MBA Admissions All-in Services Reviews

I initially didn’t think that I needed a consultant and planned to go through the process on my own, relying on the advice of friends who were current students or alumni from the schools that I wanted to attend. I quickly learned that everyone had wildly different opinions on how to position myself through my applications and essays. I was totally overwhelmed and reached out to SBC for help. Erin was matched as my admissions consultant, and immediately things started to turn around.

Erin was incredibly responsive and very helpful. She helped me turn drafts of my essays and gave me very direct advice on how to write more effectively and express myself more clearly. Essay advice from a friend who went through the application process once is not the same as essay advice from an admissions consultant who has worked on admissions committees and read countless essays, something I completely underestimated when I began the process. After the essay portion of the application was over, Erin also helped me prepare for interviews. My first mock interview with Erin was rough, but she gave me specific points to work on and during my next mock interview, there was a marked difference. Having this practice really took the pressure off during the actual interview because I felt prepared, tested, and totally ready.

Erin was an amazing resource both to review my materials, help me prepare for interviews, and answer any general admissions questions along the way. Without Erin’s help, I would have never gotten a spot at a top business school, so if I had to give some advice to anyone just starting the application process, it would be to hire an admissions consultant like Erin.

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I initially received a free consultation from Sarah who gave me some helpful pointers on timeline and my overall narrative. I decided to go 'all-in' for six schools because I knew I wanted to transition from my current career. From there, an SBC rep set up chats with several admissions consultants and I found someone who was a perfect fit.

DC was an incredible and professional consultant throughout the entire application process. First, she walked through my life story and got a feel for what really made me ‘tick’. Next, she helped me develop a strategic plan for my application and we began the arduous process of developing applications for six elite MBA programs.

When I sent DC my drafts, she would always be quick and thorough with reviews. In fact, I found myself hoping (to no avail) that she might take a bit longer so that I could procrastinate. She has a wealth of experience in marketing and communications, so she understood how to focus my messaging. She helped highlight elements of my personal narrative that I had overlooked but that others would find interesting.

I was impressed to find that Stacy Blackman has wiki pages that include school-specific content about culture, academics, sample essays, interview questions, etc. for every major MBA program.

In addition, she is very kind and is always helpful even with tight deadlines. My applications would have been far more time-consuming and much less focused without her guidance.

Prior my first interview, DC gave me a mock interview. She shared some honest feedback that I really needed to hear; she is always polite but will never withhold feedback that might help an applicant.

In my opinion, the admissions consultant pays for itself in terms of admissions scholarships or simply increased lifetime earnings potential.

In the end – of my six elite target schools – I was admitted to four and am currently waitlisted at one. I received 2 full tuition scholarships and a sizeable scholarship from another program. I have decided to go to MIT Sloan School of Management, and I couldn’t be happier! Thanks DC!

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Sherry was a great resource for my MBA applications. She was very timely and had invaluable knowledge of both the application and admissions processes from her days on a prestigious school's admissions committee and her experience as an admissions consultant.

Although Sherry helped me in each stage of the admissions process, I wish she would've explained to me that some MBA scholarships are negotiable. This is something that I had no idea about and a simple email to a school, at the right time, could have increased my scholarship reward.

With that being said, I firmly believe that Sherry provided me with the best opportunity to position myself for each of the four schools that I applied to. I could not have done as well in the admissions process without her.

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I used Caryn Altman as an admissions consultant. She was brilliant! I would not have been as successful without her!

Caryn was incredibly responsive. There were days where I would send her an essay and she got back to me twice with various rounds of edits.

In addition to that, she was an incredibly valuable counselor for my overall business school application strategy approach. She was honest with me around what she thought was doable and did everything she could to help me achieve my goals!

I would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone looking to solidify his or her status at a top business school.

