MBA Admissions Hourly Services Reviews

I did interview prep with many MBA prep firms before and I was not happy until I started to work with SBC and Lindsay. I purchased an interview prep (three hours in total) through SBC and Lindsay did an excellent job in preparing me for the interview. She is very friendly and professional. More importantly, she’s super effective in pointing out my weaknesses and her interview feedbacks helped me improve significantly. As a result of her help, I not only got an offer from my dream school (NYU Stern) but also received a lot of valuable interview advice that I can definitely use to prepare for my future job interviews. I highly recommend SBC and Lindsay!

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I purchased hourly services from Stacy Blackman and was assigned Ryan Barba for help. Ryan helped me craft a story line and provided essay editing. Although these were both great, what I really enjoyed about working with Ryan was the advice and guidance he was willing to provide. Applying to business school is a stressful, exciting, and incredibly introspective. There is a lot of "soul searching" to figure out career paths and school selections. Ryan was willing to stay on the phone for an additional 30 minutes here and there and answer e-mails to help me with process. His insights were very helpful.

Specific to his essay services. Ryan and I worked up against a tight deadline for one school. Ryan accommodated this by reviewing/editing essays and turning them around within 24 hours. His edits were very good, both grammatically and suggestion wise.

I think Ryan is a perfect consultant for someone looking for a bit more than the traditional services. If you're looking for someone who can provide a bit of mentoring throughout the process and will be there after the fact to answer questions, Ryan is a great option. He knows the admissions process well and has a lot of experience with it. I highly recommend him.

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I was hesitant about working with a consultant - I had planned ahead, taken the GMAT early with a high score, and used some other resources, but a few friends at competitive b-schools convinced me a few hours with a consultant would be well worth my money. They were right!

I purchased 5 hours, and worked with Becky. She was incredibly helpful at helping me define my career goals and story. I consider myself a strong writer, but Becky helped me focus my writing and polish the message to align with what business schools want. She was responsive, available, and encouraging.

In the end I was admitted to two of my top choices, with hefty scholarships at each. Becky made me feel like she was my partner in this process, and it helped immensely with my preparedness and confidence.

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I was initially unsure if working with any admissions consultant would be worth the price but I'm so glad that I took a chance with SBC!
I first applied to business schools two years ago and got dinged or waitlisted at every school. This time around, I worked with Margaret to really hone my essays and polish my application. Nothing else in my application changed- same job, same extracurriculars, same recommenders and I even had a LOWER GMAT score than the first time around (first score expired). I ended up getting into 3 of the 4 schools I applied to, with fantastic scholarship offers at all of them!
Margaret was fantastic to work with, very professional and super responsive. I only signed up for a 5 hour package but Margaret was very efficient and respectful of the time (I think I got closer to 6-8 hours of help). I was an English major in college and would consider myself to be a fairly good writer so I was really on the fence about whether it was worth getting a consultant to help me with my essays. Margaret knew exactly what each school was looking for and really helped me tailor my essays appropriately, in ways that I had never considered on my own. Even if I could have gotten in, I am sure that I never would have been offered the scholarships without Margaret’s expertise. Highly recommended!

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A little over a year ago, I began the search for a consultant. SBC’s informative blog postings resonated with me the most, and so they were the first (and only) consultant group I had reached out to.

A couple of hours after I had filled out the applicant form, I was paired with Bill Chionis for my free consultation session. We had a great conversation. I shared with him my profile, desired career trajectory and target programs. Bill, being the insightful person that he is, was able to quickly narrow down the strengths we needed to focus on and the areas that could probably use a little more tending to, to create a strong application. In fact, he made a convincing enough case, that I decided to hold off applying for a year so I could work on the weaker areas of my application. We both agreed that if I could achieve these new targets, the best EMBA programs would be within reach.

