Guest malsa Posted August 11, 2003 Report Share Posted August 11, 2003 I was wondering - why exactly must we be fingerprinted on the day of the exam? To my knowledge, my fingerprints do not currently exist on any known database - so the AAMC has nothing to compare it to. Perhaps I suffer from a little big brother type paranoia but I am not exactly thrilled with the thought of my fingerprints going into any sort of database. Can someone explain the reasoning behind this? Is it a MUST in order to write the exam? Have you ever heard of anyone challenging the legality of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted August 11, 2003 Report Share Posted August 11, 2003 Hello malsa, The MCAT folks fingerprint you (it's not the messy, black ink type, by the way ) to allow you to enter the exam room. This is a precautionary measure, presumably to help stop test-writing fraud, e.g., having a lookalike sibling write the test for you. This does happen, by the way--I know someone who wrote the GMAT for his brother who fared poorly on one writing of the exam; due to this, the brother managed to make it into business school. Not impressive stuff. :rolleyes Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 They are not going to compare your fingerprints to anything...this is not a criminal reference check, so relax. Ther reason it is done is exactly as Kirsteen said, to prevent look-alikes from writing the exam for you. If a school challenges that you wrote the exam, they could fingerprint you and send the prints to the MCAT office to be checked against the one that is on file. It is mostly a 'safeguard' in case anyone ever questions who exactly wrote the exam under your name, there is definitive proof. As for the legality of it, I don't know. It basically comes down to either be fingerprinted or don't write....there is no negotiation to be done on test day and they absolutely will not let you in without fingerprinting...(just like they won't let you use a calculator on the PS section) If you are really concerned about it, I suggest that you call the MCAT program office and ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest winnipegmedder Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 hate to say it, but the ball is in AAMC's court. i think their attitude is - don't like it? then don't write the mcat. talk about putting us between a rock and a hard place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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