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Product Stacy Blackman Consulting MBA Admissions All-in Services
Consultant Margaret (SBC)
TLDR: SBC is a partnership that prepares you like no other consulting firm. From the moment I joined to the moment I received my acceptance to HBS, I know I sent my best application to each school because of my relationship and partnership with SBC and Margaret.
I started by reading reviews and calling several companies, looking for the best “fit” consulting firm. After several days of research, I narrowed my search to two consulting firms: SBC and mbaMission, setting up initial consultations with both firms. My stats were slightly under the ballpark for the M7 schools, but I thought I had a compelling story. It was important to have a consulting company help me hone my unique story, a difficult task with only 300-500 words per essay. After both conversations, I felt a strong connection with the team at SBC. They exuded confidence, and took a real look at my background during the initial consult (some firms provide only minimal advice during the free consultation). SBC provides several potential consultants, and you select the one that best suits you and your background. My consultant was Margaret, who helped me excel during the application process. She became a true partner very early on and helped me reach my near impossible dream of being admitted into HBS.
In every aspect of the application, from the intense research to the hundreds of edits, I saw tremendous growth in my essay writing and in my application package. Through SBC, I was able to shape a genuine narrative about my background and my future goals. On the day I received my HBS acceptance, I called my family and then immediately called Margaret, a testament to the strong partnership we developed during the application process.
Product Stacy Blackman Consulting MBA Admissions All-in Services
Consultant Margaret (SBC)
This is a substantial investment and one that will only be worth it if you put in the work. Margaret did an amazing job keeping me on timeline and focused on my goal. My work schedule was about as crazy as it can get and she masterfully helped me squeeze every last bit of free time out of it to put towards my applications. As an older applicant, Margaret had many of the answers to questions such as, "how do I communicate 14 years of experience in my field to the ADCOM without sounding ancient?" In the end, my life story and reasons for pursuing an MBA were brilliantly woven into a single narrative that resonated with the ADCOM and set me apart from other applicants. The best part was that it was entirely my own! The words in my essays came from me. They weren't rewritten by Margaret. They sounded like me and ultimately they got me admitted to my 1st choice program.
The admissions process is stressful and for someone who was nearly a decade outside of the academic arena, I was rusty to say the least. Margaret and the rest of the SBC team got me ready and made me the best applicant I could be. From preparing applications to rehearsing for interviews, the all-in service was truly worth the expense. If you are a non-traditional student wanting to pursue an MBA, Margaret is your gal. Bill from SBC is also a great consultant for non-traditional students in the event Margaret is booked. If you are coming from a military background, Margaret is your ideal choice as she has extensive experience preparing military candidates. If you can afford it and are ready and willing to put in the work, the all-in service from SBC is a game changer and something I'd highly recommend.
Product Stacy Blackman Consulting MBA Admissions Hourly Services
Consultant Margaret (SBC)
Let me cut to the chase: Margaret is the consultant you will never regret to work with! Margaret is the consultant who brought me to the next level, push me further, and keep challenging me on essays while I felt exhausted after 6, 7 revisions: three days before one school’s deadline, I thought my essays are final but Margaret kept pushing me to the next level. She clearly laid out the strategic applications plan for me and a lot of the information I had never thought about even after tons of research both from online and from peers who had applied MBA programs. Down the road, because of the enormous experience she has, she even predicted the “career goal confusion” I would face after networking with too many current students and alums, and gave me advice on how to handle it. She even predicted that the strategy some schools use to give offers and I was able to get admitted after her encouragement knowing that it’s one of the strategies the school uses. I did tons of research online before I finally decided to work with Margaret, and one of the questions I asked every consultant is: “what drives you to be a consultant.” Margaret’s answer resonates with me so much: “to help others make their dreams come true is also a dream come true itself, right?” She took time to understand who I am, in order to help my strengths, uniqueness, shining through both in my application materials and interviews: really focusing on who I am. I could keep writing the good things about Margaret forever… but to sum: I was admitted at two S16 schools, with scholarship at one of them: None of this would be possible without her help. I would recommend her to anyone: I recommended Margaret to one of my close friends who is also applying this year: “she is popular and GOOD, I MEAN GOOD! and you better get on her calendar quick!”
