I am so excited to start at Berkeley-Haas this Fall, thanks to Stacy Blackman! Esther reached out to me for the initial phone screen, and was able to recommend a consultant, Jen, who was a great fit for my rather niche industry interest and focus on West Coast schools. Jen helped me to articulate some of the major themes in my life and career to date, and focus my story so that it was clear and realistic.

Going through the admissions process was undeniably stressful, and I was very thankful for Jen's calm guidance. She was very responsive even during the year-end rush for Round 2, and helped me stay on track. I want to give a special shout-out to her especially for the interview prep, where she gave me the confidence to go through with everything even though I didn't feel ready at all, and gave me some really great tips that unified my personal branding. Working through the process actually helped me identify some passions that I wanted to develop further, and while I didn't get to refer to them during the process, it led to some fantastic experiences the summer before b-school. Once again, thanks SBC!

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I first reached out to Stacy Blackman Consulting after receiving a recommendation from a previous business school applicant. At that point I knew I wanted to attend business school but was unsure whether I should hold off another year before applying. As an MBA applicant, I come from a non-traditional working background and felt that my liberal arts education and lack of strong quantitative coursework might hurt my admission chances. I spoke to a few other consulting companies but felt that Stacy Blackman offered me the most honest and personalized advice. When I determined I was going to apply and use Stacy Blackman Consulting, they paired me with a consultant who they felt would best fit my needs, and that was Erika Olson.

From the get-go, Erika assured me that I had a strong story for my application, despite me not seeing it in the beginning. She took the time to get to know me and really understand my background and future goals. I started the application process late in the cycle, but Erika immediately gave me a schedule of tasks and deadlines for each school which I followed closely. When it came time for essays, I loved that Erika wanted me to put my story in my own words. All of her comments and edits never took away my voice, so my essays truly felt like my own. Erika was always quick to respond, even when I would email her with panicked questions five times a day. Even down to the nitty gritty details of my application, Erika made sure that all of my application was the best version it could be.

I applied to three top business schools and was accepted to two of them. I am thrilled to be attending a top MBA program in the fall and am confident that I would not be where I am without the help of Erika. I would highly recommend her to anyone considering applying to business school, especially if you have a non-traditional background.

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If you are struggling whom you should ask for help when applying for a business school, I highly recommend Stacy Blackman!
When I decided to go to purse an MBA, I had no idea what I should do. And I didn't think I could go to a good b-school because my work experience was less than 2 years. Everyone around me told me that it would be impossible for me to get into a top 20 b-school. And I almost gave up....until my friend recommended SBC to me.
My consultant is Lisa Anderson, a sweet lady with rich experience in admissions. I wasn''t confident of my academic and occupational background, I knew nothing about the b-school application, AND I didn't even take GMAT until October(which was really behind the application timeline). After we talked, Lisa inspired me to discover my strength, suggested schools that I could try with my little poor work experience, and helped me figure out my timeline. Without rich knowledge of admissions, she wouldn't have known that so well.
During the several month application process, she always answered my emails within 24 hours, reminded me to stay on my schedule. She was very helpful when I edited my resume and essays. She was able to spot my unique qualities and gave me insightful suggestions for resume and essays. Not only did she prepare me well for my interview, but she also inspired me during my interview process. I remember that after my first interview, I was so upset that I called her. She comforted me and made me confident to confront my following interviews. Without her, I am unsure if I could be successful in the following interviews.
With Lisa's help, I got accepted to 3 good schools with scholarships and one of them is a top 20 school. I was so satisfied with it and I really enjoyed working with Lisa!
Thank you, Lisa!