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I was hesitant about using a consulting firm for business school applications because I was afraid of losing my personal voice and was nervous if the cost would be worth it. However, I nervously took the plunge, choosing SBC over other firms because they had a strong matching process and so many members of their team were former admissions officers with lots of experience coaching. At the end of the process I can honestly say this was the best money I have ever spent! Caryn and the whole SBC team have been incredibly valuable in the entire process. With SBC and Caryn’s coaching, I got interviews at HBS and was admitted to Wharton, Booth, Sloan and Kellogg with huge scholarships from 2/4 schools!
Caryn is particularly incredible. Her background in marketing helped her craft a strong strategy for my application. She took the time to understand my entire story and helped me craft my story without overtaking my personal voice. Additionally, Caryn is INCREDBILY detail oriented and continues to push her clients to improve. From my strategy documents to my resume to my essays and even application, Caryn and I went through at least 6-10 rounds of edits for each piece. She was strict (which I needed!) and she never let me give anything less than my best, continuing to push me to improve my essays, videos and other submissions. Until the very last detail, Caryn was there to make sure my entire application (including rec letters) was perfect. Additionally, Caryn helped me through the nebulous process of getting off Wharton’s waitlist. She helped me craft a strategy for communication that would show interest without being repetitive which eventually helped me land a spot in Wharton’s class. Finally, Caryn’s turnaround time is extremely fast. She always beat her own standards and because of this we completed many revisions and finished 6 applications for R1.
Finally, Caryn really believed in me and wants to see me succeed. She referred me to different members of the SBC community when I received interviews to make sure I was prepared. She truly believed in my application and that made all the difference!

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I'm an international applicant with a decent GMAT score and work experience, but a very weak GPA (2.9), and with no strong extra curricular work to overcome that. I decided to use a consultant to help me understand the best way to craft a compelling application given some significant gaps on paper. After speaking to a few of the most established MBA Admission consulting firms, I decided to work with Caryn at SBC because I felt that both Caryn and Esther at SBC gave me the most realistic advice in our initial conversations, and did not try to sugar coat the potential difficulties I would face in my applications (I had targeted some fairly challenging schools for my stats).

Working with Caryn was a breeze - she helped me think through my goals and stories to craft a compelling narrative, my school selection strategy, and gave me critical advice on remedying the gaps in my GPA and lack of quantitative work during my undergraduate days. She was also super quick with feedback, and would constantly push me to keep to our aggressive timeline, which I found very helpful. In addition, I found the Flight Test with Amy really helpful - and we actually rewrote an entire essay from scratch based on the feedback from that Flight Test.

I applied to 2 schools with Caryn (1 stretch and 1 target), and really used that experience to apply to a further 3 schools. I'm happy to share that I was admitted into 3 of the 5 programs (all top 15 programs), with scholarships to boot, which was really unexpected given the gaps in my application. I will now be attending a great program - and I absolutely could not have done it without the tireless support and encouragement from Caryn and the entire team at SBC. If you are looking for a highly professional consultant to enhance your chances in an increasingly competitive business school landscape - you can't go wrong with this team.

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SBC is truly amazing! Christina is a fantastic MBA consultant who truly cares about the success of her clients. With Christina’s professional advice and dedication, I received an offer from Wharton, CBS with a full tuition scholarship, Yale SOM with $100K scholarship, and Kellogg’s MMM program with $40K scholarship.

Christina not only guided me with creating an application strategy and timeline, but also helped provide me with useful tips for each school that I applied to. She is very direct and will tell you her honest, professional opinion about your application package. This was a common characteristic within the SBC team which I noticed and greatly appreciated. For example, when speaking with some other consulting agencies, they were very general and told me that my application looked good and that they could definitely help me make it even stronger. On the other hand, the SBC team was very honest and told me that while my application had potential to be very strong, at the time it lacked focus and some parts were confusing. This was very helpful for me to understand the weak parts of my application and how to improve them. Christina was also great with pushing me to stay on my timeline track!

In summary, I decided to choose SBC for 2 main reasons : 1) I appreciated the constructive criticism and detailed feedback and 2) Sarah on the SBC team matched me to Christina who I had a chance to speak with before working together, and we connected very well and had some similar interests as well.

