My advice: don’t overlook the little costs involved in furthering your education. Applying to grad school is one of them. We focus on the big ticket costs like tuition and accommodation, but this is one that sneaks in the back door and should be part of your budget.
The largest factor determining how much you will need to spend applying to graduate school depends on how many applications you expect to do. Since applying to 3-5 seems like a reasonable average, we can take three graduate school applications as a minimum (this will be on the conservative end. While some people only have one program they’re dead set on entering, others need or want to cast a wider net. At one time I applied to ten programs.).
As you’ll see below, you should expect to save up at least somewhere between $390-$620 if you’re applying to just three programs.
Thinking about whether grad school is right for you?
Costs Involved In Applying To Grad School
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No point avoiding the nitty-gritty here, because that’s what these applications are all made of. And the costs for grad school applications are easy to overlook in your budget. You probably won’t think about them at all, or until the very end. But you should have a heads-up, and make sure that you’ve got the extra cash set aside for what can be an unflexible and somewhat expensive process.
The expenses I’ve listed below are based upon an assumption that you will apply for three graduate programs.
Application processing fees. These are one of the largest up-front costs and you can’t get around them. Expect anywhere from $50-$100 for a single program’s application cost. No, you don’t get the money back if they don’t accept you. Average Estimate based on 3 programs: $225.
Postage and courier fees. These are another money sucker! Of course, *you* won’t be submitting your application two days before the deadline, but don’t forget about the high costs of couriers. Assume a ballpark # of $3.00 for a paper-only application sent on time; assume upwards of $25 (or more?) to courier an application two days before the deadline, or if you need to send a package that includes a video or other bulk supplementary material. Average estimate of cost based on 3 programs: from $9.00 to $75.00.
GRE, LSAT and MCAT test fees. This year’s GRE test-taking price alone is $150 for those in the U.S. and $180 for all those in other countries (except China, whom they’re sucking dry at $205 per GRE test. Must be so much harder to adminster the computer test over there!). Let’s assume you only have to take the test once. Of course, if you sit for an LSAT and/or MCAT too, double the amount (depending on this year’s LSAT fees). Estimate: $150. Need to reschedule your appointment? Add another $50.
Additional GRE/LSAT Score Reports. If I recall correctly, you get about three of these free (included) with your test. If you need to send more than that, I believe it cost about $10 per report. Estimate: $0-70.
Fees Related To Your Reference Letters. This is quite variable. Some reference letters can be done by email, and are completely free, but others need paper and may have to be mailed to your old professors, and/or mailed back to you, so you will also need self-addressed stamped envelopes in some cases, too. Assuming three refs per app and you use the same three references, maybe you will need about $5.00 in regular postage. If you need to courier anything to referees (if they live abroad, for example), expect upwards of another $25 for each. Average Estimate: $5-$75.
Printing fees. You’ll go through a lot of paper and ink getting your applications in order. Don’t overlook the costs. Paper isn’t free and ink can be very expensive depending on your printer. Average estimate: $5-25.00.
I may have forgotten something (costs related to traveling for an interview, for example), but these are some of the central and most common costs. If you add it all up you can see that the range of costs you can expect to need savings for runs between $394 and $620, and that’s just for three applications. If you apply again the following year, or apply for more, pay attention to your costs accordingly. I easily dropped over $1200 on my graduate school applications one year. For a student living on their part-time job or dwindling scholarship money, this is no small change.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice post as always, but why should an individual spend thousands of dollars in an education without knowing if a decent job is waiting for him or her after graduation? Getting a diploma in Canada being deliver by arrogant university professors doesn’t worth it. Grad school doesn’t worth it. Its way better to start building a dividend paying stock portfolio as soon as possible in life and do it like Derek Foster and forget about career goal and dumb professors who thing they know-it-all. It’s currently what I am trying to do (building a portfolio) and this stuff is even better than getting a diploma. I am slowly building my portfolio and geesss, well, Derek Foster all the way. I don’t understand why he had sold his portfolio. But even there, DF rock.
@Sunny, university/college isn’t for everyone, and that’s even more true for graduate programs. Do what works for you. I agree that Derek Foster’s story can be quite inspiring for someone just getting started. Just don’t copy his mistakes, too, though!;)
I did some investment mistakes, but they were my own mistakes, like penny stocks wrong pick that I just cannot sell at the price I want, 200 stocks of Timminco (TIM) that now worth less than 300$, 500 stocks of Sprott Inc. (SII) purchased at around 9$,now worth the half of it, and a 7 000$ invested in their star fund, Sprott Canadian Equity, now worth half of the investment. I still hold all of the above, hoping one day I will recover from the money lost. I am slowly recovering, because my portfolio is so diversify, that when investment like Bank of Scotia gain value, my overall portfolio gain value too. All the other things I did or try to do the Derek Foster way went all fine. Doesn’t look like it, but I have university degrees, got them all oversy, in France – it should had done them in an English country – my English will had been better. The only mistake I consider Derek Foster did was to sell his portfolio. What you believe were is wrong moves? I don’t see any, unless the selling. But with the pressure of a family, maybe it had become difficult at a point for his living. What do you think?
This is a really insightful post. There are some discussions on this topic, and similar topics, taking place over at GradShare. I advise anyone who found this blog post informative to check it out — you may even want to contribute.
Thanks Devin. I’d love to hear others’ feedback!