Information Collection

You are not required to register with mba.com. Much of the content on the site can be accessed even if you are not a registrant. However, to access a greater variety of products and services at mba.com, we ask that you submit your personal information to GMAC®.

We clearly identify data that must be provided for us to deliver the various products and services that you may request. Depending on the product or service, we will require different types of information. You may also choose to provide additional or optional information to enhance the services provided to you. The categories of information we may collect include:

• Basic contact information, including full name, address, telephone or facsimile number, and email address
• My mba.com profile settings including user and opt-in preferences (e.g., participation in the GMASS® Search Service - for a partial list of institutions which subscribe to the GMASS search service, click here)
• Background information, such as demographics and education
• Email addresses in connection with the “Email to a Friend” feature in the mba.com school search service, which allows you to send a one-time email to a friend and does not store the email address (Note: GMAC will not send any messages beyond the initial introduction communication without first obtaining opt-in consent from those individuals)
• Contact and shipping information, as well as purchase history, for purchases through the mba.com store, hosted by our e-commerce vendor, Digital River®, Inc.
• Payment, contact and other registration information required to take the GMAT® test or for related services, facilitated by Pearson VUE®, a business of NCS Pearson®, Inc., and its payment vendor (see Special Notes for GMAT Test Takers)
• Data used to verify and authenticate your identity during GMAT registration and at test centers, and to help the recipients of your GMAT score verify your identity (see Special Notes for GMAT Test Takers)
• Contact and usage information for products offered by strategic partners including ITS (GMAT Focus(TM) Product), Peregrine Partners (CareerLeader® assessment), and Vantage (GMAT Write(TM) product and My Access® Professional Edition)

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. In addition, our third party e-commerce service provider Digital River, Inc., which operates the mba.com store, may set cookies when you use the mba.com store in order to save shopping cart items. 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 My mba.com and online GMAT registration.

Like most standard website servers, during your visit, GMAC uses log files and web beacons to automatically collect information regarding your use of the site (i.e., pages visited, files downloaded), as well as system and security-related information. This information is used to understand the habits of mba.com users and improve the products, services, and content offered.

Website Log Files
Information collected by website log files 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 will not be shared with third parties, unless the disclosure is required for law enforcement or fraud prevention purposes.

Web Beacons
Web Beacons are small strings of code that provide a method for delivering a graphic image on a web page for the purpose of transferring data. For example, when you visit a page on this website, the code for a page being visited may be transferred to us. The information transmitted to us is used internally, and not shared with third parties, except as provided in this policy. We use this information for the following purposes:

• Allow us to better understand the traffic patterns within our websites and, subsequently, adjust our content to better respond to your interests
• Within the mba.com network of websites in order to count users and to recognize users by accessing cookies
• Use this information to suggest information and resources that may be of interest to you based on your use of our website and products

Some GMAC web pages may contain links to the websites of our strategic partners, as listed above or other third parties which provide products or services relevant to your graduate management education. THE PRIVACY POLICIES OF THESE THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES MAY BE DIFFERENT FROM OUR PRIVACY 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.

In addition, the content of several of these strategic partners may be provided through mba.com. As such, these partners may utilize web beacons and web logs as described above to understand your use of our web site. We do not provide your personal information to these partners so that they may identify your browsing behaviors.

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. If you would like to take the GMAT test and are between the ages of 13 and 18, please review “Test Takers Under Age 18” in the GMAT Information Bulletin or contact GMAT Customer Service.