I had been through this process before. Three years ago, I had applied to the University of Michigan, Duke, and UCLA. I was denied admission from all three schools. This time around, I knew I had to do something drastically different and decided to invest in a consultant to help me.

I was definitely skeptical of the MBA consultants out there. This was also going to be a huge cost investment so I wanted to be sure I would be paired with someone I trusted and felt comfortable with. I interviewed at least 5 consultants, including consultants from SBC, MBAMission, and Aringo. I had a list of tough questions for each of them. After speaking with Sherry Holland from SBC for five minutes, I already knew I wanted to work with her versus all the others I interviewed. Being a Duke admissions counselor for over 4 years, Sherry's input seemed invaluable -- and it absolutely was.

I purchased the 4 school package with SBC and Sherry helped me with the whole process from start to finish. First, she helped me strategize which schools I should apply for. I actually would not even have applied to Columbia Early Decision if it weren't for her recommendation, as I had thought this was a school that was out of my league! She also helped me brainstorm topics for each essay and gave me great feedback on my essays, resume, and practice interview. Sherry was also FANTASTIC at getting back to me at a timely manner (despite the fact that we were working on different coasts!) and even accommodated to my schedule by working weekends to get me back feedback during crunch time. I would say that I'm an extremely demanding and tough client (for example, I sent her ~10 drafts of one of my essays), but Sherry certainly surpassed all of my highest expectations.

I could not have asked for a better consultant. Thank you Sherry for helping me get into this amazing school. I could not have done this without you and this was absolutely worth the investment. I highly highly recommend Sherry Holland!

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I worked with Sherry Holland from Stacy Blackman consulting over the course of three months during the application process. I was worried about my application because of a lowish GPA and non-traditional work experience but Sherry worked with me very thoughtfully to help me work my genuine story into my application.

I started the admissions process late in the game and really don't think I could have gotten into the schools I did without Sherry. She worked with me at all hours, even late at night at the last minute for a couple of my applications, giving excellent suggestions as I was finishing my applications. Her greatest strength was her ability to help me understand how to communicate my story in a way that registered with admissions officers. I have to say my essays were really good by the end and I couldn't have done it without Sherry.

After I was admitted, Sherry also helped me understand how to communicate with the MBA admissions department to respectfully seek scholarship money. I was able to get a $$$ scholarship to an excellent MBA program.

I couldn't be happier with Sherry and will now be attending a top-ten MBA program. I give her my full recommendation.

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I contacted many different consulting groups, but SBC listened and answered my needs the most. SBC asked what I was looking for, realistically evaluated my chances of getting in, and came up with a few consultants to choose from. I interviewed each one and decided to work with Sherry Holland. From then on I had one point of contact, but I always felt that Sherry could use all of SBC’s large resources to support our ideas and help us move forward.
Sherry is extremely efficient, professional and fun. Sherry always answered my emails/calls within a day at most and I never felt I was waiting long for anything. Having worked in the admissions office and attended prestigious schools, Sherry knows what it takes to get you into your dream school! Sherry has helped me figure out what I really wanted to do with my life/career and which school to ultimately attend. Even when all was said and done, Sherry continued to reply to my emails with advice: I had not received a scholarship from my dream school, but we agreed it was worth asking again. She advised on how schools evaluate scholarships and looked over my “essay”. A few weeks later, I had received a scholarship! I will attend my dream school and the money I spent with SBC was worth it with or without the scholarship!

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I was given a choice of consultants to work with, and chose Sherry given her experience in MBA admissions. We had an initial conversation so I could introduce my goals and she could explain the process. Most of the help I needed was with essays so the remaining interactions were mostly through email as I sent essay drafts and she provided comments.

I probably wrote 50% extra on most essays throughout the process. While this was more work than I expected, it undeniably created a better application as Sherry would select examples / topics that better fit with my overall application. Sherry was very fast yet thorough at revising, so relatively less time was reduced from my account and draft turns were very quick. We also had time to have a mock interview and revise my resume.

The biggest impact was having each aspect of an application articulate and cohesive to the overall application "story." I recommend this service to anyone who has not worked in MBA admissions. It was a hit to my wallet for sure... but I was accepted to all four schools I applied to, including a top-20 and two scholarship offers, as a < 3.0 GPA / < 700 GMAT even though I thought my chances were slim/not good at three of the schools.

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