Incredibly Positive Stacy Blackman Experience- HBS, Wharton, and CBS!

Overall, I had an excellent experience with Stacy Blackman- both with the company itself and my consultant, Carol Grayson. I cannot overstate my satisfaction with the firm.

I got in touch with Stacy Blackman in the beginning of my application process- after I had taken the GREs and decided to move forward with B-school, but before I meaningfully researched schools and application processes. I didn’t know anyone with personal experience with the company, but it was consistently listed as a top five b-school consulting firm. I was immediately impressed by the Stacy Blackman staffs’ professionalism and this was consistent throughout the process. After I submitted basic profile information, I was connected with a representative within 24 hours. My conversation with the initial contact (Christina Woo) was substantive; she had already analyzed my basic strengths and weaknesses, assessed my profile, and suggested a Carol Grayson as a consultant match given my personal objectives and work style. I specifically appreciated Christina’s honesty- she was able to immediately highlight my strengths but provided an honest appraisal of the issues that needed to be addressed. I was reassured that my money would be well spent with Stacy Blackman.

Carol was an excellent fit and she worked with me on applications for HBS, Wharton, and CBS. Carol is a wonderful application partner- she provides straightforward and constructive feedback while remaining supportive during a stressful process. Similar to the rest of the Stacy Blackman team, Carol’s professionalism was outstanding. Carol is extremely knowledgeable about how the schools consider candidates and how they view applications. Carol made herself available at non-traditional hours to accommodate my schedule (weekends, holiday weekends, and early mornings) and was prepared before each conversation so our discussions were fulsome and productive and efficient. She always responded in a timely fashion was in touch about any potential delays or disruptions (none occurred, she was always on time). I am most appreciative of Carol’s assistance in translating the schools’ specific questions into concrete essay prompts that were more conducive to a 500-word writing exercise. She offered a high level view of the broader objective of the questions, suggested an overarching essay structure, and suggested topics highlighting details from my personal and professional life. Carol’s comments were insightful- she did not focus on nonessential details, but really pushed me to devise a compelling story and express myself in a clear an interesting way. I was always confident that my final product would be excellent as Carol would not settle for less.

In addition to her help on essays and applications, Carol was willing to read my submissions for the entire applications including resume, activities etc. Her consulting services are truly comprehensive.

Ultimately, with Carol’s help and that of the Stacy Blackman team, I was admitted to all three schools! I credit Carol with much of my success in the process.