MBA Admissions All-in Services Reviews

I purchased the 2-school all-in package with SBC for my R1 applications. I worked with Dione for over 2 months revising my resume, brainstorming essays, and crafting a compelling narrative across my application. Dione was an incredible resource that not only provided me with strategic advice but also moral support throughout the stressful process. When I hit a road bump with laying out my career path, Dione checked in on me frequently and provided solid guidance for me to get past the bottleneck. Every step of the way, Dione prepares thoughtful documents detailing an actionable plan, from constructing an overall application strategy in the beginning to picking and requesting recommendations to preparing for interviews. Dione is efficient in reviewing essays and other written materials. She usually responds to emails within hours. When problems and unforeseen circumstances popped up during my application, she utilized resources at SBC, consulted her colleagues, and gave me valuable advice. Beth, who was a previous Kellogg admission officer, was my flight tester. She was a great set of fresh eyes and provided me with much confidence in my application. With the help of the consultants at SBC, I was admitted to CBS August entry through ED. It was a great experience working with Dione and SBC. They made the whole application process a lot more manageable and less stressful.

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With Deanna's guidance, I had someone who is both knowledgeable of the MBA application process and attentive on my side helping me stay on track and focus on what's important. Deanna was my primary partner and I'm happy to report that I was admitted at my top choice, Duke. She responded quickly to my questions and provided thoughtful feedback. She also made suggestions, such as taking the executive assessment and taking a math class that helped shape my application in the best possible way.
Overall, I had a positive experience with SBC. In addition to her guidance, there was team based influence and support throughout the process with Esther as my initial contact at SBC and my flight tester, Caryn, who is a former admissions officer.
I had initial consultations with two other companies- Veritas Prep and MBAmission. I ultimately moved forward with SBC because they made me feel positive about my candidacy and that getting into my dream school, Duke was possible. From the first contact to my admit day, Deanna was really invested in my success and I would highly recommend her to a friend.

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SBC

My journey towards an MBA is long and winding (ca. 3 years), but working with Joey at SBC finally resulted in my acceptance to my first choice program (M7).

As an older international applicant with a non-traditional background, I was nervous about the experience at first. One should not underestimate the amount of work that goes into this process. I worked with Joey at SBC on two occasions - once on an hourly basis, once as part of the “All-in” service. If in doubt, definitely go for the latter.

My first attempt resulted in a ding - lesson learned is that one cannot complete three sets of apps in a few weeks, although Joey’s help was immense every step of the way. Despite the odds, we arrived at a quality final deliverable. Although a major setback, Joey took the time to go through a post-mortem and we devised a new strategy.

I signed up for the “all-in” service, which meant that we could spend a lot more time going over the application materials and strategy. It’s hard work for everyone involved, but in particular, for Joey. He was also immensely helpful in helping me prepare for my Zoom interview. An incredibly useful tool that SBC offers is the “flight test” of the application, which helps to uncover any last-minute mistakes (yes, I had a typo on my resume). A few weeks ago, I received my acceptance letter from my first choice school.

What did I learn from all of this?
1. Get a consultant. Especially get a consultant if your background is non-traditional.
2. Take the time to get to know the person you are working with. Joey was an absolute delight - he knows his stuff, challenges bs where he sees it, and having worked with him over the course of a year, he was the #1 champion for my candidacy. This is important!
3. SBC knows what they are doing. I spent some time looking at different firms but landed on SBC quite early on. They are responsive, they do not take you on as a client if they don’t think you have a chance. No false promises - it’s a thoroughly professional approach throughout.
4. MBA admissions is a difficult game with both incredible lows and highs. With that being said, I am convinced that I could not have done this without the guidance of Joey (my consultant), Esther (our matchmaker), and the rest of the SBC team. I am so grateful for all their help!

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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 was referred to SBC from a friend who has used their services the previous year. I spoke to Esther who understood my needs and recommended I speak with Christine Hawkins, whom she thought she would be a perfect match.

I had my intro call with Christine and being a CBS alum, she had amazing insights to share and was super friendly. She was super sharp, broke down the entire admissions process for me and gave me some super valuable feedback. After our convo, I couldn’t have asked for someone better so immediately pulled the trigger on an all-in package with Christine.

Christine was truly outstanding - there is no way I would have gotten an admit without her help. Right from the beginning, she laid out the entire plan, we discussed deadlines and off we went. Resume, Recommenders, Essays, Interviews - she really was a godsend throughout the process. She really pushed me to self-introspect, think hard about what I want to do and why. She was kept an open mind but prodded me to be better each time. My test scores weren’t the best, so Christine really helped me to make sure that the rest of my application stood out.

Regardless of my CBS admit, I am super glad to have worked with Christine since I came out much clearer on what I want to achieve in my career.

At some points of my application, I was super anxious about certain things and Christine was always there to answer my emails proving to be a great emotional support and a shoulder to lean on.

The Flight Test process with Lisa was outstanding where my entire application packet went through a mock adcomm review and gave fresh perspective and feedback on my application. My mock interview with Christine was a massive confidence booster for me before my actual one.

I could not have asked for anyone better than Christine, she is someone I’d love to stay in touch with and I would most definitely recommend her to everyone!

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I found out about SBC through a referral, and after my initial consultation with Esther I could tell SBC was going to be the right choice! I went for the all-in package and could not be happier with my choice! I was accepted into 3 of my 4 schools (the 4th was a waitlist), including HBS!! Something I never would have thought possible prior to going through this process.


