For the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying to decide which graduate business schools I would like to attend and therefore apply to. It may seem like a relatively simple decision but there are so many competing factors which make it actually quite difficult.

Of course I’d like to go to the best school possible and have looked over the school rankings many times. Unfortunately, many of the top schools are in places that I have no real desire to live. Most are located either in the Northeast or in California, two of the most expensive places to live and work. This makes the decision pretty tough.

Also, since I’m looking to apply to multiple schools, I’m going to have to pay multiple application fees. This wouldn’t be so bad except for the fees being outrageously high. Many of the schools have application fees over $200. Some might say it’s quite a racket.

I’m also supposed to send an official GMAT score to the schools to which I’m applying. Since I wasn’t sure to which schools I wanted to apply at the time I took the test, I have to request additional score reports. Not surprisingly, these are also quite expensive. It costs $28 apiece for each school I want to send it to.

So far my first choice of school is the University of Texas at Austin. I’m also considering the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), The Ohio State University, the University of North Carolina and a couple of others. I’m hoping that all of this will eventually pay off because it’s already stressful and also getting quite expensive.

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