Fantastic Experience with Caryn & Esther

After having initial conversations with 4 other admissions consulting firms, I ultimately decided to go with Stacey Blackman. This choice was driven by a great first conversation with Esther (the initial point of contact who coordinated multiple SBC services throughout the process), fantastic reviews/referrals/results from friends of mine (all got into their top choice schools) who had used SBC, and great fit/reputation of Caryn Altman (ultimately the consultant I chose to work with throughout the process).

The level of engagement throughout the application process was spectacular, and the breadth of experience that both Caryn as well as the broader SBC organization provided me was second-to-none. Even though I was applying to a pretty large number of schools in a single round, and knew Caryn's particular involvement/experience with Kellogg, I was given great, specific advice on how to approach and execute stellar applications to each individual school I was applying to (including Kellogg).The specific tips I received from Caryn were spectacular and not only instilled a great sense of confidence in me prior to submission/interviews, but undoubtedly impacted the quality of each of my applications.

Things I found to be particularly helpful: 1) Caryn kept me on track throughout the process. I was a little late to the game, and decided to try and fit 5 schools (all M7) into R1. Caryn ensured that we were both on top of our deadlines, and never throughout the process did I need to question whether I'd miss any deadlines or have anything but the highest quality application. 2) I had a below average undergrad-GPA at all the schools I was applying to. After reviewing my transcript in detail with Caryn, we were able to come up with a concise, honest, authentic, and compelling strategy to address this in my additional essays. Honestly, I think this was one of the strongest pieces in my application, and I definitely would not have known how to approach this without Caryn's advice and support. 3) The interview assistance (both for one-on-one as well as group interview) was fantastic. I felt not only much more prepared compared to other candidates (the questions asked during the mock interviews were extremely close to those in the actual interview), but much more confident going in.

I am thrilled with the results, and ultimately got into multiple top business schools, including my top choice school!