I'm in a bit of a quandary, you see...I'm in my last term of undergrad. and I feel like in order to crack a 700+ score that I'll probably need to take a prep course somewhere. Here's the qualifier: I'm out of school Dec. 7, I can't miss school to take the class, I need to fly to Chile to see my fiance as soon as possible for a few weeks, and I start work in D.C. (I live in Oregon) in mid-late January.

I don't plan on starting b school for a couple of years so that I can build up some work experience, but I feel that it's probably best that I study for and take the GMAT while my study skills are at their peak.

My questions: 1) "how important/helpful are these prep courses?" 2) "how do I go about finding the best prep course since all of them advertise themselves as 'the best'?" 3) "When/how often are these courses offered?" and finally, 4) am I just S.O.L. and will I just have to start studying and take the test sometime after I've started work?

And if anyone has any other helpful "outside the box" solutions, please don't hesitate.

Thanks a lot