Product Stacy Blackman Consulting MBA Admissions Hourly Services
Consultant Margaret (SBC)
I purchased a hourly package from Stacy Blackman Consulting in Oct 2017 and began working with Margaret to apply to four schools. I was a non-traditional MBA candidate and felt overwhelmed identifying "my story". Margaret was instrumental in helping me craft it. She was efficient and supportive with keen insights. I appreciated that she was also conscious of making the most of my hours - we were able to accomplish a lot with our time together. She was astute and excellent at breaking down the process into manageable steps. I am happy to report I was accepted to three schools and waitlisted at one. I highly recommend Margaret.
Product Stacy Blackman Consulting MBA Admissions All-in Services
Consultant Margaret (SBC)
I had an incredible experience with Margaret, and couldn't be more thrilled to be admitted to both Wharton and Kellogg (with scholarships)!
I researched several admissions consultancies and after speaking with Margaret, I knew immediately that she was the perfect fit. I opted for the 3-school all-in package. As a common applicant (male with consulting foundation), Margaret did a tremendous job helping me differentiate my story from the pack, providing candid feedback, and remaining incredibly responsive to any and all questions I had throughout the process. I never felt rushed on our calls together and she genuinely cared about getting to know me personally.
The additional SBC resources also provided invaluable admissions intel and allowed me to submit my applications with full confidence - from the Flight Test (full app read-through by a former adcom) to mock interview prep (Wharton TBD simulation moderated by a former adcom).
I couldn't have done it without them. Cheers to Margaret and the SBC team!
Product Stacy Blackman Consulting MBA Admissions All-in Services
Consultant Margaret (SBC)
I couldn't be happier with my decision to use Stacy Blackman Consulting! I recently gotten accepted to Wharton (with scholarship) and without question would not have been able to do it without the help of Margaret and the SBC team.
For background, I'm a white male with a consulting background. I interviewed at least a dozen different admissions consulting companies and felt like Margaret at SBC would be the best person to help tell my story. I originally wanted to do an hourly package but decided to do a comprehensive package at the end. SO happy I did! Margaret spent countless hours with me working and re-working my essays, resume and every section of my application.
When I received my interview invitation to Wharton I was connected with Rebekah, another SBC consultant and former Wharton admissions officer, who organized a mock team based discussion and gave me some personalized feedback.
If anyone reading this is considering hiring a consultant, you can't go wrong with Margaret and SBC!
Product Stacy Blackman Consulting MBA Admissions All-in Services
Consultant Margaret (SBC)
I only applied to HBS and Stanford with a plan to reapply to a bigger group of schools if I did not get in anywhere. I drafted both applications on my own and was ready to submit in round 1. I shared my essays with an older colleague at my firm who had graduated from the GSB. He did not approve but didn’t have time to really guide me. He also was not sure exactly how to help me – he just strongly felt they were not ready, and he suggested I work with a consulting firm. So I researched firms and eventually hired Stacy Blackman for just two hours, thinking that they would review and quickly edit. After my consultant reviewed my essays he basically explained that the essays were well written and might get an “A” in an English class, but did not have the content that a top MBA program was looking for. I truly connected with my consultant, Margaret, and I took a leap of faith. I upgraded to a 2 school package and postponed to Round 2. We started from scratch brainstorming and completely redid the essays. The final product was something that I was so proud of and that I never could have done on my own. Margaret had incredible insight into what an adcomm looks for and how to take my experiences and present them in an interesting way. I AM GOING TO HBS!!! Thank you SBC. Thank you Margaret. It was a rewarding journey, I learned so much about myself and could not be happier with the investment and the results.
