Level playing field?

Ok, so the next step after deciding to go to B-School is when to write the GMAT. Some programs have their own exam (for example, Queens Univeristy in Toronto have their QMAT), but most schools just have you write the normal GMAT so that they can evaluate you and your potential peers against a standardized measure.

I understand the need for a level playing field to evaluate potential students, however I'm not sure that the GMAT accomplishes that goal. I'm also not sure that the school administrators take the GMAT scores into consideration as students would like to think.

Students spend hours, days, weeks and sometimes months studying and sometimes hundreds of dollars on courses and books to study up on the GMAT subjects to ensure that they achieve the highest score possible.

I firmly believe that B-School entrance, particularly Executive MBA candidates, should go through an interview process rather than using the GMAT. I know that some people go to online Universities for their EMBA just because a GMAT is not a prerequisite. EMBA students have lots of experience in the "real world" and based on that experience they will or will not be ready to achieve the study goals required for a successful MBA.

I understand that there are secondary goals for the test - can the person study properly, can they target a big goal and meet it, how do they work under pressure - and perhaps these secondary goals should be more primary.

Meanwhile I have my GMAT booked for March 29th at 8:00am. I have put it off for too long and it's time to get moving. In Calgary, the company that was administering the GMAT exams decided that they weren't going to do it anymore, so there was no place to write the exam. Now they have found a new supplier, so there really isn't any excuse.

Back to the books. Those Data Sufficiency questions sure are the hard.