GMAT Club

MBA Admissions All-in Services Reviews

Since 2001, Stacy Blackman Consulting (SBC) clients have been admitted to every top business school worldwide, often with merit scholarships. SBC has a complete panel of former Admissions Officers from every top MBA program in-house. The SBC team has MBA expertise at every top US and EU school, has graduated from the best MBA programs and understands career paths in every industry, traditional and non- traditional. 

SBC deeply values mentor-ship within its client engagements and limits the number of clients for each consultant, engaging with clients only after its Validation Team evaluates candidacy strength. Stacy Blackman Consulting delivers results, as shown through its record of the highest number of online reviews across multiple sites, such as YELP. SBC offers a limited number of free consultations weekly for inquiries who have been pre-screened by our tenured team. Contact us for a free consultation to request time with an SBC Principal.      
5.0 /5 Average Rating
5 star
574
4 star
18
3 star
0
2 star
1
1 star
0
Based on 593 reviews
+ 1 non-rated reviews

AI Super-Summary of Customer Reviews for MBA Admissions All-in Services*

Stacy Blackman Consulting (SBC) receives praise from numerous clients for its effective and supportive MBA admissions consulting services. Many reviewers highlight the personalized and dedicated guidance provided by experienced consultants, such as Beth, Caryn, and Meg, who help applicants craft compelling narratives, focus on key strengths, and confidently prepare for interviews. The team-based approach, extensive resources, and insights from former admissions officers are frequently mentioned as invaluable, aiding clients in gaining admissions to top business schools like Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, and more, often with scholarships. While the services are noted as an investment, the outcomes suggest it is well worth it for those serious about securing positions in leading MBA programs.
17 users mention "Admitted"
  • "I was accepted at Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business..." Read more
  • "admissions to both HBS and Stanford GSB..." Read more
  • "admission to both Booth and Kellogg..." Read more
  • "I was able to gain acceptance into my desired program-Wharton..." Read more
  • "gained me admission to the program..." Read more
  • "worth every penny and made my HBS application process smooth and stress-free..." Read more
  • "happy to be accepting admissions to Booth..." Read more
  • "I was admitted to FIVE MBA programs: GSB, Wharton, Booth, Columbia, and Stern (with a full ride)..." Read more
  • "admission to Chicago Booth, Northwestern Kellogg, Wharton (with scholarship), MIT Sloan (with scholarship), and Dartmouth Tuck..." Read more
  • "They helped me gain admission to Darden and Ross (w/ scholarship)..." Read more
  • "Got in to the three programs I applied to (McCombs, Anderson and Fuqua), 2 with scholarships..." Read more
  • "obtained a T20 MBA Admit with scholarship..." Read more
  • "got accepted to both CBS and Wharton..." Read more
  • "admitted to Haas, Anderson, and Marshall..." Read more
  • "admitted into HBS and Wharton's HCM Program..." Read more
  • "admitted to CBS, UVA, UNC , UT McCombs, USC and UCLA..." Read more
  • "offers of admission to Columbia and Wharton..." Read more
15 users mention "Full Service"
  • "gave me a very accurate assessment of my chances at multiple top schools and encouraged me to apply even though I had doubts about my own candidacy..." Read more
  • "worked with Caryn on 3 schools for round 1, and was fortunate enough to gain admission to both HBS and Stanford GSB..." Read more
  • "fantastic. I embarked on this journey after speaking with eight different consultants..." Read more
  • "working with Meg and SBC was the single most important decision I made..." Read more
  • "received valuable feedback from my flight tester Amy..." Read more
  • "work closely with Beth, a former AdCom member..." Read more
  • "meg helped me craft essays that were uniquely me and uniquely powerful..." Read more
  • "the all-in package was no-hassle. It included everything from interview prep to a Flight Test..." Read more
  • "working with Amy to apply to the Wharton/Lauder dual degree program and she was fantastic..." Read more
  • "with Margaret Orenstein and Stacy Blackman Consulting..." Read more
  • "as my primary consultant..." Read more
  • "recommended Lisa as my primary consultant..." Read more
  • "Amy Hazen, my consultant..." Read more
  • "Geri was my primary consultant..." Read more
  • "multitude of services to help you reach your MBA goals..." Read more
14 users mention "Supportive"
  • "matched me with Margaret Orenstein, who was instrumental in guiding me as I crafted my story with such great responsiveness, insights, and personalization to me..." Read more
  • "Caryn was my accountability partner throughout my process she kept me on track, focused on what mattered most..." Read more
