I am pleased to announce that I have raised enough money through advertisements and donations to provide scholarships for two deserving people this year. I will buy all the GMAT preparation materials for two scholarship recipients—a package of 8 books, valued at nearly $150:

- Official Guide for GMAT Review
- Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review
- Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review
- Cracking The GMAT with DVD
- Kaplan GMAT with CD
- Kaplan GMAT 800
- Kaplan GRE & GMAT Math Workbook
- Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction GMAT Preparation Guide

These materials will provide excellent preparation for any person vying for a top GMAT score.

It’s very easy to apply: In the next few weeks I will release an essay topic. Each applicant will e-mail his/her essay response to me (in less than 300 words), and from the applicant pool I will pick 5 finalists. I will post the essay responses for the five finalists online, and two scholarship winners will be determined via an online voting poll. Ultimately, I will not decide who deserves the scholarships—YOU WILL DECIDE THE WINNERS with your vote. Applicants must be U.S. residents (sorry, I can’t afford to ship internationally this year).

Here’s a timetable for this year’s Beat The GMAT! Scholarship:

- April 10, 2006 - Essay topic released
- April 30, 2006 - Deadline to e-mail essay response to me
- May 7, 2006 - Five finalists revealed and online poll to vote for winners created
- May 20, 2006 - Poll ends and 2 scholarship winners announced!

I urge all people planning to take the GMAT to apply for this scholarship. It’s an easy way to get some free books!

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In other news, I am happy to report that the Beat The GMAT! Discussion Forum is in the final stages of development and should launch in the next few weeks. IMPORTANT NOTE: the discussion forum will occupy the www.beatthegmat.com URL. If you wish to visit this blog in the future, please go to beatthegmat.blogspot.com.

I urge you all to please help me in making the Beat The GMAT! Discussion Forum a robust online community. As an incentive, I will be awarding a $20 gift certificate to the top forum contributor each month, for the rest of 2006.