I still can't believe that I was accepted to HBS straight out of undergrad, without any entrepreneurship experience and without being a Rhodes Scholar. Margaret- I am absolutely certain I could NEVER have done it without your insight and guidance. Thank you so much. I was looking at the first drafts of my essays, and they were laughable! They had so much unnecessary content and were so bland. Your feedback really forced me to make my essays far more insightful and concentrated, even though I often had to rewrite a lot of material after receiving your comments. Sometimes I would try to postpone opening my email because I knew a lot of hard work would follow as soon as I received your feedback! But all the hard work really paid off. You were always very prompt and available, both via email and the phone. I always received your feedback the day I sent you my essays, resume, or data form. With your help, each part of my application reinforced the others to present a very authentic picture of me. I knew getting in to HBS straight out of undergrad would be very difficult. I was realistic about the strong possibility I would not get in simply because of that. Even if I had been rejected, I would have used your consulting again as a reapplicant that's how much I felt your guidance strengthened my application. We worked really well together.This really is a dream come true, and I could never have done it without your help!

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In at Yale and Oxford! Coming from a non-conventional government background, there is no doubt in my mind that I would have not been accepted to these MBA programs without the assistance of SBC. My consultant knew how to specifically sell each school I was considering on my unique story, and helped me to effectively tailor my background experiences to the essay questions at hand. What most impressed me, however, was the caliber of individual that I was working with. My SBC consultant was easy going, flexible with time, willing to offer advice on a whole host of issues, and most importantly, incredibly competent. In my opinion, it is a rarity to find a consulting company that produces consultants who put in as much effort as the applicant. In my case, the application process felt like a team environment, where ideas fluidly bounced back and forth, and communication was constant. I would recommend SBC to anybody who wants to significantly improve their admissions chances. After my experience, I find it hard to believe that there is a better MBA admissions consulting company out there. Looking forward to Yale and New Haven in the fall! Can't wait!

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I would highly recommend working with Maureen to anyone applying to top business schools. Immediately after I started the process, I was so glad that I made the decision to work with her. She demonstrated a sincere interest in getting to know me as a person, which I think was absolutely critical in her ability to provide thoughts and edits on my essays. She figured out what makes me tick, what my personality traits are, and what my unique traits are that I would bring to a school, and then constantly found ways to work those ideas into my essays. She was constantly pointing out things I would have never thought to include in my application. Not only was she incredibly responsive in essay editing, she stayed up late to make sure we made deadlines, she responded right away to even the most seemingly insignificant question or concern, and provided sound, rationale advice and served as a wise sounding board when I was stressed out or doubting myself. I was recently admitted to both Tuck and Columbia Business School, which I am thrilled about, and I absolutely owe a large part of this success to Maureen. She is brilliant at what she does!

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My biggest fear going into my MBA applications was how I would differentiate myself. I come from a very over-crowded demographic and felt like I was the same as every other applicant in my pool. Carol at SBC fielded late night panicked phone calls and many emails about this issue. However she showed me how to position myself in a way that showed that I was unique. Even if I had some shared activities or characteristics, I also showed how I was different from my competition. Carol's advice worked, because I am going to Columbia next year, and I viewed it as a stretch school when I started with her. SBC offered a great service, and I really could not have asked for more from their team.

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I have an oddball background that is very atypical, and I am self
employed which presented issues with recommendations. My consultant at SBC was not troubled by any of my issues and knew exactly how to handle all of it. She gave great direction, boosted my confidence and saved me from sleepless nights trying to figure out what to do. I really respected Margaret, and the way she managed my applications with a lot of care as well as firm direction. Now that I am b-school bound I can say I feel like I made a friend in this process, as well as learned a lot about myself. It was a valuable journey that is ending with me at
Harvard Business School. I am grateful for the guidance that I received, and I highly recommend Stacy Blackman Consulting. It's a great company with a stellar group of people.

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I strongly recommend Ryan Barba from Stacy Blackman Consulting. My experience in working with him has been fruitful in many ways; other than the good news from my dream school I have learned new ways to project my profile that would benefit me throughout my career. I immediately decided to work with Ryan after the Intro call as he gave me pin-point suggestions about my profile and the road ahead.

Ryan, from start to end was very patient and motivated me to constantly polish my application throughout the whole process. I could have never known on my own the best practices to approach an essay or the application as a whole, but with Ryan it was much easier. The best part about the whole process was how a simple experience from my professional or personal experience was converted to a great essay!

Considering the competitive applicant pool I belong to, the final outcome of my MBA application is much better than my expectations and a huge credit goes to SBC. I recommend all targeting their dream B-schools to consider the amount spent with SBC as one of your best investments. Best of luck!

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Thank you Stacy Blackman Consulting and especially Maureen Capitolo. Anyone who is serious about applying to graduate business school should consider using Stacy Blackman Consulting. The competition for business school admissions is extremely intense, and in my case, I wanted to do everything possible to ensure that my application was as good as it could be. Maureen helped guide me in all aspects of the application so that I differentiated myself from the competition. She helped me realize that the application was more than just answering questions and listing accomplishments/achievements. The application was an opportunity to tell my story - my accomplishments, failures, background, values, etc. It was an opportunity to show the Adcom why I was a unique individual and deserved a seat at their school. It was no coincidence that I was accepted into Duke -- the one application where I received guidance.

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It was terrific working on my b-school apps with SBC and I am going to my first choice program so I am quite happy with my results. My consultant, Margaret, was awesome. She was unbelievably patient, never made me feel like any request was too much and simply gave great advice. She was calm, organized and together we put together a couple of really strong applications that I absolutely know I could not have created on my own. My biggest concern going in - would working with a consultant dilute my voice? Absolutely not. She guided me to bringing out my voice, not disguising it. I also found the SBC guides to be really helpful and used them as resources throughout. Great tips, samples, really clear guidance.

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I'm very grateful to Stacy Blackman Consulting for supporting my
business school applications. I am in a unique position to comment on them because I also worked with another firm and can compare across the two services. When i was researching firms, one firm claiming to be an expert in HBS convinced me to work with them on HBS and to feel free to hire someone else to work on other schools. I thought this seemed reasonable and decided to follow their advice. My big takeaway from that process was that the services at Blackman blew away those from the other firm. I have no desire to write a bad review trashing the others but I do think my ability to compare helps me explain why Blackman was so excellent. If I think through what really set the services provided by Stacy Blackman apart, it comes down to three things: (1) attentiveness and expertise of consultant (2) organization and professionalism of company (3) extra reviews from other members of team. The way the process was set up left me with a lot of confidence in my application, and made the experience of applying to business school a lot less painful than it needed to be. I was not admitted to HBS but am going to another top school with a sizable scholarship.

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I was accepted to HBS, Wharton, Booth,Kellogg and INSEAD! Working with SBC is an experience I recommend to all who are considering applying to an MBA. Caryn was extremely friendly, prompt, organized, and honest with her opinions (which is very important). Her suggestions to improve my essays took them to a whole new level of conciseness and clarity. Caryn’s help was invaluable in times (most often) when I did not know where to begin cutting down words so as to fit into the limits (or the 1 page resume)! She was knowledgeable not only in helping me to review drafts but also in providing advice and answers to any general question regarding specific schools and the application process. She took the time to really understand what I have achieved and what my goals are. In reviewing my achievements and failures, she helped me understand how to talk about them positively and focus on the right issues –this was especially useful and essential when we did a mock interview together. I am very grateful for Caryn and SBC’s expertise, assistance, time and effort in this long process. It was all absolutely invaluable!

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