Friday, April 27, 2007

Expenses Ahoy!

Tucking $3 in an envelope with a form just to see my own undergrad transcript (for the first time) makes me realize how expensive the grad school application process is going to be. Application fees are $50-$80 per school, and that doesn't count all the shipping expenses (like all those self-addressed stamped envelopes for my professors' recommendations), let alone the GRE prep course tuition.

Eesh.

Anyway, I'm going to chill out for the next week a little. I could push really hard and squeeze an extra $50 or so out to put in the Freedom Fund...but frankly, I'd rather have a little leeway and a social life.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

And don't forget the cost of the test itself (twice over if you're going to take a subject test) as well as having GRE score reports sent (it's much more than the reasonable amount you would guess. And again, twice over if you're going to send the subject test scores). I also had to send these expensive items with my fellowship applications. And then there's the possibility of having to partially pay for any visits you want to make. I spent darned near a grand without any visits. It was definitely worth it and in the end I'm very happy with the way things turned out, but knowing what's coming might help.

Anonymous said...

I think I spent over $700 applying to grad school, and that didn't include the cost of the GRE because I had taken it several years before. But be sure to apply for fellowships, even if you have to spend extra: I earned between $20,000 and $30,000 a year from fellowships (on top of free tuition) the whole time I was in grad school (for history).

HC said...

You know, I didn't take a GRE prep course. I bought the Powerprep CD directly from ETS (it may be a download now), and practiced with that. I still received very good scores.

Of course, that was back in the magical time when everyone took the test with the analytical section and scored 780 on it.

The writing section may well be served with some coaching, although in your case, I'm sure that's not necessary.