Cost of applying?

[WildeThing]

For those of you applying now or who have applied in past cycles, how much does applying actually cost? I want to apply to several schools to give myself the best odds but I don't want to cripple myself financially so wondering where the line is. How much has applying ran you, including fees, GREs and any hidden costs that might not be obvious (like dozens of official transcripts)?

[Dr. Old Bill]

Last time around, I spent an estimated $3200-$3500 on applying to 17 schools. This time will be more like $2500, all told.

It ain't cheap.

 

[Warelin]

The cost of sending an official transcript can be anywhere from what I've seen can be between $5-$15 from each school you've attended. If you're applying to 10 schools, this would be between $50-150. If you attended 2 schools and are applying to 10, this could be between $100-$300.

GRE scores cost $27 to send per school. Assuming all 10 schools want them and you didn't select them when you tested, that's another $270. Supposing that half of these schools want the GRE subject test, that's another $135.

I've seen applications as low as $40 and as high as $120. Most applications seem to hover around 70-90. Taking the average, this means another $800.

Considering only one college attended, applying to 10: $800+$270+$135+100= $1305

Considering the cost of the GRE ($205) and the Lit Exam ($150), this totals $1660.

Some schools do offer fee waivers, but often it requires a very strict set of requirements to be met.

(According to my notes: UPenn cost me 107 to apply to last year, Yale cost me 159, Cornell 149, Rutgers 124) Those costs will be going up for me slightly due to an added transcript after next year. Applying can be very expensive.

[WildeThing]

That is... disheartening.

 

Thank you both, though!

[__________________________]

Sorry, but nobody should be spending 2 grand on an application cycle. That's just insane to me. That's like twice of what my monthly income was when I was applying. Application fees can be waived if money is a real issue in some cases, and you shouldn't be applying to more than 8 or 9 programs anyway. Also not everyone requires the GRE Lit -- I couldn't afford it, so I didn't take it and didn't even consider programs that required it once I realized I couldn't take it. Also, most schools don't have triple digit application fees. The highest I paid was $75; the lowest was $25 (shoutout to Fordham). UChicago's was like 100 bucks, but I had no trouble getting that waived since I was broke as shit and could prove it; I would imagine that similarly "elite" schools with similarly high app fees would be equally amenable to that. But yeah, the GRE was definitely the most expensive single part of the process for me.

Suffice to say that there are ways to cut corners; it also is worth keeping in mind that you aren't spending all this at one time (I was staggering applications according to when my paycheck would come in) but it is worth it to make a budget for yourself and to be thinking in those terms as you plan out your application process. I just figured I'd add that two cents, since if I saw those price tags to the application process when I was thinking about all this I probably wouldn't have even bothered applying to grad school, lol.

[Glasperlenspieler]

Make sure to check whether a school actually requires an official transcript. It seems like more and more schools are ok with an uploaded copy of your transcripts, and will only request an official transcript if you are admitted. This can definitely save you some money if you only have to pay for official transcripts for a handful of schools.

[TakeruK]

Unfortunately, most of the fee waiver programs only apply to American citizens or permanent residents. I was not able to waive any of my fees for my applications. It sucks but applying to school does cost a lot of money  At my school, we are working on ways to help reduce fees where possible but almost all programs are for US citizens or people from certain countries where income is really really low. That's okay with me though, I think these people need the support more than me.

My application costs were high. About $100 per school. I had to get 3 transcripts because I attended 3 different schools (undergrad, masters, and another school to take a course as a visiting student). Transcripts cost around $35 for all three. So, for 8 schools, application + transcript was $1100.

I had subject and general GRE, total cost of $400. I also had to travel to write the GRE, including a hotel stay, so that was another $150. Plus $100 for additional score reports to 4 schools. GREs cost was $650.

So, my total cost was about $1750 for 8 schools.

On the other hand, the schools spent as much, if not more, on me to fly me out and have me visit their programs though. I would not have wanted to make a life decision like this without visiting. In addition, compared to how much grad school will cost you when you are actually a student, $2000 in the long run is not a lot (i.e. many people could be earning thousands of dollars more per year if they didn't go into grad school). However, in the short run, it can be very crappy and I think it's something academia needs to fix because smart people may not be able to even afford applying to grad school. 

In order to afford the fees, I had to save up money from my paid Masters program (In Canada, Masters students are paid like PhD students in the US since you must do a Masters before a PhD).