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Before starting on my MBA journey with SBC, I had my profile reviewed by a few other consultants, and every one of them suggested even a top 20 would be a stretch school for me, and it did not surprise me. I know I lacked the proper background; my GPA’s horrible, GMAT’s subpar (given my demographic), and my work experience/extra-curriculars have no “wow” factor whatsoever – at least that’s what I thought initially.
Although, this is a review about Reene, my primary consultant, I want to spend a few minutes talking about Esther Magna.
I first heard about SBC from a friend. With their help, he got accepted to Stern with a full ride! I wanted to get an opinion, so I set up an evaluation call with Esther. The call was very relaxed and informative. She took her time to understand my background and then offered some amazing application tips based on my profile. I left with a very positive opinion, but what really stuck with me was - she genuinely seemed impressed with my background, and thought I was a strong candidate! And it’s this feeling which pulled me back to SBC after weeks of indecisive wandering. Given my background, Esther strongly suggested I work with Reene, and thus started my application process.
Herself a top MBA grad, Reene is very knowledgeable about the b-school application process. Even before I started working on my essays, Reene handed me a document in which she brilliantly connected all my discrete experiences – both professional and personal – into a solid narrative, which gave me great insights of the way to go about my personal branding! She is extremely professional; no matter how busy she is, she never missed a deadline. I can always expect to receive her feedback on my essays in 24 hours. I come from an industry where not a lot of people go for an MBA, and this presented me with many challenges: right from what to expect from an info session or a school visit to how to select schools or choose recommenders. Luckily, I had Reene to guide me at every stage. None of my recommenders had any experience with writing a b-school LOR. Reene helped them understand what business schools are looking for in a candidate and how to write great recommendations. I can’t thank Reene enough for helping me remain strong and optimistic during this stressful journey.
To be honest, I was a bit hesitant at first about working with Reene as I couldn’t find any reviews about her on the internet, and needed some convincing from Esther. And now, after working with her, I am going to a top 10 program with a scholarship! Thanks, Reene, for making this happen. I hope this review serves as a useful reference for any future clients of hers.

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In short, I believe the process was well worth the value added to my application process. It was a tough landscape to navigate through, especially coming from the military, and I needed a guide to walk me through.

To begin with, I was already behind schedule after not doing so well on my GMAT so I had to reschedule and push for round 2 application deadlines instead of round 1. By the time I got the score that I needed, I was running 2 weeks out from the application deadline for my first school in round 2.

Sherry was a gem. She absolutely laid the groundwork for me to strategize and prioritize the tasks I needed to knock out one-by-one. For me, her process was very regimented and it most definitely was curtailed to my type of learning/thought process and it allowed me to gain every bit of value through multiple drafts, reviews, and submissions. I applied to 5 schools, had interviews for every one of them, and accepted to 4 and waitlisted at 1. In foresight, I probably should have applied to slightly harder programs but I'm absolutely excited to matriculate to the school I will be enrolling in this fall.

If I could suggest who would most benefit from these services:
- Military
- Persons who come from a non traditional background
- Applicants to highly selective schools where every bit of scrutiny is needed

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I chose to work with SBC because I felt that they were the most realistic in helping me determine my target schools. In fact, in my initial call with SBC they were VERY upfront with me about the quality of my candidacy. I really appreciated this and ultimately chose to work with SBC because of how direct they were.

After my initial call with SBC, I spoke with Dawn (who eventually became my admissions consultant). The purpose of this call was to determine if we were a good "fit". I will say this - the people at SBC know how to pair their clients with the right consultants because our call could not have gone better. Dawn was highly intelligent, extremely motivated, and expressed a genuine interest to help me get into each one of my target schools.

Working with Dawn was an absolute pleasure. She helped me navigate the process with ease and was always VERY responsive. Dawn knew all of the intricacies of each of my target schools' applications and did an excellent job of helping me to identify how to connect my story to each application. I genuinely believe that any prospective MBA applicant would be lucky to work with Dawn throughout the admissions process.

Thanks to Dawn and SBC I was accepted to every school that I applied to (all top 10 programs) and received significant scholarship offers to multiple programs.

