Bill (SBC) Reviews

I cannot thank Bill enough for his assistance during my EMBA application journey. During our first call, he helped me set appropriate expectations and identify the programs I should consider. Bill provided invaluable help with my application essays and the interviews. The entire SBC team was also extremely supportive. I appreciated the team-based approach and received valuable feedback from my flight tester Amy.

A friend highly recommended Bill to me, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked with him. Bill demonstrated an impressive knowledge of the programs and was a pleasure to work with. Thanks to his support, I was able to gain acceptance into my desired program-Wharton!

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You may have an amazing experience and earned your undergraduate degree from one of the top programs in the world, which I didn't, but without Bill's help you may not stand a chance. My name is Mohamed. I earned my B.A. degree with a major in Accounting from Jordan. I have a great work experience, however a low GPA. I was applying for Wharton Business School for Executives for 2021 entering Class.

Application: Most of my work experience been in consulting, so I can definitely appreciate and distinguish exceptional service from an average service. Bill is just beyond exceptional. Whether you ask for Bill advise during the day, night, or weekend, he will always respond and respond quickly! There is not step that I took in the application process without his advice or review. He will always help with pleasure and will always always always add value and make suggestions. You will never feel he just wants to get you off his shoulder and move on.

Essays: Bill took the time to though my background in details, laid out the plan and what to expect, provided detailed insight on each essay with examples, and helped me pick the best examples from my experience that will best tell my story. His final touches and suggestions to the essays were invaluable. After I finish each essay with him, I will roll my eyes and tell myself wow is that really my experience and essay!! Again, it is just how to articulate and present.

Interview: Bill prepared me for the interview in two one-hour call. In the first call: Bill will go through what to expect and what the admission committee are looking for, he will hear you out responding to these questions, and will provide you with feedback and comments. Then, I went to practice and on the second call he will just make it like a real interview! He will provide you immediate feedback on each question and was great and how you can improve. The tactics and small hints and advises he provided me where crucial for my interview success. Again, in every interaction with Bill you will feel the added value!

I always felt that Bill provided me with best advice to ensure that i get the best results. I really enjoyed working with Bill and not only he is an astute admission consultant but a great friend and mentor.

Personally, Bill is the only admission consultant that I would ever use to apply for an Ivy League school! I will absolutely recommend working with Bill if you are planning your next successful school admission.

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I choose to use Stacy Blackman consulting after having a intro calls with a few different groups, and I am so happy I did! I worked with Bill Chionis and he was able to help me get admission to the Wharton EMBA program. Going in, I was unsure of what Wharton was looking for in a candidate. Bill knew the admissions process inside and out and was able to really help me position myself for the school. The knowledge I gained during my time with Bill was not only applicable to my application, but will be very useful for future interviews and any other applications I may do!

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I found SBC through a thorough online search, and requested information on their services. Conversations went smoothly and soon enough I was paired with Bill Chionis.

I could not have been more fortunate to work with Bill. He understood what specific MBA programs look for in their candidates and helped me tailor my message and story so my strengths would reflect what the program was looking for. Before working with Bill, I was not able to organize my thoughts or outline my admissions process in a linear manner. Bill was the best at helping me gather my thoughts, polish my story with the right narrative, and prepared me for what came at every single step.

Apart from being extremely knowledgeable, Bill made sure to look out for the individual. During 2020 times were hard/discouraging and he was supportive throughout the process. I cannot thank Bill for his support, and I would 100% recommend!

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Having done my due diligence on a couple of firms and a handful of consultants, I found myself gravitating back to Bill Chionis who was acting as the gatekeeper/broker to the roster of SBC consultants when we first spoke.

Although his colleagues were undoubtedly competent and experienced, I felt a personal connection to Bill, and felt as though he truly understood how my profile and future intentions were well aligned with Columbia's JTerm in particular, and I'm happy to say this was the correct instinct!

Given Bill's wisdom and ability to empathize with the Adcom, I was able to put my best foot forward in drafting my application, while eliminating unforced errors.

Essentially, if Bill were a soccer coach, his team would score more goals than otherwise, while having fewer scored upon them.

Just as a good coach needs a strong support staff, the rest of SBC were up to the task. I was able to improve my messaging further through working with a former Columbia adcom member as part of the Flight Test offering (included in my All-In package), and another former Columbia adcom member for my Interview Prep (additional hour purchased by me).

All said, if I had to start the process again, I would hope to first be drafted by Bill & his team!

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I started off the search for an executive MBA program knowing little about the process. During the search, I was overwhelmed, intimidated and confused when I looked at various school rankings and admission process. This is what prompted me to explore various executive MBA admission-consulting firms. I spoke with consultant from a few reputable companies but SBC’s approach, quality stood apart from the others. Particularly, Bill's reviews on various MBA websites motivated me to go for a complimentary profile assessment with him.

