This Fall, I worked with Lindsay Sage from Stacy Blackman Consulting on applications for business school. It was a great experience, and I certainly would recommend taking this route to others applying to business school.

Ultimately, the most valuable thing I got from the process was a clear, organized roadmap of everything that needed to be done. Without having done the process before, I was often unaware of all the items that I needed to keep track of, from the proper etiquette for optional essays to the need for unofficial vs official transcripts.

The essay reviews were helpful - especially when it came to helping me pick out what topics make the best business school essays. Lindsay was very responsive when it came to essay edits, and was usually able to get back edits in a couple of days, even when I sent in essays for 5 schools at a time.

SBC also has a variety of additional tools - I took advantage of their practice group interview (my group interview at Wharton was the first time I had every done one), their web-video portal to practice for Kellogg's video essays (again, I'm not exactly a video blogger - helpful to get the practice), and the "test flight" to get another set of eyes on my application.

Ultimately, my application process was very successful - out of the five schools I applied to, I got in to four - Wharton, Kellogg, Tuck, and Fuqua (Once I heard back from these, I had cancelled the fifth school, Columbia, before I heard back since).

Read More

I'm off to HBS because of Paul.

I wasn't the easiest client, I admit, but at every stage wherever I was nervous/stressed, Paul was a beacon of calmness and confidence and, in fact, used this to direct my essays and ideas.

SBC is great in that it allows you to pick the person who works with you. For me, it was no contest: Paul is a Harvard grad and Stanford GSB grad with relevant work experience and gets countless in to the top schools every year.

Our initial conversation looked at aspects of my personality, helping me to think about myself and how this could drive what I wrote and my application strategy.

From then, Paul was always available - for a chat to discuss ideas and always ready to respond to an email at double speed, no matter what time or what day of the week I sent it.

I particularly liked the fact that Paul's strategy was more hands off, concentrating less on correcting my grammar and English, and focusing more on the content and how we could target each school. A number of times he reiterated that changes might not be 'authentically' me. As a result what I handed in was a snapshot of the real (and polished) me.

He was also happy to look through each of my applications innumerable times.

I still can't express fuly how thankful I am.

Read More

Meredith from SBC was my guiding light through the business school process this year. I never considered a consultant until my roommate mentioned that she used Meredith and got in everywhere she applied (HBS, GSB, Wharton). At first, I considered it an insurance policy. But once I started working with Meredith, I realized I couldn't have done it without her.

Meredith knows what she's doing. I had a hard time really nailing down my story -- I went through about 15 drafts of my HBS essay. Meredith was always patient with me and thoughtful with feedback. She not only helped me highlight what would be important to HBS admissions, but she also helped me really stay true to my own voice.

On top of that, Meredith answered all of my crazy/paranoid questions promptly, and she prepared me incredibly well for my interview. She was incredible, and I highly recommend using her! I don't know that I'd be starting HBS in the fall without her.

Read More

I started out with SBC targeting a magnificent 7 B-school with GMAT score that was in range but slightly below average. I spoke to Dawn before signing on and was immediately drawn by her clear and direct approach to the application process. Dawn helped me plan my strategy; she helped me bring out things in my application that actually mattered. Things that adcom actually cared about. She put an entire strategy together with clear target dates, proof read my essays and gave me a mock interview. Her approach was systematic and through various steps she helped me think about different aspects of my application that put my essays in shape. Without Dawn and SBC I wouldn’t have put my best foot forward and wouldn’t have gone for my interview with such confidence. Today, I am finally going to my dream school and couldn’t be happier with my experience with SBC.
In summary, I highly recommend SBC and Dawn if you are targeting a top 10 B-School.

Read More

I cannot say enough about the support I received from the SBC team. I chose hourly services as a way to help me appropriately tell my story. Erin's help was critical in allowing my voice to shine through in my essays. The team was incredibly responsive and met all timelines we agreed upon without fail and without a perceived loss of quality. Erin was completely transparent about agreed upon services that we would be using as well as an anticipated number of hours or half hours each service would deduct from our total hours prior to embarking on the service. I truly appreciated the transparency throughout the process not only with billing but also in giving feedback. I paid for real feedback from a professional who would help me achieve my objectives in a timely way. SBC delivered 100%. My experience felt tailored to me and what I needed. On the front end, we anticipated a set number of hours would be necessary to achieve my objectives, and we met that estimate. I did not have to re-buy time, nor did I feel like time was wasted at any point. I would whole-heartedly endorse SBC.

Read More

It sounds pretty cliché, but I truly couldn’t have done it without SBC and Ryan Barba.

When I first started looking at MBA programs I realized my application had some glaring weaknesses. My GMAT was average at best, my years of work experience were lower than desired, and my ability to answer the essay questions was poor. I knew pretty early on that in order to get into my desired program I was going to need a consulting firm to help strengthen my application. In came SBC.

I ended up going with the comprehensive package and after having a kickoff call to learn more about me I was paired with Ryan Barba. I personally can’t speak for the other consultants at SBC but if they are anything like Ryan then you are in great hands.

