Stacy Blackman Consulting MBA Admissions Reviews

I am very happy to have worked with Kate at Stacey Blackman Consulting.

I was weary of using an admissions consultant at first due to the high cost, however, I chose to work with a consultant from SBC for two primary reasons: 1) SBC was honest and upfront during my free assessment and 2) they matched me with a consultant that exhibited a deep understanding of my target schools.

I feel very fortunate to have worked with Kate, who was truly excellent. Her qualifications combined with her strong mentoring skills and her patience made her uniquely capable to help me craft my applications. She was also a pleasure to work with and remained positive but realistic throughout the entire process. Ultimately she helped me achieve success at both programs to which I applied.

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I worked with SBC and Yvette Romero during my admission process.
First off, the whole admission consulting process is an expensive proposition, but is worth the investment for someone who is not comfortable tackling all the minute details and different essay strategies that go in to each application by themselves. I certainly wasn’t.

Yvette and I hit it off from the very beginning and I was extremely comfortable with her approach to things. She was always very direct with me and never sugar coated anything, especially when giving me feedback about my essays. She was available to chat and re-strategize whenever necessary, which put me at ease.
My whole admissions process was also particularly stressful, because I was put on the waitlist and had to be very calculated about each correspondence with the admissions committee. Yvette really helped me with this and luckily it was all turned out well in the end and I got in.

If you are considering hiring SBC for your admission cycle, definitely ask for Yvette, especially because you want someone who isn’t going to tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to hear during this process. She tore apart many of my essay and resume drafts with no remorse and gave me very pertinent feedback on what needed to be done. She had good insight on the schools, and the way they each function, which helped me tailor my essays accordingly. She was also very informed about career approach and industry trends, which I found very useful as well.

All in all, they aren’t miracle workers. Luck still has to be on your side to get into any of the most competitive programs, but they certainly improve your chances of getting in and make you more comfortable with the entire process.

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I worked with Christine Hawkins on 3 applications. Acceptance with a substantial fellowship to my top choice Columbia Business School and interview invite to Wharton would not have been possible without Christine’s and the SBC team’s amazing dedication (both 2Y full-time; withdrew from Wharton and Stern due to Columbia ED).
Even before the process started, I could tell by Esther's (principal manager) enthusiasm and commitment to me to make sure that I was matched with just the right consultant for me, that I had chosen the right company.

I was a female applicant from an increasingly competitive pool, was educated from a US college with mediocre grades, with no off-the-page leadership or community experiences (oh yes, and no GMAT score yet). During what could have been anxious and unsettling times, Christine was a counselor, confidence booster when I was down with unexpected CFA and GMAT test results, and was an honest critique of all my deliverables in the best sense of the term. Christine would lead me to pull out certain ideas, but would never go ahead and write essays FOR me (for many good reasons); when something seemed off to both of us but neither of us could quite put a finger on it, she steered me toward looking in other arsenals of my anecdotes and experiences (which until that point I didn’t know I had or could turn to!) and pulling essay ideas from there.

Christine's comments on my deliverables always came under 48 hours turnaround (though she is not obligated to work so by all means), and I was amazed by her willingness to go above and beyond her call of duty--for example, encouraging me to network with alumni in my area to see if they could submit sideletters for me, and offering to put in extra mock interview sessions. Also, Lisa Anderson's Flight Test put me at east and gave me that much-needed extra boost of confidence as I prepared to hit ‘submit’ for my first choice & anchor school, Columbia. Bill Chionis, my client liaison, was also extremely supportive in keeping me updated of all the different options for application review and his birds-eye-view of the entire process. All of this careful attention to each of my applications as if they were their own will definitely lead me to recommend Christine & the SBC's comprehensive package to friends who are current MBA-hopefuls.

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Lots of consultants/firm will advertise that they will help you get in your dream school and will always support you during the process: well it is quite often not true, but for Stephanie and SBC team!
I can talk of experience having worked with other consultants this past few months. Every time I was not satisfied (tried two other firms with hourly services) before choosing to work with Stephanie and SBC. Esther did a great job matching me with her.

Since I worked on my essays and resume with two other firm before working with Stephanie I can tell you how she made a decisive difference! Not only did all my materials to be submitted were impressive but she was extremely supportive and responsive, always accommodating my schedule. I know some of you hire consultants because the process is overwhelming and you end up thinking: "my consultant input is nice but was it worth the price?", you will not have this thought with Stephanie. Reading her feedback you will think that your money was well spent and that you could not have come up with the same result without her!

Guys, take it from someone who went through few consultant firms: Stephanie at SBC is the best!

good luck to all!

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I worked with Yvette for several months throughout the application process using the hourly service. She worked with me on my resume, essays, interview preparation, and in particular- helped to illuminate a compelling life narrative that existed already, but needed to be crafted and clearly articulated.

