I personally learned out about SBC through a few friends and decided to give them a shot after reading some of the positive reviews online. My business school application process spanned 6 months (the first 3 were at quite a leisurely pace, so realistically 3 active months) and I applied to two schools. SBC’s team-driven culture stood out to me from the beginning - for example, after reaching out on the SBC website, I was connected with Esther - my initial match maker - who eventually paired me with Carol P. As an all-in package client, SBC also gave me access to valuable resources on the wiki database, which housed a good number of essays and other reference material, and access to a flight test by Amy, a former admissions officer. Throughout the entire period, Carol’s wealth of experience and passion for helping others tell their stories certainly showed. She was a great sounding board for ideas and an invaluable source of advice. Carol was also very quick to respond whenever I had any questions, even in the days leading up to the submission deadline. Despite juggling numerous clients, she was able to recall specific nuances about my background/examples we spoke about and offered targeted suggestions to craft impactful essays. This ultimately helped me secure a spot at the Stanford GSB as a finance industry applicant from a non-feeder firm in Round 1. I have nothing but great things to say about Carol and the SBC team, and highly recommend business school applicants to consider them.

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I was for a while not sure I wanted to invest in a consultant, but I am so happy that I did. My consultant Carol had such a strong hold on what the admissions committee's were looking for and was able to help me craft my application in a way that best told a story as well as highlighted my best attributes. I am so grateful for the all-in process and the speed with which everyone at SBC got back to me. The service felt bespoke and personalized, and it was very helpful to have a constant open resource to work with. I looked at a few other consulting agencies but couldn't be happier with my choice. I got in to my top 2 schools!

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TL;DR: Given my 680 GMAT score, I wouldn't have been able to get admitted into Harvard Business School (my dream school) without the guidance of Carol Grayson from Stacy Blackman Consulting (SBC).

On Carol Grayson:
- Taught me how to tell my story to illustrate the type of impact I hope to achieve
- Has over 15 years of MBA admissions experience so she knows what is and isn't important across traditional and non-traditional profiles
- No BS, straight-to-the-point. A lot of tough love, but that helped me learn quickly so that I can craft the right story by myself in time for Round 1.
- Bonus: Provided emotional support every step of this grueling MBA application process (GMAT rewrites, late-night essay writing, interview prep/anxiety).

On SBC:
- Extremely patient with helping me find the right consultant (had to be matched a couple times to find Carol, which was the right fit for me)
- Despite a higher cost, I chose SBC over other leading admissions consulting firms like mbaMission and Veritas Prep because of Carol Grayson and the SBC team.
- When you work with SBC, you're working with the best team in the business. Special shout out to Esther (matching me with Carol) and Lisa (Flight-test expert reviewing my application before I submitted to HBS). SBC has actual former admissions officer intel in-house.

Just like pursuing your MBA, hiring an admissions consultant is an incredibly personal decision. For me, if I was willing to invest around $200,000 USD for my MBA, spending an extra $5,000 on the best MBA admissions consulting to maximize my odds was a no-brainer.

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My MBA admissions journey has reached its conclusion with offers from Stanford, Harvard and Booth. I owe Carol a huge debt of thanks for the critical role that she played in helping me to achieve such a phenomenal outcome!

As I started my business school applications, I soon began to feel that I was in over my head. I found it difficult to decide what to write about, which schools to apply to, and how to present my full application in a way that puts my best foot forward… Enter Carol.

Carol quickly put my concerns to rest. She also took the time to get to know me and was able to provide me with sound guidance on my application strategy. She also helped me to develop some realistic timelines and milestones for developing my application materials. All of a sudden the task at hand was feeling more manageable!

Throughout the process, Carol did a great job of encouraging and supporting me during challenging times, but remained relentlessly objective and focussed on how my materials would be received by an admissions committee. As I look back at some of my earlier essay drafts now, I’m glad I had Carol on my side to explain to me that my messaging was not coming across in the way I’d anticipated!

After several months of work (and many bad essay drafts and revisions) I emerged with a set of well balanced and seamless applications that I was proud to call my own. Carol’s support and guidance through this process was valuable beyond measure and I have no reservations in recommending Carol to future MBA candidates.

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I thoroughly researched MBA Consulting Services for weeks before deciding to seek the support of Stacy Blackman Consulting. After just an initial consultation with the Stacy Blackman team I felt confident their partnership would ensure my application was competitive and the best representation of who I was as a business professional including what differentiated me as an MBA applicant. I was partnered with Carol Grayson whose many years of MBA admissions experience were heavily apparent in her incredibly beneficial feedback, advice and recommendations. Carol was always tremendously responsive and very attentive. I benefited from an incredibly personal support system. Carol answered every question or concern I had with clear thought and care and always pushed me in my writing in a way that ensured the final result communicated my ideas in a concise, clear manner. I am thrilled to say that with Stacy Blackman Consulting and Carol Grayson's support, I was extended admission to my top program, INSEAD! I would HIGHLY recommend Stacy Blackman Consulting - if you are on the fence, trust that you will not be disappointed. Carol was an unwavering support system in all my moments of doubt, uncertainty or unease. SBC's services provide you with an unmatched confidence when navigating the rough waters of MBA applications. I HIGHLY recommend SBC and send a BIG thank you to Carol Grayson!

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Stacy Blackman's consulting services were top notch. Carol was my consultant and she very patiently walked me through the best way to approach essay questions and how to direct my recommenders. Having been out of school for a number of years I was a little lost about how to go about my applications and I would have had a very difficult time without SBC. Carol was easy to talk to and a great resource.

I applied to HBS, Wharton and MIT Sloan and received offers from all three schools.

Carol's turn around time was very quick and she was always available for questions via email. The only suggestion for improvement is interview preparation - I felt a little lost going into the interviews but that being said there's no way to prepare for every question. HBS prepares an interview question guide that you can buy and would recommend spending the extra $$ to get that guide.

Overall would definitely recommend SBC and Carol.

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I had decided to apply for INSEAD MBA but I had very little time for my application as my GMAT was also scheduled around the same time. I did an intense research to choose the right admission consultant and almost everyone recommended Stacy Blackman Consulting (SBC). I signed up for it and thank God I did. The most difficult part of an MBA application is to stay focussed especially when time is a constrain and SBC ensures that you are.

Carol Grayson was my consultant at Stacy Blackman. Her prior experience as a member of admission committee at INSEAD was very helpful for me to understand how a Business School outside the US had a different approach and perspective. She helped me to choose the right words, right stories from my experience and then structure the entire application as a whole. I agree with others that the number of drafts of an essay can easily go to 15 or more, but every single update makes it a lot better. This also shows how patient and committed the SBC consultants are because it is extremely difficult to make little improvements in almost perfect essays to make them absolutely perfect.

SBC uses a very organised approach and the entire application process is divided into intuitive and logical steps. Using this step by step approach allows you to build a strong application in an efficient manner. Perhaps this is the reason why everyone (including me now, yes I got into the only B-School I applied to) recommends Stacy Blackman Consulting.

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