Ryan was there for me every step of the way and exceeded every expectation I had. Reading the difference between the first and the final draft of my essays is incredible. Ryan really understood what it took to frame me as a strong applicant and helped me get there. When it came time for interviews I was beyond prepared. Every question they threw at me I was ready to answer thanks to the help of Ryan.

Not all heroes wear capes and I can truly say that Ryan Barba is a hero.

Read More

Stacy Blackman's consulting services were top notch. Carol was my consultant and she very patiently walked me through the best way to approach essay questions and how to direct my recommenders. Having been out of school for a number of years I was a little lost about how to go about my applications and I would have had a very difficult time without SBC. Carol was easy to talk to and a great resource.

I applied to HBS, Wharton and MIT Sloan and received offers from all three schools.

Carol's turn around time was very quick and she was always available for questions via email. The only suggestion for improvement is interview preparation - I felt a little lost going into the interviews but that being said there's no way to prepare for every question. HBS prepares an interview question guide that you can buy and would recommend spending the extra $$ to get that guide.

Overall would definitely recommend SBC and Carol.

Read More

I worked with Caryn through a three school All-In Package and I also had Caryn edit my fourth application on an hourly basis. I was accepted to three of these schools and waitlisted at the fourth (all top 7 programs). I will be heading to my top choice, Wharton, this fall.

As someone with fairly typical background and a low GPA, I knew I needed every advantage possible if I wanted to be admitted into any of top schools. After interviewing four different admissions consulting companies, I decided to use SBC because of their established track record and breadth of offerings beyond the essay help (the flight test, the practice interviews, the sample essays, etc.,). I chose to work with Caryn in particular because of her experience as a Kellogg MBA, a Kellogg admissions officer and a marketing professional.

Caryn was a great choice. Caryn helped me connect the disparate points of my story and establish a clear narrative throughout my application. She even helped me find a couple more extracurriculars to get involved with to round out my resume. I appreciated that Caryn was willing harshly criticize my essays, forcing me to push myself to write the best essays I could. Looking at the finished product, I would say that my essays ended up being the strongest part of my entire application

Caryn was much more than an editor. Caryn helped me establish a timeline and many benchmarks to ensure that I got in all of my round one applications on time. Caryn provided essay feedback within 24 hours, and she was quick to answer all the nagging minor questions that pop up during this process.

Caryn made this inherently stressful experience a lot more tolerable. Caryn helped ensure that I submitted the best applications possible and her unwavering enthusiasm throughout the process was equally valuable. I don’t think there’s any way I would’ve gotten into one (let alone three!) top 7 schools without Caryn’s guidance, and I would definitely recommend Caryn/SBC!

Read More

I am an International engineer male applicant with less than 3 years of experience in manufacturing sector. With not much to differentiate myself from other applicants of similar background, I was quite anxious about my chances of landing an admit in a top 20 school. I applied to two top 10 schools and one top 20 schools with Sherry's support.
From her experience, Sherry understands international applicants and the adcom requirements quite well. From school selection to interview prep, Sherry was present to answer any question, however ridiculous it may have been. This was quite essential for me as an international applicant with different cultural and professional experience. With her invaluable insights with respect to personal essays and resume, I was able to project the best picture of me to the adcoms. She kept on emphasizing that I remove technical jargon from my resume and essays, and we went over 15 iterations for the resume.
Apart from all the tangible efforts of Sherry, her confidence in my candidature was certainly one of the plus points. I am going to a top 20 school and Sherry's contribution played a significant part in it. I would certainly recommend Sherry and SBC team for any international applicant who has decided to go for an admissions consultant.

Read More

Caryn from SBC guided me through the whole Bschool application process from the beginning to the end. Without her help, i am not sure I could get such great results.

I was a reapplicant this year. I worked with another consulting firm last year and got all the Dings. The consultant at that firm was not patient and the service was not at the same level with SBC at all.

Caryn is very nice, patient but also a very professional consultant who knows what's going on in the application world. I trust all her advice and she clearly pointed to me every single details of the application.

I was born and raised in China and came to U.S. for the college. My written English was bad, and Caryn did so much more work on the basic grammars.

Caryn was very assertive on my application strategy. She was also very creative on crafting a package that is totally 'me'. For example, when I was writing the essay for UCBerkeley, the question is asking me to choose a song that best describes myself. I picked several, but all of them didn't sound right. it's Caryn at the end picked a song that's exactly who i am. Even my friends commented "wow, your consultant knows you very well!"

I got three rejections before hearing any great news. At that time, i was super stressful. But Caryn always had faith in me, and told me to sit tight and wait for the good news to come.

Applying as a Chinese citizen and competing with millions of applicants from China, I was really lucky to have worked with Caryn and SBC who helped me stand out of the poll.

I strongly recommend Caryn, and SBC. The process was smooth. Caryn was super responsible, patient, knowledgeable, experienced, and sweet!!

If you are thinking of applying bschool, i would def. recommend getting consulting service from SBC, and Caryn!

Read More