SBC also has many helpful tips with the application and interview process. For example, SBC helps run a “flight test” where a former AdCom officer can review and provide feedback on a final application after you have worked with your consultant on it. Furthermore, the team-based mock interview simulation was very helpful and gave me a good idea of what to expect during Wharton’s interview. SBC has lots of admissions officer intel in-house, which is very resourceful!

Ultimately, it was really a pleasure working with Christina. I highly recommend her as a MBA consultant. She is very motivated and never gives up on her client. I still remember her working with me on a tight timeline and emailing me at 5am in the morning to answer my questions. Even after receiving acceptance notifications from the school, she will call me to congratulate me and help answer additional questions!

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Hiring Yvette and Stacy Blackman Consulting was one of the best decisions I made during my MBA application process. With Yvette and team's help, I was fortunate enough to be admitted to all three programs where I applied (HBS, Wharton, and Sloan).

I started "interviewing" different consulting firms and reaching out to friends for their recommendations. I was by FAR most impressed by the Stacy Blackman team. From my first call with Sarah, I knew that they were experts in the process and had the resources and experience to advise me well. They introduced me to two different consultants (matched based off the schools I was interested in and my career path); However, after talking to Yvette, I knew she was who I wanted to work with as my primary consultant.

Yvette and I started working together right after July 4th and began talking regularly to get my applications pulled together for round 1. Yvette played the role of therapist, editor, and strategist, helping me synthesize my experiences into tightly written / direct narratives. She also helped me completely rework my resume to fit the MBA application.

Applying to business school can be stressful, but I felt so lucky to have Yvette and team to turn to. At one point, when I felt we hit a roadblock on one of my essays, Yvette wisely looped in another consultant (Andy) who was able to serve as an unbiased set of eyes and provide additional valuable feedback. The Flight Test with a former admissions officer at one of my target schools, helped me feel confident about the package of materials that I put together.

When it came time for interviews, Yvette stepped up once again. We prepped together and even did a fully in-character mock interview. This certainly helped craft the "sound bites" for my interviews and gave me a lot of confidence.

The business school application process is a TON of work, but having an admissions consultant can help keep you on track and provide expert advice from their experience. I viewed hiring an admissions consultant as an investment and I feel like I got an amazing return --- I will be heading to HBS in the fall!

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I had pretty set post MBA goals and as such knew what core schools I wanted to apply to, so I knew that working with an admissions consultant would be vital in helping me get into the schools I was targeting. I reached out to a few admissions consulting companies and immediately felt at ease after talking with Esther who then paired me with Amy, who has a wonderful track record of placing applicants into the schools I was targeting.

Amy was nothing short of wonderful. She was honest and forthright but always polite and respectful of my perspective. I remember, after giving some feedback on my initial set of essays, I didn't feel comfortable with one of the edits and after explaining my rationale, not only did she support my reasoning, she also got another consultant's feedback on that specific part of the essay during my flight-test.

Amy also pushed me to be proactive and constantly doing things that would improve my application during the "waiting" period of the application cycle - such as reaching out to currents students, alumni and conducting informational calls, all of which have not only helped me during the admissions process but have helped me in preparation for b-school. You cannot go wrong with SBC and because of Amy and the rest of the team I will be attending a top 15 b-school!

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I worked with Erika at SBC for R1 for HBS and Stanford GSB Class of 2020. The overall process was great and I was admitted to both. It started with a conversation and document that pulled out the best stories I had to offer. It was a very holistic process where Erika provided support and motivation throughout. She was very candid throughout, not hesitating to tell me if a story was not helpful. She was always extremely responsive and the communication was great. She helped guide me throughout the process and in my professional life too. I bounced a couple of career questions off of her and she was very helpful. The flight test offered by SBC was also very helpful as it put my application in front of a real former admissions officer and gave a second opinion of my application.

Once interview season came around, Erika helped me tremendously with what to expect and interview prep questions. Even after the decisions came in, she was very helpful with thoughts about which school to pick and how to consider the question.

I highly recommend Erika as she is a great resource and very personal also. A pleasure to work with but also highly effective.

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