Product Stacy Blackman Consulting MBA Admissions Hourly Services
Consultant Margaret (SBC)
I spent the month prior to signing up with Stacy Blackman Consulting Services not being able to sleep because I was so stressed out about the MBA application process. Once I started working with Margaret all the stress quickly faded away. She truly made it easy and even somewhat enjoyable to work on my applications. I have learned so much about the admissions process by working with Margaret-- she is definitely an expert at her craft. Even my resume, which I thought I had perfected after 10 drafts was completely revamped and improved. I was very impressed! Product turn-a-round was always timely and she asked pertinent questions to keep the ball rolling for essay/resume improvements. I purchased 10 hours and she was so efficient that we were able to finish essays for all 6 schools [Emory, WashU, GA Tech, Georgetown, USC (Southern Cal), and UGA] that I applied to. I was accepted to 4 of 6 and waitlisted at the other 2 (Georgetown & USC). Statistically speaking I did not have a high chance at some of these but I am excited to announce that I will be attending Emory University in the fall! I couldn't have done it without SBC and Margaret's help. Highly recommend!
Product Stacy Blackman Consulting MBA Admissions All-in Services
Consultant Margaret (SBC)
I worked with Margaret on a one school package and was admitted to that school! From my initial call with Margaret, I could tell that she was a "pro". Together we created an outline and discussed what was feasible while creating a plan of attack. She was extremely helpful in brainstorming ideas, which was obvious from her years of experience. She told me when some of my thoughts had been "overdone" in previous years and guided me to alternatives that would peak the interests of adcom. Throughout the whole process, Margaret was an incredibly supportive voice who comforted me from our initial call. I would highly recommend working with Margaret and SBC for anyone who wants to make sure they are doing everything they can to get into the school of their choice.
Product Stacy Blackman Consulting MBA Admissions All-in Services
Consultant Margaret (SBC)
When I initially started looking around for admissions consultancies, I began searching around gmatclub and Poets & Quants looking for the best company to use. Based on some high-level research on those sites, I came up with a list of consultancies (think Stacy Blackman, MBA Mission, Fortuna, Stratus, etc) that I wanted to have a “free consultation” with, specifically asking to speak with the consultant who I would be working with.
After speaking with 5 or 6 different consultants, I quickly eliminated 3 of them after I was told by each of them that I ought to lower my expectations and apply to schools that were lower in the rankings than where I was planning to apply. While I lacked the blue-chip names on my resume in terms of undergrad school and employers, I had a solid GMAT/GPA scores and knew that I had a unique, compelling story to tell. It was only during my call with Margaret Strother from Stacy Blackman Consulting where I not only felt encouraged about my chances at the likes of Booth/Kellogg/Sloan, but also felt inspired to shoot for the stars. Having only seen my resume and GMAT score, Margaret had a “right on, let’s do this – we can make this happen!” kind of attitude. After a 30-minute conversation with a consultant from each company, my gut told me that Stacy Blackman Consulting was my best bet.
So, I decided to trust my gut and went with Margaret from SBC. Looking back, that was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. There is no way that I could have gotten accepted to my dream school without Margaret’s help. Margaret helped me every single step of the way: from crafting my resume, finding what was unique about me in order to come up with my “story”, interview preparation, essay revisions (sometimes up to 7 rounds of revisions for a given essay), encouragement when fatigue started to set in, to the calming voice of reason whenever I entered crisis/panic mode.
Margaret has a very efficient, proven method that very obviously works for bother her and her clients. Her experience has allowed her to streamline the revision process to make the most of each party’s time and energy. She also has an uncanny ability to elicit ideas from you and take you down thought paths that you never would have explored without her help. Further, never once did I feel like I was one of many clients. I always felt as if I were her top priority. She was extremely patient through the entire 8-month timeframe during which I worked with her. Margaret took time to get to know me as a person.
I cannot stress how wonderful Margaret is and how satisfied I am as a client of hers. It was my pleasure working with Margaret and I recommend her as a consultant over and over again. While the upfront cost for an admissions consultant seems steep at first, Stacy Blackman Consulting and Margaret were well worth the money. Not only was Margaret alone worth the cost ten times over, but the additional resources (i.e. background info on schools, mock interview prep, sample essays/resumes, etc.) that SBC provides are also invaluable.
