I have been waiting ever since last year when I first saw Stacy Blackman's testimonial page to write the following: I have been accepted to all four of my schools!!! There is absolutely no way that this ever could have happened without the help of Stacy Blackman Consulting. When I started the process, I would have been thrilled to have been accepted to just one of my schools: UVA, UCLA, Duke or Georgetown and it was only after I started working with SBC that it dawned on me that I might actually have my pick, because my applications were looking far better than I ever imagined they would. My consultant, Margaret, guided me through every step of the application process from selecting my schools to sharpening up my resume to crafting my essays and I will be forever grateful for her help. Her insights into the essay questions were critical. She didn't write a single word of my essays, but she did help me think about the essay questions and how I could best tackle them, given my academic and professional experiences, in a way that I could never have done without her. Having gone through the process on my own a couple of years ago, I can unequivocally state that hiring Stacy Blackman Consulting is one of the smartest things I have ever done. Thank you!!!

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Stacy Blackman Consulting is a legit consulting service. The process would have been a lot more stressful without the great advice I received. The people I worked with at SBC gave me great advice. Before I began the application process, I had no idea where I fit in the candidate pool. Margaret and Esther at Stacy Blackman Consulting guided me in the right direction and helped advise me to make the right choices strategically to maximize my chances of getting into my top choice schools. I ended up doing extremely well overall. There are a lot of pretenders out there, but Stacy Blackman Consulting is the real deal!

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I still can't believe that I was accepted to HBS straight out of undergrad, without any entrepreneurship experience and without being a Rhodes Scholar. Margaret- I am absolutely certain I could NEVER have done it without your insight and guidance. Thank you so much. I was looking at the first drafts of my essays, and they were laughable! They had so much unnecessary content and were so bland. Your feedback really forced me to make my essays far more insightful and concentrated, even though I often had to rewrite a lot of material after receiving your comments. Sometimes I would try to postpone opening my email because I knew a lot of hard work would follow as soon as I received your feedback! But all the hard work really paid off. You were always very prompt and available, both via email and the phone. I always received your feedback the day I sent you my essays, resume, or data form. With your help, each part of my application reinforced the others to present a very authentic picture of me. I knew getting in to HBS straight out of undergrad would be very difficult. I was realistic about the strong possibility I would not get in simply because of that. Even if I had been rejected, I would have used your consulting again as a reapplicant that's how much I felt your guidance strengthened my application. We worked really well together.This really is a dream come true, and I could never have done it without your help!

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I have an oddball background that is very atypical, and I am self
employed which presented issues with recommendations. My consultant at SBC was not troubled by any of my issues and knew exactly how to handle all of it. She gave great direction, boosted my confidence and saved me from sleepless nights trying to figure out what to do. I really respected Margaret, and the way she managed my applications with a lot of care as well as firm direction. Now that I am b-school bound I can say I feel like I made a friend in this process, as well as learned a lot about myself. It was a valuable journey that is ending with me at
Harvard Business School. I am grateful for the guidance that I received, and I highly recommend Stacy Blackman Consulting. It's a great company with a stellar group of people.

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It was terrific working on my b-school apps with SBC and I am going to my first choice program so I am quite happy with my results. My consultant, Margaret, was awesome. She was unbelievably patient, never made me feel like any request was too much and simply gave great advice. She was calm, organized and together we put together a couple of really strong applications that I absolutely know I could not have created on my own. My biggest concern going in - would working with a consultant dilute my voice? Absolutely not. She guided me to bringing out my voice, not disguising it. I also found the SBC guides to be really helpful and used them as resources throughout. Great tips, samples, really clear guidance.