Yvette is experienced and thoughtful in her analysis, prompt in her feedback, and she helped to connect me with resources that not only got me into two of the top executive MBA programs I applied to, but also helped me to ultimately decide where to attend.

I am certain that Yvette will help others introspect, and leverage their driving motivation for business school- ultimately leading to successful outcomes. I give Yvette my highest recommendation.

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The service that Christine and Stacy Blackman Consulting offered me was totally unique and tailored to my needs. SBC team chose a consultant that would be best appropriate to my application, Christine, and offered me access to a platform full of resources to apply to the top MBA schools.
Christine helped through the entire process of application, from the GMAT to the interview, in a professional and a personal way. She always answered me in no more than one day and reviewed my essays as many times as I asked her. She gave me support on when to take the GMAT and TOEFL and which should be my goal score, on how to choose my recommenders, on how to build a strategy to explain my accomplishments and career goals on my essays and resumé, and on how to have a great interview.
Since I saw some of my friends' applications, I can affirm that there is no similar service in the country where I live, Brazil. Christine listened to my entire life story, scince childhood, and helped me build a strategy to explain on my application my life before and after the MBA (which helped me not only in my essays and interviews but also in my life). It ended up being not only a consulting process to my MBA application, but a life coach to better understand myself and my goals.
I only applied to Columbia and was accepted few weeks after I sent my application. I had SBC' support in every step of my application. Due to my tight schedule, I know that it would not have been possible to send it with such an outstanding quality without their tailored support.

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I am so glad that I decided to work with SBC and Yvette Romero on my MBA apps. I got accepted to my top choice school just three months after my initial call! The process started with a multi-hour call with my consultant, Yvette, to lay out my strategy for how I would approach my applications and what message I wanted to communicate about myself to admissions committees through my essays, resume, etc. I felt that by the end of our initial call, Yvette had a strong understanding of who I was and what I wanted to do, and thus, was able to help me throughout the process in defining and sharpening my story. As I started writing and compiling the various parts of my apps, many thoughts, ideas, and tweaks would come up that I would consider. Yvette was always readily available to discuss these and offer further insight. She was very honest with her feedback, and tough in a way that motivated to me make the right decisions and not just the easy ones. When I prepared for my interview, Yvette ran me through a mock and gave very effective constructive feedback that ultimately played a large part in my success during the real event.

Stacy Blackman's suite of tools and resources also was incredibly helpful during my process. The AdCom Flight Test (a mock admissions committee reviews your application before you send in the real thing) allowed me to identify and fix a few high-level things with my application that ad coms look out for. The interview resources were also very helpful, and the practice platform allowed me to prepare in a real-life type scenario.

I cannot stress enough how satisfied I am with Stacy Blackman. I would recommend this service, and specifically Yvette Romero, to anyone interested in applying.

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As a non-traditional candidate (art world entrepreneur) applying to business school was an overwhelming and daunting task. I can't say enough about how professional and great SBC and Yvette were. After my initial consultation with SBC staff, I had a phone meeting with Yvette, and really feel that she understood the best strategy to help me with my applications. We went through a list of schools together, and her insight helped me target programs that not only had brand recognition, but whose teaching style would better fit my unique background and education goals.

Despite an undergraduate degree in Communications, and a VERY light quant background, Yvette helped me draw real world examples of quantitive abilities in my essays and resume. She is extremely knowledgable in what admissions staff are looking for, and really helped brand me as a unique candidate.

Besides helping with essays, Yvette was a great counselor, helping me through a couple (inevitable) anxiety ridden moments before deadlines and interviews. She was always prompt with a phone call or email.

Our work paid off, and I was admitted first round into Berkeley's PT program (top in the nation), and couldn't be happier with my decision to attend.

I truly feel that without Yvette's help, I wouldn't of been admitted.

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I worked with Yvette for Round 2 applications to HBS, Wharton and Haas. I was already familiar with the process having applied to Stanford in Round 1. Yvette brought a very professional manner and great background experience. She was extremely helpful as we shaped my application further for each specific school, and in analysing my international background in finance and entrepreneurship. Her responses were timely and the comments themselves good. I was accepted to several programs and decided to come to Haas as I wanted to draw inspiration from the west coast entrepreneurial ecosystem and was offered nearly a full scholarship here.

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Working with Yvette was the best choice I made for my MBA application. Given my background in finance (and the surplus of financial profiles there is in MBA applications) Yvette really helped me overcome the challenge of differentiating amongst other finance professionals. She helped me identify the key aspects of my personal and professional life that needed to be highlighted in the application to show fit with the value of the school. In particular, the way she laid out the differences between schools helped me enormously, and it was really great to be able to speak with someone who felt identified with my international background. More importantly, Yvette was very encouraging and, although very realistic, her positive attitude was contagious and made the application process less painful.

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