Cha-Ching! Add it up!

nah, that`s me i motion blurred

GMAT Fees: $0 ( A friend took care of it)
GMAT Prep ( Manhattan test series) : $39
Visit to Tuck, Yale and Wharton: $400
Visit to Judge for interview: $800
Application fees so far: $450
Courier: $100
Miscellaneous: $100

Total ( so far): $1,889

( and yes, I earn in indian rupees )

how'd you manage that on $400?

Right,
...and following on from that, where can one buy an Loro Piana suit for c. 1400.00? The places around here where you find Loro Piana (e.g., the LP boutique at Needless Markup) feature unstructured blazers north of 2k. Beautiful stuff though.

In the spirit of the thread I would guess that my expenses thus far are c. 3k.

Help!

[


Right,
...and following on from that, where can one buy an Loro Piana suit for c. 1400.00? The places around here where you find Loro Piana (e.g., the LP boutique at Needless Markup) feature unstructured blazers north of 2k. Beautiful stuff though.

In the spirit of the thread I would guess that my expenses thus far are c. 3k.

Help![/quote]
Occasionally ebay has them - just make sure the seller has a good reputation.

(In India)

TOEFL (why?): USD 150
GMAT: USD 250
GMAT Material: USD 100
Applications (5 schools incl. some waivers): USD 580
Interviewing travel: USD 80

Total: USD 1180 + Loads of time, effort

GMAT 250
4 APPS - 1000
TRANSCRIPTS - 20
3 visits to GSB (including plane fare/ excluding hotel (stayed with friends)) - 800
gmat prep material - 80 bucks + local library
interview suit - not included (already had suits before)
xbox 360 bought to motivate me while prepping for MBA apps - 400

grand total - $2550

not that bad..

Arrrrrgggghhhh!

My TV is broken. My toddler was repeatedly switching it on and off and it went 'Ping'! The lamp inside is busted an dit will cost a bit to replace it. Wondering if its worth getting a new tv or fixing it seeing as i will have to sell it in 6 months time. It's an old TV so parts are hard to come by, but it's a 50 inch LCD! (old style projector LCD bought second hand dirt cheap ~ $800)

Means i can't play my Wii now

GMAT Prep : various books = 400 usd
Application fees = 500 usd
GMAT + TOEFL = 500 usd

= total of 1400+ USD + a lot of time .I'm a young dad and I spent more time with the gmat prep books and the essays than with my daughter ,it was only for few month . But it was really difficult for me .

Good to know that I have company

Hey me too. It was my daughter who busted my TV!! Grrrrr

Stop blaming your daughter toga, I know it was you - you sent your Wii controller flying into the TV didn't ya?

bump! have fun with this one.

There are ways to save.

prep course: $0.00 (self-study for 770)
OG11: $21 (new from amazon)
GMAT: $250 (only took it once)
Montauk book: $4.85 (amazon marketplace, used, no marks on it)
Transcripts: $0.00 (I know you can't control it but my school does not charge for this)
App fees: $200ish x 7 = $1400.00
Interviews: none yet not that I am happy about that
Visits: I've only visited local schools so far, Haas, spent about $40 on gas and parking
Time off work: I suppose you could measure it but I am on salary. Anyways I took 1 day off for GMAT, nothing more.
Suit: $75 (I have some suits but I got another one for interviews, new old stock suit)
Suit alterations: $70
Shirt: $10 from Target (if you think the interviewer cares whether your white shirt was $400 or $40, you are nuts. I have some very expensive dress shirts but this one is plainer and fits better)

And you do not need 4 suits or even 4 shirts for interviews, since I have never heard of a school which has more than one interview. You only need 1 suit.

I would recommend you get some good dress shoes but that is my personal preference. I already had many good dress shoes for years so this wasn't an added cost. The ones I will wear cost about $550 retail, I paid $200.00.

Total: $1871, sans interviews

I don't consider the cost of interviews as high-risk. You are way ahead in the game if you get one, I will visit without hesitation if offered.

GMAT prep books: $70 (three, one used from craigslist)
GMAT: $500 (took it twice)
App fees: ~$1400 ($200ish times seven schools)
Sending scores: $140
New suit and dressy shoes: $350 (bought despite my reluctance)

Total: $2,460

I live about ten minutes away from two schools I'm applying to, so interviews there didn't cost anything. Also, my best friend lives in Palo Alto, so I worked in a visit to Haas and Stanford on a trip to visit that I would've made anyway - so no additional costs there or lost income.

couple things I did to save costs, sorry if all this is a day late/dollar short:

-I got an old (2005) kaplan practice CD for like $10. it worked fine. Honestly as long as the test CD is from the CAT era you're good, the questions are the same. No reason to overpay for the new 2008/9 version. same goes for TOEFL software.

-Lots of schools(especially state ones) will waive your app fee for a nominal excuse. It doesn't hurt to try, email under a pseudonym account asking 'is X a valid reason?' if you're worried about coming off as a BS'er

-As for the clothes/transportation you are all on your own. Couchsurfing.com can be pretty useful if you don't have any friends in the area.

Manhattan GMAT prep course and books: $1,400
Application fees for 4 applications: $850
School visits to Cornell and Darden: $920
Total: $3170 (likely to go even higher if I get interview invites!)

The feeling when I walk into my boss's office and tell him I quit because I'm going to business school: Priceless!