Right from the get go, Bill was very candid and friendly in his approach—a combination that I think is rare in most consultants. He patiently listened to my background and immediately pointed out areas of strengths and weaknesses. He was genuinely interested in my success and made a cogent argument on long-term value of an executive MBA. In fact, Bill was the one who suggested an hourly package rather than a comprehensive package based on my profile. I signed up for hourly consultation with Bill to help me with school shortlisting, essays, and interview preparation.

I had many questions about shortlisting schools. Bill was very patient, thorough and knowledgeable about the executive MBA admissions process for Wharton, Kellogg, Columbia, MIT and several other top business schools. His advice helped me eliminate a ton of hours of research and zero in on a few schools. He also pointed out schools I should focus on and the ones that may not be a good fit. This helped me strategically invest time in schools where I had the best admission chances.

Throughout the 12+ months of our interaction, Bill was a pillar of support for my application process. Perseverance and motivation are two key ingredients needed to put up a strong application for a top business school. Bill's methodical approach, no-nonsense feedback and gentle nudges (☺) were really helpful in making sure I stay focused on my goal. As Bill and I spent several hours (and emails :)) strategizing on my story, all parts of my application logically flowed from the unified strategy. My essays, recommendation letters and interviews had a common theme and complimented each other. As a result, I felt very comfortable during the interview process and was optimistic about my chances. I was elated to hear about my admit into Wharton and profusely thanked Bill soon after.

When you are evaluating executive MBA consultants, choose someone who can be honest about your candidature and can specifically tell you what s/he can do to help enhance your profile (and what aspects cannot be mitigated). This will level set your expectations and help you get into the best business school that fits your profile. Overall, I am so glad that I chose to work with Bill and SBC. Their professionalism, thoroughness and customer focus are top notch. Thank you Bill!

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I was in a very tight time schedule when I decided to apply for EMBA program. So I decided to look for a consulting service to help me. I did a lot of research online and chat with consultants of different companies, SBC stands out because the consultant I talked, Bill is specialized in EMBA application, and they have very good knowledge and resources on the schools and application process. I choose a all-in package for my dream school. My consultant Bill is very professional and helpful. Also given that I was in China during the entire application period, he was very nice to adjust his time for me to make phone calls. SBC also has a service called Flight test, that I think is extremely helpful is to have former admission office look at your application. Lisa who helped to review the application actually suggested some points I have never thought about. And I think this could make my application very differently. Overall, it's a very good choice to choose SBC, I would highly recommend it.

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I highly recommend Bill Chionis’ exceptional services to anyone looking for an experienced, considerate, enthusiastic, and efficient guide to the MBA application process.
I applied to the Wharton EMBA program and successfully got admitted with Bill’s help. I conducted more than 8 calls with other highly ranked consulting firms prior to signing up for the All-In Package with Bill.
Bill’s approach stood out because it was crisp and straight-to-the-point. Given his experience, he knew how to navigate the application process (i.e., the key parts that we needed to hit in order to craft a competitive application).
Following Bill’s advice (and putting in the work) will get you results. For example, we only had to do minor modifications to my draft application after we submitted it for a FlightTest with former admissions committee members (from Rice and Wharton) that were a part of the Stacy Blackman team. Bill intimately knows how admissions committee's evaluate applications.
Wharton was the only school that I applied for and my admission to the program is an undeniably clear validation of Bill’s approach (i.e., application strategy). Bill is highly passionate about working with candidates and that’s exactly what you want when looking for an advisor that’s dedicated to helping you create the best application. Appreciate all the help Bill!

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I reached out to Bill pretty late for the Booth and Kellogg spring batch deadline. He convinced me that I had a good candidacy and I could complete the application in time. That gave me the confidence to apply and as promised Bill was there to help at every step of the way. He was very responsive and clear with his feedback. His tips on handling different aspects of the application including the interviews were invaluable in helping me get through. I applied to three colleges and got a positive response from all. Thanks Bill. I would recommend him to anyone thinking about consultation for part time MBA programs.

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I would highly recommend William(Bill) Chionis for his expertise in understanding and crafting essays and interview preparations for the Kellogg's EMBA program. Bill understands the program well and informed me of my probability of success up front. I was in touch with Bill for over 4 years before we submitted an application. This speaks volumes about how Stacy Blackman and Bill works. Bill stayed in touch with me through that time to help me develop my career and when it came time to submit an application, he guided my essays without eliminating my own voice. My essays were uniquely mine, but so much more polished and better in every way. The interview at the school felt like I had gone through it before when Bill took me through the interview questions beforehand. We rehearsed this twice and I breezed through the interview. I was ecstatic to get the call from my dream school and know that this would not have been possible without Bill and Stacy Blackman's excellent, customer focused way of operating. I highly recommend them and when my wife is ready to apply, we will enlist Stacy Blackman's support for sure! Thanks Stacy and thank you Bill. You guys rock!!

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