A year later, I applied to three EMBA programs at the best business schools in the country, and was admitted to all three of them. I reached out to Bill when I was ready to work on my application. Working with Bill was edifying, pleasant and seamless. While Bill was there to guide me through every component of the application process, I relied on him the most for my essays. The essays make for an extremely important component of the application. It is where you are granted the most freedom to put forth your story and your goals. It is also an area where it becomes imperative to have another set of eyes, a sounding board. In the beginning, I tasked Bill, my family and my Harvard and Wharton MBA grad friends to review my work. About a week into it, Bill became the sole voice I relied on. I knew Bill was all I needed to get me to where I wanted to go.

Bill is sharp, responsive and thorough in his work. And to top it all, he is also an eloquent writer. Now Bill won’t be able to write your essays for you. That is your job to do. However from the tiniest interview detail to neatly weaving together my essays, Bill was on top of it. And without a doubt, he’ll do the same for you.

Good luck with this intense process, but know that there are resources out there who will work with you to present you in the best possible light! Ask for a call with Bill!

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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.

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My GPA, GMAT score, work experience and undergrad profile were all very good but not enough alone to slack on the essays. After a couple months of beating myself up over the essays and countless revisions, I lost focus and confidence. That is when a friend, who previously used SBC to help get accepted to Booth, referred me to SBC to give my application a leg up on the competition.

I was struggling to make my essays unique and my friend knew that I needed an outsider and professional to find a common theme to weave throughout my entire application. This is exactly what Mick with SBC was able to do after speaking with me on our very first call. He then helped me get rid of all the things that I had written (and that I was hanging on to for dear life) that were irrelevant to the theme, making room for the main story that I was trying to tell. In the end, it was just what I needed to tie my work experience, volunteer activities, and undergrad background together with my career goals and what I want to achieve at Booth.

I am happy to say that I have been accepted to Booth and may not have done it without the support of Mick and SBC. My total SBC experience was exceptional. The SBC contact, Esther Magna, whom I first reached out to, immediately matched me with Mick, also a Booth alum and who has very similar interests and hobbies as mine. SBC does a great job at finding the right person for you. Mick helped me take my essays to the next level, and even spent some time reviewing my resume and prepping me for my interview. He had very unique insights that only a professional would have. He was always available when I needed him and very prompt at answering my questions. The price was very fair and the value is endless.

Thanks Mick and SBC!

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I evaluated multiple consulting firms when I first started my MBA application journey. Because Stacy Blackman had a strong presence and Dawn (from SBC) was highly recommended by a close friend who is now at Wharton, I chose to move forward with Dawn (fortunately she was available to work with me!).

When I started, I had a story and a ton of different ways to approach my applications. Dawn is very strategic in nature and was extremely helpful in guiding me to create a focused brand. She's very in-tune with what the top schools are looking for, which helped ensure I mentioned relevant information in each application. I applied to 4 top schools and was accepted to 3, 2 of which I received generous merit fellowships for. I have no doubt that without Dawn's help, I would not have been able to achieve this level of success.

I highly recommend Dawn!

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Had a great experience with SBC and Bill C. in particular. He was very framiliar with my top school and helped immensely throughout the process. It was worth the price and cost without question. I enjoyed working with Bill he helped me with resumes, essays, interview coaching, and kept my spirits up. Resume review and essay editing were the biggest value add. I would recommend him to any other prospective student. Greatest skill was knowledge and expertise. Bill was punctual and always on time which I appreciate very much. I was fortunate to be admitted to my top choice due to Bill's advice, help and support. Thanks again Bill!

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Hello:
MBA admissions is not an easy process and it requires a lot of hard work. But hard work alone isn't enough. I realized it when I started writing essays and learned that I was not even close to writing a decent essay. Coming from a highly competitive pool made things worse. So I shopped around and after having mock sessions with different consultants, I finally landed up with Sherry Holland from Stacy Blackman Consulting. She impressed me from our first conversation. She was meticulous and prompt. Her turnaround time was really quick. Regardless of our time difference, she was always super timely with returning my essays or queries. Stacy Blackman has an incredible system where they guide you on a introspective path. I discovered things about myself that I had never thought of earlier. Thanks to Sherry Holland and Stacy Blackman Consulting, I will be attending Ross next year.

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