  • "I knew she would provide equal doses of encouragement and honesty at the right times..." Read more
  • "my primary partner and ultimate support system during the grueling application process..." Read more
  • "demonstrated an impressive knowledge of the programs and was a pleasure to work with..." Read more
  • "Amy helped me craft my story to spin that to my advantage, which gained me admission to the program..." Read more
  • "and was able to tackle any and all concerns..." Read more
  • "helped me think about career goals, what aspects of a school I want..." Read more
  • "Amy encouraged me to embrace my authentic voice..." Read more
  • "Beth genuinely sought to understand me, helping me craft an authentic and compelling application..." Read more
  • "substantial team support particularly during the flight test..." Read more
  • "Constructive and supportive feedback..." Read more
  • "helped me put forth the most holistically sound, authentic application..." Read more
  • "felt prepared going into the interviews..." Read more
11 users mention "Top-Tier School Focus"
  • "I was accepted at Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business..." Read more
  • "admission to both HBS and Stanford GSB..." Read more
  • "fortunate to be admitted to Kellogg, Tuck, Fuqua, and Darden..." Read more
  • "acceptance into my desired program-Wharton..." Read more
  • "successful admission to Kellogg, McCombs, and Anderson, with the added bonus of scholarships..." Read more
  • "successful in getting accepted to a top school..." Read more
  • "gained me admission to the program..." Read more
  • "former HBS student, was able to give me excellent insight..." Read more
  • "applying to a broad range of schools and ended up getting admitted to CBS, UVA, UNC , UT McCombs, USC and UCLA..." Read more
  • "test prep for my Wharton Team Based Discussion..." Read more
  • "help prepare you for the application and interviews..." Read more
10 users mention "Scholarship Awarded"
  • "ended up with acceptances from Kellogg (with $), Columbia, Stern, and Sloan (with $)..." Read more
  • "admitted to Kellogg, Tuck, Fuqua, and Darden, all with varying levels of scholarship..." Read more
  • "with the added bonus of scholarships at Kellogg and McCombs..." Read more
  • "managed to walk away with a full ride and half ride to a few schools..." Read more
  • "Stern (with a full ride)..." Read more
  • "Wharton (with scholarship), MIT Sloan (with scholarship), and Dartmouth Tuck (with substantial scholarship)..." Read more
  • "Ross (w/ scholarship)..." Read more
  • "2 with scholarships..." Read more
  • "obtained a T20 MBA Admit with scholarship..." Read more
  • "with full-tuition scholarships at Kellogg and Columbia..." Read more
6 users mention "Industry Specialist"
  • "investment to partner with SBC to help me put my best foot forward in the MBA admissions process..." Read more
  • "experience as a former Kellogg AdComm member was an incredible differentiator..." Read more
  • "admission to both Booth and Kellogg..." Read more
  • "thank Bill enough for his assistance during my EMBA application journey..." Read more
  • "my consultant, was so supportive and easy to work with no question was ever too small..." Read more
  • "Margaret's experience in Management Consulting..." Read more
5 users mention "Detail-Oriented"
  • "enabled me to weave together all my life experiences and ambitions..." Read more
  • "Beth's personalized approach and attention to detail undoubtedly played a crucial role in my successful admission..." Read more
  • "meg really helped me unlock the potential of my application..." Read more
  • "extremely detail-oriented and her experience as a former Admissions Director really shined through..." Read more
  • "helping me to refine my story and tie it all together..." Read more
4 users mention "Responsive"
  • "such great responsiveness..." Read more
  • "was always able to be reached..." Read more
  • "Geri was absolutely lovely! She was always extremely quick to respond..." Read more
  • "very responsive and I was able to get great feedback..." Read more
2 users mention "Waitlist Support"
2 users mention "Value for Money"
  • "a big investment, but I treated it as an investment in myself: I wanted to put my best foot forward, and it definitely paid off..." Read more
  • "a lot less stressful than anticipated..." Read more
2 users mention "Career Transition"
  • "had a bit of a varied background in terms of my career to-date..." Read more
  • "an incredibly valuable resource to me..." Read more
1 users mention "Non-traditional Backgrounds"
  • "as an early careerist, I had concerns and challenges..." Read more
*Review summaries are AI generated from 25 latest reviews in the past 2 years.
January 05, 2016
Sherryli1115

Joined: Jan 05, 2016

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Verified GMAT Classic score:
740 Q50 V40

Highly Recommend Caryn and Stacy Blackman

REVIEWER IDENTITY VERIFIED by score report [?]

