to the websites of our strategic partners, as listed above. THE PRIVACY POLICIES OF THESE THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES MAY BE DIFFERENT FROM OUR PIRVACY POLICY AND GMAC IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PRIVACY PRACTICES OR THE CONTENT OF SUCH SITES. We recommend you carefully read the privacy policies of each site you visit.

Enforcement

Because GMAC is a global organization that collects and processes data within the United States and other countries, we adhere to our privacy policy, comply with applicable laws, including the European Union (EU) Data Protection Directive and U.S. state and federal laws, and participate in the TRUSTe Privacy Seal Program.

TRUSTe Privacy Seal Program

GMAC participates in the TRUSTe Privacy Seal Program for this website, www.gmac.com. TRUSTe is an independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to enable individuals and organizations to establish trusting relationships based on respect for personal identity and information by promoting the use of fair information-management practices. GMAC wants to demonstrate our commitment to your privacy; therefore, we have agreed to disclose our privacy practices and have TRUSTe review them for compliance. GMAC is using the TRUSTe Mark(s) under license from TRUSTe pursuant to the requirements of the TRUSTe program, and all of the rights in the TRUSTe Mark(s) belong to TRUSTe.

GMAC values the privacy of your personal information and we will use our best efforts to resolve any problems. If you have questions or concerns regarding this privacy policy, you should first contact our chief privacy official at privacy@gmac.com or through the other contact information provided below. If you do not receive acknowledgement of your inquiry or feel it was not satisfactorily addressed, you should then contact TRUSTe through the TRUSTe Watchdog Dispute Resolution website.

Children’s Privacy

GMAC websites are not directed toward children, defined in the United States by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) as individuals under age 13, and we ask that children not submit any personal information to us.

Rights Under Laws in Specific Jurisdictions

Your California Privacy Rights

Due to recent California legislation, we are required to inform California residents they have a right to know how information we collect from them is shared with other businesses for direct marketing purposes. We will not share any of your customer information with other businesses for direct marketing purposes without your explicit consent. If you have consented but later decide to opt out, we will honor your request in a timely manner. To opt out of sharing your information with other businesses for direct marketing purposes, you may manage your data and preferences through your Profile  on our site, by contacting GMAC Customer Support  as described on the Contact Us page of this website, or by contacting our Chief Privacy Offical as outlined below .

Data Protection for Residents in France

When they provide personal data to GMAC, residents of France agree that GMAC may collect and process their data, which may be disclosed by GMAC to its data processors and service providers, and also to the extent, if any, required by applicable regulations, or by a court of competent jurisdiction, or as necessary to detect and prevent unlawful activity. Such residents also agree to the collection of their personal data in the United States, which is the primary processing location for GMAC and its primary data processor, Pearson VUE. Residents of France understand that they have a certain rights of access, of modification, of rectification and of erasure of certain personal data as provided in this Privacy Policy. To exercise these rights, individuals may review their Profile  on our site, contact GMAC Customer Support  as described on the Contact Us page of this website, or contact our Chief Privacy Offical as outlined below.

Special Notes

Professionals from GMAC Governing Schools

Information Collection: Certain authorized professionals participate in GMAC governing activities. Deans of their respective governing member schools will provide details of these authorized professionals to GMAC for authenticating and incorporating into a closed online directory.

Certain governance professionals also may participate in committees or advisory groups. In limited circumstances, GMAC may provide secure online areas on gmac.com in order to facilitate communication between committee members and staff. These website areas would not be available to the general public; only those people authorized to access the content would be given authorization. Such areas would be monitored and administered by appropriate GMAC staff members, and may include data posted by GMAC such as marketing materials and contact information.

A select number of schools that use the GMAT exam worldwide serve in a governance capacity for GMAC in which they meet certain obligations for participation. A school’s participation in governance is by invitation of the GMAC Board of Directors. If you have questions about governance of the Graduate Management Admission Council, please send an email to governance@gmac.com.

Data Uses and Your Choices: Professionals who participate in GMAC governance activities must agree to have their business contact information published in the GMAC Online Directory, a secure forum accessible only by authorized representatives of governing schools. However, these professionals may request that their contact information not be published either publicly or communicated by GMAC outside of this group for any purpose unrelated to governance activities.

GMAC may post a list of members of the Council’s Board of Directors, along with photographs, school affiliations, and roles, to certain website sections. Such site sections may also include publicly available press releases.

Representatives from each member school may be designated by a dean, on an annual basis, to participate in a number of GMAC governance activities, including voting, attending the annual GMAC business meeting, and serving on committees or advisory groups. These authorized representatives must perform the duties of the governance roles assigned to them; as such—

• They may be contacted by GMAC regarding governance-related business
• Their business contact information may be posted and shared with other member school professionals in a closed online directory forum.
• GMAC may collect additional personally identifiable information offline, such as mobile phone numbers, to more efficiently conduct GMAC governance activities.

GMAT Score Report Recipients

Information Collection: For those graduate institutions and scholarship/fellowship programs ("GMAT Programs") that have agreed to the GMAT Score Report Terms of Use Agreement and have been authorized by GMAC to access GMAT score reports, their "Site Administrators" and/or other "Score Report Users" will be directed to a separate website operated by our service provider, Pearson VUE (a business of NCS Pearson, Inc.) known as the "Score Report website."

The Score Report website is subject to a separate GMAT Score Report Terms of Use Agreement that governs access to and use of score reports, in addition to this Special Note and the complete GMAC www.gmac.com privacy policy. Only the authorized "Site Administrator" and the other "Score Report Users" as outlined in the Terms of Use Agreement shall have electronic access to GMAT score reports.