[AnimeChic101!]

I'm applying to a lot of programs. I know strong applicants who didn't get in anywhere, and the one piece of advice they always give me is: "don't apply to less than 15 programs." My director also encouraged me to apply as many possible (upwards to 20-25 was encouraged), and I really trust his opinion. It's really hard to get into programs and I really have no money (I live paycheck to paycheck as a masters student, and that barely covers stuff as it is), but i'm pushing everything i've got into this. I have a little bit in savings and I have about 3 credit cards (I just got 2 more for the purpose of applying). It's not financially smart, but going through some tough times in order to get into a funded program is worth it to me. 

 

I'll also be trying to get fee waivers. I tried to get one from Yale prior to my MA, but was denied. I'm going to try again though. 

[Dr. Old Bill]

What's funny is that I run into professors from BOTH camps. Some encourage casting a wide net, while others suggest focusing on six or seven at most and making the applications really really good. I'm definitely more inclined to cast a wider net because, like the Hunger Games, the odds aren't ever in your favor... So this time around I'm applying to approximately twelve, and all of them seem to be good fits. The cost sucks, but so does the prospect of an alt-ac career (at this point, at least).

[bhr]

Probably about $350 for six programs, though I had taken the GRE for my MA and was able to reuse it (so that would have added another $150-ish?). Make sure to take advantage of the "Free" reports from your GRE the day you take it. One program accepted a print-out of the GRE score page, with the understanding that they wanted the official score before offering funding. Two programs didn't want my scores.

My undergrad will mail out official transcripts for free, and my MA program was $10 a pop, but most programs would accept an upload the unofficial ones for now, with official ones to come after acceptance. Definitely check before you send anything. 

I had application fee waivers from both HarvardNorthwestern and USF, though I opted not to apply to either. Both were extended after I had met with faculty at a conference.

Add another $140 or so for an unreimbursed campus visit to a B1G school. They had offered me a significant funding package, but no travel money to visit, so I drove in for a quick stay. I stayed in a hotel, though they had offered a spare room with a grad student (not my thing).

[Quickmick]

This has been pretty well hashed out, but I will add my experience. I applied to 8 schools, only one of which required 'official' transcripts, the rest allowed an upload with the provision that I send certified copies if I get in. So that was 12.50. I got fee waivers at 6/8 schools so app fees were $125 and I had to send out 6 GRE reports so 162ish. Looks like about 300 bucks. I did spend some money that was not required. One overnight visit was about 200 bucks and I attended a conference where many of my schools had people presenting/attending so I could meet a lot of people in one shot. That cost about a grand. Even counting those trips is comes in at like 1500.

Trying to keep things in perspective, I probably wouldn't have squirmed until the bill got over 2500. For whatever reason any number under that sounds reasonable and over it sounds (to me) like a big number. I would try to remember the value of what it is I am trying to obtain. If we are talking 5 years of tuition for 200k+/ttl, and 20k+/yr to live and 5k+/yr for health insurance we are well north of 300k. That means even if it cost me 3 grand it is only 1% of the payoff. Makes pretty good financial sense to me. Oh, just a thought, in lieu of putting these costs on a credit card at 10+%, if you have money left on your aid package, there might be another way. You could amend your fall aid request and increase the disbursement by the amount you need to cover apps. By doing that you will finance your app fees at 6ish% which will be deferred as opposed to the higher interest rate alternative.

I had considered applying to closer to 12 programs, then pared it back to 5 before settling on 8. Something I have read here, and repeated, made a lot of sense to me. Increasing the number of applications won't increase your chances (as it doesn't make you look better) but it does serve to decrease variance.

[othersamantha]

So sorry for everyone that has to pay to get transcripts sent out! What a hassle. My undergrad will send mine for free, so luckily that's not a cost I need to consider. I took the GRE general in 2015, so that's not a cost I'm factoring in for my actual application season, but I will need to send out score reports. I'm planning to apply to 5 or 6 schools, so that about $160. I'm taking the subject test later this month, so that's about $150. With application fees anywhere from $40 or $50 to $125, I'm hoping that it will total between $300 and $500. All in all, I'm REALLY hoping to not spend more that $1000. I definitely want to look into fee waivers too, although I looked at a few online and it seemed like it takes a lot of work to get the documentation together... anyone have experience or tips for this?