Yes, these things are a big time investment. When I were a kid, I skipped applying for a number of large firms (Big 4 type, not MBB) simply because I couldn't be bothered to fill out their application forms (which had dozens of questions like "Write about a time when... in 1000 words or less"). Can't you make the time for this? What are we talking here? Like 10 hours prep? Even if it's 20 hours prep, can't you make an hour or so a day for a fortnight? And surely 3-4 hours prep is more like it (which even then is quite a lot for just one single application)? Just go to bed an hour later each night for a week?