How much $$$ did/will this application season cost you?

All expenses - approx

1) MGMAT Prep 9 course: $1400
2) PowerScore 2 Bibles: $70
3) GMAT Exam: $250
4) Application Fees to 6 schools: $1200
5) Airplane Tkts/Hotel/Food for Interviews and Visits: $1750
6) Gifts for Recommenders: $100 each to 8 ppl = $800
7) NYC GClub Meeting: $40

Total: $5,510

approximate:

veritas online course + books + GMAT fee = $1200
8 app fees = $1600
trip to Duke = $230
trip to Wharton = $20
trip to Tuck/MIT/HBS = $200
misc books = $100
gifts for recommenders = $200
trip to Chicago = $100

I also used hotel points/friends' couches for overnight stays and airline miles.

Total = $3650

Here is my best guess...

kaplan course (awful btw) - $1400
books - $300
application fees - $1215
duke visit - $350
chicago/kellogg visit - $550
recommender gifts - $300
gmat fee (twice) - $500

$4615 (sigh)

I used plenty of hotel/airline points to save on expenses during my trips to schools. In total I'm at about $3500:

GMAT & Prep: $350 (I didn't use a course)
5 application fees: $1250
Trip to Kellogg (interview): $500
Trip to Booth (interview): $100
Trip to Duke (interview): $500
Trip to Kellogg (DAK): $560
Gifts for recommenders: $300
Two years at bschool: Priceless

How'd you do that? That's less than the cost of a cab ride!

RF

actually that's how much the cab ride from Wharton to the airport cost me!

I flew there using an airline voucher (getting stranded overnight in DTW meant they gave me a free ticket). Spent the night at my friend's place, he/his friends gave me a ride to campus the next day. Got free lunch from the HCM program peeps. Snuck into a presentation (with friend and his friends) from some company that had free coffee/snacks late-afternoon. fun!

Shame on you!

RF

For me it was

GMAT & Prep: $250 (Relied on free information available online)
3 application fees: $620

Duke interview: $5
Darden interview (didn't go): $0
Kellogg interview: $5 (off-campus, yet to happen)
Gifts for recommmenders = $ 100

Total = $ 980

For me:

App fees (incl. Lauder language exam): about $1000
GMAT and prep: $300
Tuck visit: $700 (with wife, rented car)
Wharton visit: $250
Duke visit: maybe $5
Gifts for recommenders: $25

Gmat Test and Prep Books $300
Application Fees $925
Chicago Interview $350
Yale Interview $50
Kellogg Interview $250
Recommender Gifts $100
Admit Weekends $500

Total $2475

Since I started this poll, I guess it's only fair if I contribute too.

GMAT Prep $1350
GMAT Fee $250
Kellogg App Fee $230
Darden App Fee Waived $0
Kellogg MMM Day/Interview $650
Darden Interview $20 (gas)
Kellogg DAK w/wife $750

Total $3250

May be a bit late for this year, but I think a sticky with tricks, tips, etc for cost saving during application season would be a great idea.

Wow, I know you said you were cheap... but man are you cheap.

Look who's talking. You are riding a plastic pony to save money on gas....

I was able to go fairly cheap this season since I'm staying in the same general region where I live.

GMAT 250.00
Prep Books 100.00
Tuck Visit 300.00
Cornell Visit x 2 80.00
Simon Visit 20.00
App Fees 420.00

Overall Cost 1,170.00

Not too bad at all, though I wish I wouldn't have blown so much money on Tuck given my results. Ah well, it was still a fun weekend.

Time to weigh in since my title as group cheapskate appears to be threatened here.

My big thing for saving cost would be to buy/obtain used GMAT prep software from someone else. Lord knows there's been plenty of people who've already taken it. And it won't be scribbled on like a book.

I got a Kaplan prep CD from a friend (who only paid something like $20 for it in the first place) which had a diagnostic test and 4 real ones, plus 5 or 6 problem sets for each type of question (reading comp, arithmetic, geometry etc). I also found a bunch of free tests online, one was at like https://www.crack-gmat.com or something like that, and of course the 2 free official tests you get from mba.com.

So for me:
GMAT prep: $0
GMAT exam: $250
Additional Score Reports(3): $75
Official Transcripts(3): $15
RT Bus to MBA fair(duke/haas/wharton/ross/stern were all there): $40
Haas/Wharton/Columbia/Duke apps (fee waived due to being a PCV): $0
Kellogg app fee: $230
Sloan app fee: $230
Recommender gifts(2 $15 gift certs to Amazon): $30
Buses/taxis to meet up with Wharton/Columbia/Kellogg interviewers in my city: $10
Skype costs for my phone interview with Duke: $1.20

Total cost: $881.20 US (but considering my results so far, perhaps a campus visit could have really helped)

*disclaimer: With the current exchange rate that's more than my monthly salary here!

You did that many apps and you only spent that much on recommender gifts????

Both largely used the same recommendation for all 6(I told them I didn't mind as long as it was tailored to answer all of the school's individual questions). And considering I am an aid volunteer in latin america, $15 can probably buy for someone here what $50 would buy in NYC.