Caryn was amazing! She previously worked as an admissions officer and had tons of knowledge, not only on the program she had worked for, but on all the schools I applied to. From the beginning, she took the time to genuinely understand me, my experiences, and my goals. She helped me figure out which schools would be the best fit and was with me through every step of the application process, helping me craft my story as a non-traditional candidate. The application process can be very intense, and having Caryn on my side made it so much better! She was always very honest, and provided very constructive feedback (with a quick turnaround) throughout the process and kept me on-track.

SBC has a ton of helpful resources and lots of officer intelligence in-house. Not only did Caryn have experience as a former admissions officer, but Beth (also fantastic), conducted my “flight test” prior to submitting my first application. I also worked with Erica to prepare for my HBS interview, and went in feeling very prepared.

I have already recommended Caryn and SBC to my friends considering applications, and will continue to do so. Absolutely fantastic experience!

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Being from a section of the population/profession that applies for Business programs there was very little I could bring into the whole diversity aspect of things apart from my experience with my family business.
Kimberly's approach made me dig deep and bring out my qualities and past professional/personal experiences that would prove to be valuable.
I only applied to Booth and Haas as I wanted to go to the best schools or not pursue this path at all.
I chose the whole package from application material prep to prepping for the interview for Booth.
Kimberly is very perceptive and understands the applicant quiet well more than themselves and delivers accordingly which makes the entire process stress free.
I actually enjoyed working on my apps as the process was streamlined and broken down into small pieces/milestones.
The only mistake I made was, I took the Haas interview before we scheduled the mock interview session as I was confident with the material we had prepared.
Got a reject from Haas but got an offer from Booth. This only proves that every step of consulting process is critical to the application.
Kimberly is also very prompt and quick in getting back with review responses and suggestions which made it possible for me to complete the application in time.
Her attention to detail is remarkable. Highly recommend her to anyone applying for the best schools.

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I had a fantastic experience working with Stacy Blackman Consulting and highly recommend their services to prospective applicants. My consultant Stephanie went above and beyond to shepherd me through the process. Believe it or not, I actually had fun while applying! As a former admissions officer at Fuqua, Stephanie has a deep understanding of what the top MBA programs are looking for. She helped me tailor my narrative in a way that highlighted my strengths and unique qualities.

Though Stephanie was my primary contact, the whole team was accessible and invested in my success. After preparing my application, I was able to submit a “flight test” to another former admissions officer on the team. Having a fresh set of eyes look critically at my application before submission was invaluable.

I applied to two top MBA programs and was accepted to both, one of which offered me a scholarship. I think my partnership with Stephanie truly made a difference and I am so grateful for all of her guidance!

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I had such a great experience working with Deanna throughout the entire application process. Working full-time, I felt Deanna helped to keep me on track and continuously motivated. Coming from a quant heavy job, I was still getting low quant scores that were not competitive for the top programs I was applying to. Deanna suggested I take an MBA class to prove my quant skills, take the executive assessment test instead of the GRE (which I took many many times), and get a tutor to help me study. She helped make other areas of my application stronger to compensate for my test scores and I got into one of my top mba programs because of her. I am so thankful to have someone with so much expertise and criticism to keep me reaching higher. The application process is so daunting at first, but SBC and Deanna really helped me navigate and simplify the process. I spoke with about 5 consulting companies, but I just felt that SBC was the most dedicated to my success. I definitely would recommend SBC and Deanna to anyone going through this process!

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I initially engaged Sherry to assist me with applying in Fall 2020 for admission in Fall 2021 in December 2019. I was referred to Sherry by a friend who had used her previously to guide his MBA admissions. But, in late March, with the onset of COVID and the downturn in the energy industry, I found myself shifting into overdrive to file in the last rounds at 5 schools. As an operations geologist, it became apparent that my Company would lay down its rigs by the end of the second quarter and I would be laid off. Although my primary job was to steer wellbores, I had developed an interest and a body of work using analytics to streamline workflows, save money, and enhance company operations driving my desire to change industries. Given that my MBA goal was to shift to Data Analytics in the Technology industry, I felt strongly that it was imperative that I make the last round deadlines to avoid having the reduction in force confuse what I was trying to achieve-shifting from the energy to the tech industry. Sherry spent time on the phone with me reviewing my questions about accelerating my applications and then didn’t blink when we moved from a reasonably paced approach to my graduate school apps to overdrive. Sherry gave me a frank assessment of my profile including input that I needed to really hit it out of the park on my GRE and take MBA Math to make up for a lower than preferable GPA from my undergraduate studies (I have a graduate degree with a better gpa but still needed to overcome the undergraduate gpa). She helped me refine my list, gave me strong input and rapid turnaround on my essays, worked with me on how to position my story and was patient through multiple essay iterations as I found my voice. The flight test confirmed that I was in a good position as long as my GRE score came in at the level that I was achieving in practice. Although I had technical problems with the first at home GRE, Sherry provided positive feedback about what I was going to be able to achieve if my second at home GRE was at the level we knew I could achieve. And she was as pumped as I was when I hit the GRE goal I had set. I was invited to interview at all of the schools I applied to-in fact, one school reached out to schedule an interview with me on the evening of the day I filed my application-that says a lot about how the application was received. In the end, Sherry’s interview prep was very useful and she even proposed brushing up one more time before my final interview given the three week lapse in time since I had prepared with her for the first one. Although I am waiting on a final decision from one school, I have been accepted at 3 of the 5 schools I applied to. Of the 3 at which I have been accepted, I received a full-tuition and living stipend package at one and substantial scholarships at 2 of the others-and that is when most of the Adcoms were indicating on their webinars that there was no money left to award. I am looking forward to starting The University of Texas at Austin MBA program this fall. Hook ’em!

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