I am from Latin America, I had a story a little different from traditional applicants (I know everyone thinks they have, but I really did). My stats weren’t that great and I only applied to CBS since I was already living in NYC and it was the school I had always dreamed to go. From the first call we had, Christine perfectly understood my story, my experience, my strengths and weaknesses and what was the exact angle we could exploit so I could become an attractive candidate for CBS. Very quickly she generated various ideas and proposals which were tailored made to my profile, experience, and goals, giving me a clear direction to follow and the confidence that all the effort was going to be worth it. Her ability to help you during essays drafting was AMAZING, she really helps you get inspired and bring to words the best of your thoughts.

At one point during the preparation of the application, I was very busy because of work and on top of that, I was also studying to take again the GMAT and thank god that Christine was there for me, supporting me with the preparation, accommodating to my busy schedule and delivering an EXCELLENT service. If she had not been there, there was NO WAY I could have made it successfully through the application process. For the interview, her preparation was exactly what I needed and from the moment I applied in about a month CBS had already accepted me.

Christine perfectly knows the culture of CBS, what the AdCom thinks and what is exactly what they are looking for in applicants. I really can’t imagine a better advisor than Christine. It was a pleasure working with her and I STRONGLY recommend anyone to work with her!

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Choosing to sign up with SBC to assist in my B-school applications was definitely the right decision! The perspective & guidance that my SBC consultant was able to offer through the application process was invaluable. While I saw myself as an acceptable MBA candidate before hiring SBC, my applications and essays would have not been anywhere close to the final product that my consultant worked with me to produce.

My consultant was Jessica and she was a great individual to work with during this time. Jessica put in considerable time to understand who I was / where I came from / where I wanted to go, which then helped us to develop my complete profile and highlight my candidacy in the best possible way. We went through multiple rounds for each essay and my resume, getting a ton of feedback from Jessica that helped me to dig deeper within each draft. This led to the final drafts being a collection of refined ideas and themes that had been developed through hours of work between us. After we were through with this part of preparation, we were then able to submit my total profile to their “Flight-test”, where a former MBA admissions officer is able to review your profile and provide any feedback. Getting this final sign-off & feedback from a former admissions officer was a huge win and helps to give a high level of confidence when submitting applications.

Overall, my experience with SBC wasn’t about filling out applications, writing essays, or resume edits…. Instead it was about how Jessica was able to work with me to make me a complete candidate that was able to holistically demonstrate who I am through each & every step of the way. All of this culminated with me being admitted to my dream/target school (top-15 B School) along with a notable scholarship.

If you are like me and want nothing less than your best application possible (no regrets, no what if’s), I highly recommend hiring SBC.

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I had the pleasure of being paired with Caryn Altman and truly know I wouldn't have gotten into two top schools (Booth & Kellogg) without her support, patience, project management skills, and ability to see how my application worked as a whole. I worked with her on 3 schools and applied to another two on my own using some of the same strategies I developed with her. Start to finish SBC was a great investment from my initial point of contact, to my flight tester (Beth who is a former adcom), to additional folks who provided a second opinion on essays for me when Caryn and I disagreed (not often!). SBC is absolutely the way to go if you're thinking about working with a consulting company. They know what they're doing and all the positive outcomes vouch for that. Thanks again for everything!!!!!

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I worked with Beth Tidmarsh at Stacy Blackman and she really helped me manage the application process and feel confident in the application I was submitting. She provided helpful essay feedback and application guidance, she was timely in her responses, and she was proactive in letting my know when her schedule was tight.

I'm a strong writer but I didn't know much about what was expected from an MBA application essay, and Beth helped me put my stories in their best light and noted where I could add more information or remove confusing or unnecessary content.

Beth also helped guide me on what to expect throughout the process, gave me advice for my interviews, and provided support during the stressful and uncertain process of waiting to hear back after submitting apps and completing interviews.

I felt like Beth was personally invested in my success and her help improved my applications and gave me the confidence to perform at my best in interviews. I would strongly recommend her as a consultant.

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I had a great experience working with Stacy Blackman and in particular, my consultant Dawn.

When looking for an admissions consultant, I wanted someone who was ethical and who could best help craft my story and position me for each school's unique criteria. I selected Dawn because it was clear she was a very intelligent, strategic thinker who would give me honest feedback.