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The application process was a very expensive one for me with the prep courses, GMAT materials, tutors, etc., but the best decision I ever made was deciding to work with Stacy Blackman and with Margaret Strother in particular. In a process that requires you to uncover your personal weaknesses, goals, strengths, and dreams, Margaret was incredibly easy to talk to and knew exactly what to do with the information that I was telling her, which was incredibly important because I had no idea what to do with it. There were bumps in the road, and weaknesses that we had to address, but Margaret helped me to develop a strategy that made my strengths as strong as possible. With her help, I was accepted to the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, my first choice school. In our last meeting, we talked about this being a "life-changing opportunity", and I'm certain that it's one that I never would have had without Margaret's help.

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Honestly, after working with Stacy Blackman Consulting for the past months, I cannot in a million years imagine going it alone. I am so thankful that I had in Margaret an expert partner, who helped me and had my back at every turn. When I think about the most valuable aspects of my experience, there are really two that stand out: Number 1) Guidance in marketing myself. What I learned from Margaret was that I was trying to recite the details of my background like a resume, rather than telling my story in a more strategic way. So I would say "I told job A then job B, then decided to go to school" instead of explaining who what how and why! She grilled me and grilled me and got me to answer real questions about myself that went far beyond just what I did. It completely altered the way I viewed my applications. Number 2) Review layers. I had several sets of eyes on each one of my applications. Margaret guided the entire show but we always had other weighing in at different times and that was really valuable. Capturing different perspectives and opinions in a very organized way was awesome. I am very happy that I hired Margaret at Stacy Blackman and had the support of their expertise behind me. They have been in the biz longer than anyone and I do think that says a lot.

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I actually worked with another consulting firm (referred by Manhattan GMAT) on my round one application to HBS last year and was extremely dissatisfied with the experience, long before I wasn't accepted at HBS. He was negligent, and I didn't have anyone else at the firm to support me. The contrast between working with that consultant and working with Margaret and SBC was remarkable. Margaret put in a tremendous amount of time providing thoughtful insights about my essays, getting on the phone with me for discussions, being patient with my paranoid questions, and more. She put in a great deal of time getting to know me and was always paying attention to me. She was also always responsive, whether it was the middle of the day or the middle of the night. Any question I asked her, no matter how random or paranoid, or during what part of the process was answered quickly and thoroughly. I can't say enough great things about working with Margaret. She gets high marks all around from me, and I would HIGHLY recommend her to any other potential applicant. The support from the SBC team to make sure Margaret and I were on track was also essential. That is why I selected SBC for my reapplication. I needed the reassurance from a stellar consultant and also from the Admissions Officer review on the SBC team.

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I wanted to share a few thoughts about Margaret with you: most notably, she has a seemingly innate ability to help craft truly impactful stories for the business school application process. Just having that talent, however, isn't always enough. Margaret contributes two other vital pieces to that puzzle - first, she is tremendously engaged in the work that is being done. The entire time, I truly thought Margaret was my biggest fan...so much so that when I was accepted to Kellogg I fully expected her to come with me! This enthusiasm was strongly noted by her late night emails to me - she would work tirelessly into the night to help me perfect these essays!!

Secondly, her attention to detail and organization is supreme. Its one thing just to throw around ideas about what to put in a business school essay, but its entirely different to carefully structure those thoughts through draft after draft after draft.

Margaret does this effortlessly and always with a smile on her face (even though its the 37th time looking at one single sentence).

The additional reviews by Lisa and others on the SBC team were invaluable. Thank you!

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Choosing the SBC comprehensive school package was a great decision. I applied tot three schools and got into my two top choices - HBS and Wharton!

Margaret made the entire process really painless. Even though I was overwhelmed at first, she made sure to guide me every step of the way. Her feedback was trenchant and to the point - exactly why I needed! She helped me think through my goals so that I could articulate concisely my reasons for wanting to go to graduate school. She helped me focus my writing and tell the stories only I could tell. I really enjoyed working with her. I had a great experience, so I highly recommend Margaret.

Additionally, the SBC comprehensive service is very well organized. I had access not only to Margaret, but also to a social media consultant, as well as a mock interviewer for my Harvard interview and a mock group interview for Wharton. A different SBC consultant also did a final read of my application before I submitted it.

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