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!

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January 04, 2016
Anonymous

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Lots of successes with SBC

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I first thought about working with a consultant for my application process when reading on Poets & Quants. It dawned on me that a ton of applicants used consultants, and with a few obvious weak points in my application I knew I needed something to help me look competitive. I ended up selecting SBC because of its historical success, and more specifically Caryn's historical success. I had pages and pages of material of people who loved working with Caryn, and when we spoke on the phone she seemed like a good fit.

Caryn was great to work with and very helpful throughout the application process. She was honest when I needed it and helped me select the schools that I would apply to, reviewed my applications, and helped prep me for interviews. I think I had the impression going in that the consultant would essentially do the work for me and tell me what my goals are - that's not what this is, it is YOUR application but Caryn and SBC are there to answer all of your questions and tell you when you need to work on things. Caryn is FAST at responding, every day I would get feedback on a draft and then every night I would send her a new one. She never took more than 24 hours to respond, which I really appreciated as I was doing 7 applications. More importantly Caryn is honest, when I came up with an idea that wasn't going to look good in adcom's eyes she would tell me to try again. Sometimes I would have 3 or 4 different ideas before we settled on something. In the end I have 4 admits, 2 wait-lists, and only 1 reject from my 7 applications. I'm going to Kellogg where I was even granted a $100K scholarship. I know that if I didn't work with Caryn to understand the MBA application process I wouldn't have received all of this. THANK YOU Caryn.

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January 04, 2016
Anonymous

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Great Experience with Stacy Blackman

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Lindsay Sage was my consultant at Stacy Blackman. I felt very comfortable with her right off the bat which, combined with her admissions experience, is why I selected her to be my consultant. The one thing that I was most impressed with was her ability to strike the perfect balance between being friendly and supportive, yet stern when I needed it the most. She was there for me every step of the way including extensive initial planning all the way through interview preparation. She knew when I needed an extra push to get over the finish line and when I needed to be refocused. Her attention to detail and ability to help me arrive at my story was a huge part of setting my application apart from the rest. I couldn't have asked for a better consultant to work with during the application process. I look forward to attending Columbia Business School (my first choice) in the fall and Stacy Blackman was integral to my success. I would highly recommend SBC.

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January 03, 2016
Anonymous

Posts: 1

Kudos: 5

HBS Bound Thanks to SBC

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SBC exceeded my every expectation. From their vault of past essays and interview questions to the Flight Test, SBC offers a truly differentiated service.

Coming from a financial background, my overall profile and stats made me a competitive, but not necessarily winning, candidate. Dawn, my consultant, devoted considerable time getting to understand my story and was instrumental in helping me strategize and craft compelling stories tailored to each school without compromising my personal voice. She showed me how to mitigate the weaknesses in my story and made time to review every aspect of my application, including the post-interview reflection for HBS.

I will be attending HBS in the fall thanks to Dawn and SBC's tremendous support and guidance. I could not have done it without them!

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January 02, 2016
Anonymous

Posts: 220

Kudos: 97

Self-reported Score:
720 Q49 V39

Ryan Barba is determined to get you into your top choice

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I would highly recommend Stacy Blackman's comprehensive consulting services. Although I can only speak for the consultant who worked with me (Ryan Barba), I am sure all of Stacy Blackman’s consultants are on par with Ryan’s level of excellence.

I researched consulting services extensively (having a first-contact call with 4 of the top consulting firms) and I would definitely choose Stacy Blackman and Ryan Barba again if I had to go through the same process. They were the first company to get back to me and arrange a quick call with me. Their methodology, staff and availability are incredibly helpful. You will typically be working with your consultant for weeks or months, and during that time you will exchange emails almost daily, so it is important to make sure that there is affinity between you and your consultant. In that regard, Ryan was patient, understanding, and determined to get the very best application.

I secured great offers of admissions into 3 out of 4 programs (all top 20) I applied to using Stacy Blackman's consultancy services. Initially, I was only hoping to get 1 or maybe 2 offers in a best-case scenario, and of course, I ruled out any offer with scholarship. However, the success I garnered has far exceeded all my expectations, and it has been partly thanks to Ryan Barba. I would like to emphasize his help through the essays, the mock interview, his availability and his turnaround times.