While working together Dawn developed a very helpful strategic plan/assessment for my candidacy - a roadmap for mitigating my weaknesses and highlighting my strengths. As someone who is not naturally and consistently introspective, this was feedback was very helpful! I flipped back to this plan often while writing my essays.

In addition, Dawn's honesty and willingness to hold me accountable were important throughout the application process. During one stretch, I was so jammed at work that I was not able to write a quality essay, and instead sent Dawn a half-baked draft. Dawn held me accountable and told me to completely re-do the draft, which was definitely the honest feedback that I needed to submit the best application possible.

All in all, I had a very good experience and it led to a great outcome - I will be going to Wharton next year! Thanks Dawn!

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I applied to four top B-schools in 2016, on my own, and was dinged from all of them without interview. After this difficult outcome, I decided to investigate consulting services to get an idea of how my application could be improved the following year. I spoke to a few other services, including the MBA Exchange and mbaMission. In the end, I decided to go with Stacy Blackman because of how helpful my free consultation call with Bill Chionis was. I did a ding analysis with Caryn Altman. Her feedback was so direct and actionable that I decided to do an all-in package with her for a number of schools.

Throughout the daunting process, Caryn's expertise and support was extremely valuable. Caryn was efficient, direct, friendly, and supportive. I applied only to top 10 programs, and stubbornly didn't add any 'safety' schools to my list, despite my scary results from the previous year. When I asked Caryn what my chances were, she candidly told me that it would be a stretch for many of them. Despite the odds, Caryn worked with me to ensure that I had a solid application and that I could showcase myself in the best possible light. She laid out a strategy which allowed me to understand how all the different parts of my application worked to tell a cohesive story.

Some aspects to my admission that I had to overcome:
- I had a pretty low quant percentile on my GMAT, which I tried to mitigate with the GRE, but in the end I still couldn't get my score up to the average of my target schools.
- I had a nontraditional background for an MBA (start-up). I was aware this could give me a 'uniqueness' advantage, but without Caryn's help I struggled to highlight the leadership experiences I had.
- Lack of focus with respect to my long term goals and how my MBA would get me there.

The All-In Package is quite pricey, but if you feel lost with the application process, I'd say it's worth it (recall that I had come off four brutal dings!). Especially because of my test scores, we knew that the rest of my application, especially essays, had to *really* shine. I consider myself a strong writer, but even so, Caryn had tons of feedback on my essays and was always ready to do another draft. The mock interview gave me such a boost of confidence, and when I did my first real interview I was surprised by how similar the questions were. The flight test feedback that I got from Lisa Anderson was very helpful. Another benefit to the all-in was that I could ask Caryn any general MBA questions I had (ex. interview-related etiquette, what to do when I get a confusing email during the application process, etc).

I also did a mock interview with Erika Olson for HBS, which was excellent, and helped me prepare correctly for the unique HBS interview.

I applied to seven schools in round 1, got interviews with four, and ultimately received offers of admission from two. I am happy to say that I will be attending Harvard Business School next fall. It wouldn't have been possible without Caryn's assistance - thank you to Caryn and the rest of the SBC team!

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I am over the moon with my SBC experience. From the (painless) matching process to the moment I hit submit on the last application (and into interviews!), Scott was my constant companion, coach, provider of real-time feedback, and sounding board.

As I came to the process from a pretty well-trodden path (healthcare investment banking to healthcare private equity), I knew that emphasizing the components of my application that made me stand out from the proverbial crowd would be essential. I just didn't know what those components were. Scott worked with me to find and then to emphasize the ways that my experience differed from my peers' experience, and the informal feedback that I've received to date emphasizes that this was what helped me be successful at Booth, Kellogg and Wharton.

In all, I have no complaints with my SBC experience. I would recommend SBC and Scott to any of my friends and colleagues without reservation.

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I took my GMAT in July, so I was already starting late for First Round applications. From my intro call at Stacy Blackman, I knew they were going to give me honest, up-front advice. CP helped me focus my resume and essays on what actually matters, something that sounds easy, but is far from it. Without CP's help, I would have told a less compelling story that didn't truly reflect who I am and where I want to go.

While the package is certainly expensive, no way around that, I truly believe that it was worth it. I got interviews at all 5 top 10 schools that I applied to, and got in to my top choice.

I did not love the application process, but, thanks to CP and the team at Stacy Blackman, I got where I wanted to go!

