In the realm of financial investing, it pays to invest early on. By doing so, the accumulated return over time can be staggering. There are plenty of online articles that can explain the concept in greater detail, but the simple idea is that making some small, consistent investments now (instead of spending that money on other things) will lead to a much greater financial payout later. A similar concept exists when considering your own GMAT prep and what you’re willing to do to raise your GMAT scores.

Everything about the process of applying to Business School and ultimately attending Business School can be appropriately defined as ‘expensive.’ The value of having the MBA is ultimately worth the sacrifice though, as most MBAs make considerably more money than they would if they did not have the MBA. Just as in retirement investing though, the smaller investments you make in your GMAT prep early on can lead to a much BIGGER payout later.

Consider a Business School applicant who attempts to save money by taking a book-heavy study approach to the GMAT and spending as little money as possible on the process. That applicant could assemble a set of used/cheap GMAT books and some other free resources and could conceivably score well enough on the GMAT to get an invite to a Top MBA Program. Without a scholarship though, the cost of attending that Program could easily cost upwards of $100,000+ over time, depending on the Program. By saving a few hundred dollars in the short term (and not investing in some additional GMAT resources), that applicant will end up paying far MORE to earn that MBA later on.

Now consider a different applicant – one who can properly ‘see’ the GMAT for the investment that it is and invests enough into the process. By putting in the extra time and effort, and investing in some additional study resources, that applicant would likely score higher on the GMAT and open up the potential for Scholarship money. Scholarship money depends on the School, the specific Program and some other variables… but at that level, Scholarships come in the thousands or tens-of-thousands of dollars. A Full Scholarship to Stanford GSB would currently amount to approximately $170,000.

Would the potential for THAT type of scholarship be worth an extra $100 or $200 now? How about $300? You shouldn’t need much time to answer those questions.

Just as with financial investments, you have to decide how much you can invest. You’re probably already ‘trading’ your free time on some combination of the following; studying for the GMAT, researching Schools and planning for application deadlines. You’ve likely already spent some money too. All of that is common to GMAT Test Takers; the ‘process’ costs money. The reality though is that it’s all an investment in YOUR future. If you want to increase your chances at getting the BIG payout, you’ll want to invest just a little bit more now.

To that end, we’re here to help.

GMAT assassins aren’t born, they’re made,