There is no doubt that one of the great decisions that got me into a top business school was choosing Stacy Blackman’s comprehensive consulting services, and especially Ryan’s execution and delivery of those services! How else would an international male with average stats from unknown schools and 5 years of experience from an unknown company would get into a top 10 school with a merit scholarship??

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December 29, 2015
Anonymous

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Thanks SBC!

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I am so glad I chose SBC to help me with my MBA applications! I applied to 3 top 10 schools using the All-In package, and I'm happy to say I got into all 3 :)

I initially chose SBC because of their expertise and resources. As I started to work with several members of SBC, I was blown away by their professional approach to the entire process!

I got matched with an incredible advisor, who really got to know me. She developed a solid strategy for my applications, which guided everything from my resume, essays and interview prep.

If you are serious about getting into your dream school, I would highly recommend you go with SBC!

Good luck!!

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December 24, 2015
Anonymous

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Verified GMAT Classic score:
740 Q48 V44

Stacy Blackman

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I worked with Stacy Blackman Consulting and had a great experience. My consultant was always available, reviewed my applications countless times, and provided great advice to help me turn qualities that otherwise seemed normal into ones that would seem compelling to business schools. I was accepted into 2 MBA programs, both of which I was very pleased with. While I did not get my top choice, I did get into Booth and Kelogg. At the beginning of the application process, I was lost. But my consultant helped me identify schools and helped me put together stories for each of my applications. I am sure I would not have had any success without Stacy Blackman.

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December 22, 2015
Anonymous

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Verified GMAT Classic score:
700 Q47 V39

Stacy Blackman Consulting

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Jed and the Stacy Blackman team were tremendously helpful in achieving my MBA admissions goals. Before embarking on my MBA journey, I thought working in finance for three years and coming from an Ivy League background would give me a leg up on the competition. I quickly realized that I needed a way to differentiate myself from my peers in order to get into my top choice schools. After reviewing several competing firms, I quickly realized that Stacy Blackman offered the most resources and had the most dedicated advisors. Jed was very knowledgeable of the process and knew which of my strengths to play into at each school I applied. He was always available for me and helped all the way through the interview process. I would highly recommend Stacy Blackman to anyone considering applying to top tier business schools from competitive fields.

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December 21, 2015
Anonymous

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Admitted everywhere!

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Investing in SBC was worth every single penny. This means a lot coming from someone who initially had a 620, a state school undergraduate education (think party hearty), and the desire to get into Georgetown and Vanderbilt.

From day one, Lisa gave me the confidence to stand behind my accomplishments and craft the most compelling application possible. She also helped me find the last bit of effort to take the GMAT again. Although I scored much higher, I believe that the application Lisa and I crafted was such high-quality that I would have been accepted to my target schools without the GMAT increase.

Lisa is funny, honest, knowledgeable, and an incredible editor. She never let me lose hope of admittance and was a true proponent throughout the process. My advice to those of you who are trying to decide if SBC is right for you is that if you are willing to dedicate the time and energy to creating a high-quality application, you will be astonishingly happy with SBC's comprehensive services. Additionally, I would suggest selecting a safety school that you would seriously consider attending. Even if I had not received positive admissions decisions from my target schools, the investment I made in SBC translated into a full-ride scholarship at my safety school. This is because the tactics and applications I had created with Lisa were extremely useful in applying to other MBA programs.

I have nothing negative to say about my experience with SBC and Lisa. It was a lot of work but ultimately, it resulted in being accepted to every school I applied at!!!

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December 20, 2015
Anonymous

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Excellent experience with Keauna Mason

REVIEWER IDENTITY VERIFIED by membership [?]

I signed up with SBC after having introductory consultation phone calls with a few other admissions consulting firms. SBC felt like they would bring the right set of both one-on-one advise, but also involve a range of secondary and tertiary opinions where necessary, which was particularly attractive to me. Once I signed up, I began working with Keauna Mason, who I can recommend very highly. It was a great experience - she adapted to my working style, and helped me address any issues and provided feedback in a working style that was great for me, and on the schedule that best fit me. She helped keep me on tempo, and the quality of the outputs were better because of the additional opinions and prompting she was able to help me with. The additional preparation - the adcom flight test, practice interviews, etc. - were also of great help in continuing to refine and get better at telling my story. Overall, it was an excellent, and at the end of the day very successful, experience.

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198 Older and Non-Verified Reviews for Stacy Blackman Consulting