Information collected on the Score Report website will include a profile for each authorized "Site Administrator" and "Score Report User" that will be maintained separately from gmac.com profiles. This profile includes business contact information, including email address, name and position title, in order to provide authorized access to GMAT® score reports.

Data Uses and Your Choices: Authorized recipients of GMAT score reports are licensed to receive personally identifiable information about prospective graduate management students who have consented to provide their contact information, background and demographic information, program preferences, and GMAT scores (all such information collectively referred to as "PII"), as stated in the GMAT Score Report Terms of Use Agreement. We use the information we collect about "Site Administrators" and "Score Report Users" to allow them to access the GMAT Score Report website for authorized purposes. This information may only be used by GMAC, Pearson VUE, and authorized service providers in conjunction with operating the Score Report website, except as required by law or in legal or governmental proceedings.

Access, Data Integrity and Retention: In the event that any "Site Administrators" and "Score Report Users" information changes, the Site Administrator can promptly change the user’s information through the "Manage Users" or "View My Profile" tab on the Score Report website. Other "Score Report Users" may request that changes be made to their profile information by contacting either the Site Administrator or the GMAT School Coordinator at gmatprogram@gmac.com.

Security of Your Personal Information: Pearson VUE, the operator of the Score Report website, utilizes security safeguards incorporated within an enterprise security program. The security program is administered by appropriate Pearson VUE officials and incorporates administrative, technical, and physical safeguards over your data and its systems to protect your information from loss, unauthorized disclosure, misuse, alteration, or destruction. The Score Report website uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption for transmitting data securely over the Internet.

Event Participants

Information Collection: In order to register for a GMAC event, individuals must first register on gmac.com, and in doing so consent to the gmac.com privacy policy.

In order to fulfill our administrative responsibilities, we may collect certain details from eligible professionals who register for GMAC events. This information may include name, credit card number and expiration date (used to reserve hotel accommodations and pay for events), dietary and disability accommodation requests, and other special requests that we will pass directly on to our event management subcontractors or hotels necessary to fulfill those requests. GMAC maintains this data on an individual basis, per event, separately from individuals’ gmac.com Profile information.

GMAC may partner with other organizations to hold certain conferences (e.g., MBA Roundtable for the MBA Leadership Conference). GMAC may obtain member lists from, or share information with, such strategic partners and other organizations in the graduate management education industry in order to facilitate the planning of these events.

Data Uses and Your Choices: Hotel accommodation requests and contact details will be passed on to the designated facilities. Upon registering for an event, you understand that your accommodation request and profile information will be subject to the privacy policy of the designated hotel.

It is a normal conference and event practice for event sponsors to publish a list of the contact details of speakers, facilitators, and participants. If you prefer not to have your contact details published, please email programs@gmac.com or contact the event administrator identified in the event solicitation.

Photographs, video, or audio recordings of event participants may be taken by or on behalf of GMAC at any GMAC sponsored event. By participating in a GMAC sponsored event, an individual grants GMAC the right to use, publish, and republish this media without restrictions and without payment for GMAC instructional, informational, promotional, and other business purposes. In addition, individuals waive the right to inspect or approve image versions used for publication. GMAC may, but is not required to, include individual names in connection with such media.

User Submitted Content: GMAC may facilitate communication amongst event participants and staff members using various bulletin boards, social networks, or other electronic media. GMAC owned and controlled networks may be monitored by appropriate GMAC staff members and would not be available to the general public, that is, the website or groups would be "hidden" and only those people authorized to use or join the site would be given access.

Information shared via a network owned and controlled by a third party (e.g., Facebook) is outside of the control of GMAC and the privacy policies and Terms and Coniditions of these third party websites may be different from the gmac.com Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. GMAC is not responsible for these privacy policies, Terms and Conditions, or the content of such sites and recommends that you carefully read these policies.

Survey Participants

Information Collection: GMAC conducts research studies with individuals and organizations, including, but not limited to schools, corporate recruiters, and purchasers of gmac.com products and services. We may obtain basic contact information from participating schools or organizations in the graduate management industry, as well as from those who voluntarily responded to our surveys. We may also collect opinions and attitudes from respondents, as well as event evaluations. Certain assessment surveys are administered and have response analysis performed by ACT, Inc.

Data Uses and Your Choices: Participation in surveys is always optional for gmac.com users, registrants, and others solicited. You may always opt out of participating in surveys by responding to the directions provided within the survey invitation. GMAC generates aggregate reports from survey responses and uses these reports internally to improve GMAC products and services. GMAC may share aggregate reports with participating schools and organizations. Survey records are not associated with individuals outside of your organization in any of these reports; individuals' names and contact details may be used only to track survey completion and for follow-up communications as appropriate.

Changes to this Policy

From time to time, we may need to change our privacy policy or procedures to accommodate changes in applicable law, our programs or business needs, or for other reasons. If we make any material changes to our privacy policy, including changes in our use of personal information, we will post a prominent notice on the gmac.com homepage and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, under what circumstances we collect it, and how we use it.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this privacy policy or believe we have not adhered to it, please contact our chief privacy official:

• Email us at: privacy@gmac.com*
• Phone us at: +1 (703) 749-0131 or
  toll-free in the U.S. at (800) 811-8042
• Write us at:
  Graduate Management Admission Council®
  Attention: Chief Privacy Official
  1600 Tysons Boulevard, Suite 1400
  McLean, VA 22102  USA

* Please note that opt-out requests should be made by deselecting your preferences in your Profile or by calling or faxing GMAC® Customer Support.