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I had the privilege of working with Emily Lammers of SBC throughout my application process, and after receiving admission to my looong-shot dream school (CBS), I can't imagine having worked with anyone else.

After a close friend of mine had incredible success throughout his application process, utilizing the all-in package with SBC, I was sold on the firm. The next step was matching me up with a consultant who not only specialized in candidates with similar profiles to mine, but also candidates who had similar goals. This is where SBC really shines. The curated consultant selection process allows you to be paired up with a consultant who knows your industry, your schools, and how to tailor your story to help you achieve your goals. This is how I wound up working with Emily and receiving admission to my dream program, of which I wasn't even initially planning on applying to, but Emily convinced me was worthwhile.

From day one is was clear that Emily was committed to my success, and further, that she was passionate about the process in general. We reviewed every relevant aspect of my pre-MBA life in depth to further understand strengths, weaknesses, motives, and anecdotes that would support my applications to top programs. From there we developed our application strategy. Emily's knowledge of the nuances of particular programs and their applications processes allowed me to put my best foot forward for each application and to know how to highlight aspects of my profile that each individual school looks for in applicants. I genuinely can't speak highly enough about Emily and her guidance throughout the process. She was available and enthusiastic about responding to e-mails or phone calls at any time, and the level of detail she provided in reviewing and analyzing my essays was far beyond what I expected. She is a straight shooter and completely candid when providing feedback, which is a necessity when it comes to this process. Emily's ability to provide structure and flow to your story helps your essays shine, and prepares you incredibly well for the interview process. Further, Emily goes way beyond her duties with primary research and often times provided me with program information that was relevant to my career goals so that I could include it in my essays or interviews. Emily reads essays as though she is an AdCom member for each program, and provides highly specialized feedback. She was supportive when I felt overwhelmed, and pushed me when I was lazy. Lastly, Emily made this stressful process incredibly enjoyable and I oftentimes find myself missing the late nights of essay writing, frantic messages of concern, relief that comes with submitting the applications, and elation for interview invites and program acceptances.

We ended up securing interviews with all of my programs and received admission to CBS (we turned down the other interveiws after hearing the news from CBS)....an investment well worth it no matter how you look at it. Emily is an absolute legend, and I credit her knowledge, guidance, and passion for the process with my admissions success. Do yourself a favor and ask for her services when you reach out to SBC...you will not be disappointed.

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I cannot thank Christina Fu and SBC enough on my admittance to Columbia Business School with a tremendous fellowship package! I come from a non-traditional background. With a demanding full-time job, extracurricular activities, GMAT-taking, and personal engagements, I knew I had little time to waste, so I was certain to hire someone to guide me in this process.
1. Christina is a HBS alumnus, she is extremely experienced working with professionals of a variety of industries. I have endless number of good things to say about her, but I will highlight a few below:
a. Christina genuinely cares about her clients. I often find our phone conversations go beyond MBA applications. She is not only a MBA consultant to me, but also a career mentor and life coach. She would always guide me in strategic ways to encourage my growth, even in times when I lacked the confidence to do so.
b. She knows exactly my strengths to highlight for each individual program. Her guidance has helped me tremendously in standing out amongst thousands of strong applications.
c. Christina is also an excellent editor that made my essays alive with creative vocabulary usage and correct grammar. With the help of her brainstorming sessions, I never ran out of ideas to write about myself.
d. Most importantly, I was able to establish a bond with Christina - I trust her in that she will put her best foot forward to help me with my applications. She has become a great friend and mentor to me and I am sure we will stay in touch through the years!
2. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the rest of the SBC team - Esther, who I had the pleasure to have an introductory call with and who paired me with Christina, and Lisa, my flight tester, she reviewed my CBS application, which was one of the very few applications she gave a perfect score on! Thank you so much for boosting my confidence!
3. When selecting a consulting firm, I compared SBC and mbaMission. I was immediately sold on Esther’s candidness. She precisely pointed out areas that I was lacking and recommended that I apply one year later (which I did), even if it meant one fewer client for SBC. The conversation with her made me feel that she genuinely cared about my development, a quality that was substantiated by the year-long partnership with Christina and interactions with the rest of the SBC team.
I am extremely thrilled to have chosen SBC as my admissions consulting firm and very grateful to have worked with Christina on such an unforgettable journey in life!

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