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I decided to work with SBC for two reasons at the very beginning: responsiveness and Amy has unique insights and knowledge about the schools I was going to apply to. Soon, Amy had me realize my stories had so much potential to better express who I am and what I value in my leadership style. Besides, Amy meticulously reviewed all my application materials and corrected numerous typos I had made. During my interview preparations session, Amy gave some constructive suggestions in terms of how to introduce myself without bending AO's ear and how to effectively answer behavioral questions. In the end, my decision of working with SBC paid off. I received $70k in the form of fellowship from a M7 school. I am grateful to Amy and would recommend anyone who is looking for advises about MBA application.

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Prepping for admissions into a top MBA program is a rigorous process. A process that requires persistence, detail, and communication of your brand. To help me with the process, I reached out to Stacy Blackman Consulting. I was able to work with Kevin Rockmeal who is extremely skilled with getting student admitted with low GMAT scores. Kevin’s assistance with crafting my MBA admission essays, prepping me for my MBA admission interviews, editing my MBA resume, and assisting me in getting a better grasp of what story I should share with the MBA admission committee to get admitted is world class and I strongly recommend him as a MBA admission consultant.

In the end, I was able to gain admissions into Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business and UVA’s Darden School of Business. I cannot thank Stacy Blackman and Kevin Rockmeal enough. His expertise once again was what allowed me to get admitted to these schools despite having strikingly low than average GMAT scores.

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With the presidential campaign in progress, I thought it would be relevant to share this scenario: let's take a minute and imagine you are running for political office. You are going to need a campaign manager to help you organize, to plan your campaign route (schools you want to apply to), and to help you articulate your speech and platforms. Applying for business school is no different from running for office; you are trying to tell admission committees that you are the best candidate to vote for. In my case, Ryan was my campaign manager; he did a very thorough job understanding my background and what makes me tick. While I have a strong undergraduate GPA , a master's degree, and solid work experiences, there are weaknesses in my profile, e.g. my average-at-best GMAT score, traditional work background, etc. Ryan helped me capitalize on my strength and on my diverse upbringing. I enjoyed working with Ryan, because he is organized, thoughtful, and honest with his review comments. As a busy professional, you would want someone there to hold you accountable, keep you on track, and provide guidance. While the process was very stressful, Ryan made it bearable and painless. Most MBA admission consulting services come with a hefty price tag; the way I think about it is - why do you think Fortune 500 companies hire consultants such as McKinsey, Bain, and BCG to help solve their problems, despite very high fees? I would recommend SBC and Ryan because they do a very good job creating a admission strategy, one that's specifically tailored for you. A daring entrepreneur, Ryan has a wide variety of experiences; he had experiences in MBA admission at top 20 schools, management consulting, personal coaching, and local political campaigns. And that's exactly why I chose Ryan to be my partner during the MBA admission process. I would highly recommend Ryan to any aspiring MBAs.

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I worked with SBC on an hourly first arrangement and then quickly converted to the comprehensive service once I realized the value. I worked with Rebeka on the SBC team. She was incredibly attentive and insightful and her former MBA Admissions was an incredible advantage. I also had another former Admissions Officer review my application. I received a critical report from Lisa and that was really helpful, as Rebeka and I used that feedback to polish the application before submitting. Rebeka guided me on every step in the process. I am a "non-traditional" applicant as I worked in nonprofit in NYC. I needed to explain why the MBA and why now because I already had another Masters degree. Ultimately, while the investment in SBC is costly, I don't think my application would have come close to the quality without SBC's influence. Rebeka didn't write my essays-- it was entirely my own voice. But, she made sure I addressed glaring issues and identified my greatest strengths--- that perspective is impossible to have without the help of a consultant who has placed volumes of applicants. I felt very confident going into my interview because I knew my value as a MBA candidate. My experience was fantastic and don't think I would have been accepted to Kellogg and Tuck without the inside knowledge and active mentorship and dedication of the SBC team.

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