Bill was very insightful on what it takes to get into the MBA program at Ross. With his advice, I was able to know myself better and know the program better. That allows me to put together a compelling application. When it comes down to preparing for my interview, it was very helpful to have a mock interview with Bill. Bill was very helpful with what I should improve on with my interview responses and strategies. Finally, during the entire application process, Bill was always very encouraging, and he always responded to my email quickly. I would recommend Bill to anyone who is seeking MBA admission consultation.

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At first, I didn't buy into the whole idea of admissions consulting, but more and more that I read over the web, asked people, and of course read the reviews on GMATClub, I realized that there maybe some serious potential. So, I signed up for the hourly service with SCB, and started off with a couple of prep material and phone conversations.
My overall review is: You HAVE to have a consultant, so that you can review your work with enough confidence that they KNOW WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT!

Of course, you may have friends who went and got Ivy League MBAs or business school professors, and you'd expect you do just as fine with them reviewing your essays, etc..

BUT!

The difference is that those friends do not know what the adcom wants to hear/read. The consultants DO KNOW. So it's a big difference, to me at least.

And with SCB, I think I got an amazing help reshaping my essays, resume, and even doing an overall rebranding for my application.


Definitely encourage people to talk to SCB consultants!

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The consultant assigned to me was Chi-Pei Tseng, who was matched with me given similar professional and ethnic backgrounds. Our "match" was made via an initial interview with another consultant from the firm (free trial).

I was enlightened by the feedback received during the 30 min free trial session - small details on what I could improve on in my resume, what I should be highlighting as strengths, and my realistic chances for each of my target schools.

I was formally onboarded with Stacy Blackman just a week to the R2 deadline. We revamped my resume and essays. Chi-Pei worked with me across multiple timezones as I was travelling through Asia and Europe at the time. She was very efficient in reviewing and commenting, with turnaround times within a day considering the tight timeline.

When I got invited to interview, she also took time on a Sunday to rehearse me through a mock interview, which fell on a Monday.

Overall - I would highly recommend their services especially if you are feeling any doubt at all on your application. They do have a wealth of resources that make them a credible and reliable consulting firm.

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SBC lived up to its reputation as a premier MBA admissions consulting service. I really enjoyed working with Bill. I thought he was practically lying to me at first when he said he could help get me in to all the schools that I wanted to apply to. Not only did I get accepted to all the schools in which I applied, 3 of the 4 extended me some sort of fellowship or graduate assistantship offer!

If you’re thinking about using SBC but are concerned about cost, you need to recognize the potential ROI. From re-working my resume to editing my essays, I’m not sure if I would have even received an interview if it weren’t for Bill’s assistance. He not only helped me from an applications material standpoint, but also taught me quite a bit about an MBA in general and how that will ultimately shape my career. Just keep in mind that this service is only as good as you allow it to be. You have to put in the work and be willing to accept the feedback that you receive, even if it is not what you want to hear.

I am more than willing to answer questions anyone may have regarding my experience with SBC.

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My consultant was Amy Bergrud and she was absolutely great to work with. We all have our strength and weakness in our application, and Amy was able to give me immediate action plans to improve the weakness on my application as well as strategies to highlight the strength just in our first phone conversation after signing up.

I appreciate the fact that she was very realistic on telling me where I placed among the competition, and what exactly I needed to do to get into my dream schools.

Having someone that is an expert and used to work on the adcomm definitely is a huge advantage when it comes to creating the application. Amy was very detailed oriented and was able to help me clean up and transform my application. She was also very quick on responding to my emails, essay drafts or sometime even phone calls when I had ideas or questions. Furthermore, she even helps me breakdown whom are my best options when it comes down to asking for letters of recs. She definitely played in a huge part of the success.

When it comes to applying MBA, its a long process. But having Amy supporting along the way really helped me step my application game up.

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Margaret from Stacy Blackman Consulting saved me from near disaster. Is this dramatics? No. She took a rambling jumble of irrelevant, uncohesive thoughts and helped me figure out how to organize it all. I was torturing myself every day, asking my brother (Tuck alum) for help and thinking I could figure it out on my own - and then came Margaret. We had to push my apps to second round but she helped me make that decision that I was nowhere near ready and then helped me get things in order. Margaret is funny, kind and wise. I am so grateful that I was connected with her. Thank you to Esther for that original pairing. The process I went through with Margaret was valuable in and of itself - I learned a lot about me and what I value, who I am and then I got into business school as the grand prize. Being clear about all of these issues helped me in my interviews and also in directing recommenders. It's not just a strategy for an essay, it's an overall presence and confidence that helped me present my whole case.

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I used the Stacy Blackman service and had a very positive experience. I liked the flexibility that it allowed, as I chose to work with two different consultants from their team and I also added to my purchase as I worked along. The guidance that I received was phenomenal, it did not hurt that I worked with two individuals (Sherry and Maureen) who had served on two different admissions committees. The insights were incredibly helpful. I found the company to be very responsible and professional. I felt trust in every person I interacted with on the team. Both consultants were very responsive. Like sometimes within the hour,I felt as if they were just sitting there waiting for my emails. They both had slightly different styles but definitely knew what they were talking about and gave me a really good guidance.Very happy with the results and that I hired such superstars to work on my behalf.

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I bought three separate MBA prep books in the year before I decided to take the plunge and actually apply to business school. I read those all the way through and took notes, wrote up lists. But at the end of the day when confronted with essay questions I was stumped. In spite of all of the prep and knowledge and I literally had huge writers block and just couldn't get my fingers to start typing anything at all. I hired SBC fairly quickly after that on the referral of a friend and working with Meredith was pretty much a miracle. She got the stories out of me, and showed me what was the most important to emphasize in my applications. We rapidly pulled together rough essay outlines and the writers block disappeared. I really appreciated her no-nonsense, pragmatic and calm approach to guiding me. She knew what she was doing and held my hand all the way through. I give her huge props for dealing with my moments of panic and giving me very definite answers, which cleared up the fog of overwhelm. Even though SBC has a book, I now recommend burning all MBA prep books, esp the big fat Bible that was a huge waste of time - they don't get to what you really need which is fleshing out your personal story. So a huge thank you to Meredith and SBC - my journey was successful - at times painful, at times even fun, but definitely a lot better than it would have been minus Meredith. FIVE STARS!!

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I read all the reviews, talked to Esther at SBC and did a lot of research on SBC before hiring them. They have been around longer than almost any other firm, so that helped boost my confidence. Still I was nervous about making a mistake - wasting my money or worse - just getting bad advice and really screwing up my application. When I started working with Bill I quickly felt calm because he was so NICE, and knowledgeable, and in general everyone on that team was so helpful - I always felt that I could turn to someone. And I did many times, when I had a panic about one particular essay, or how to handle a school visit, or the follow up after a weird alumni interviewer. My skepticism has turned to belief as the system worked for me! YEAH! I grew a lot through this process and credit Bill and SBC with guiding me on a journey that in many ways was valuable even if I did not get into a top school. Thankfully I DID get into a great school which of course was the whole point. These are good people who want to help and have a ton of knowledge which allows them to be effective. Bill was so responsive and smart. He eliminated my indecision and helped steer me towards success. NYU Stern here i come. Thank you.

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I first came across SBC when I realized that some guidance and help in the application process couldn’t hurt. Since the consulting business is all about the people, I found SBC to be the best fit for me. I first talked to Esther and connected really well. I really liked that Esther was straight to the point, no fluff. We went through my resume, and Esther provided fantastic clear feedback on my strengths and weaknesses based on her extensive experience in the MBA application process. Esther understood my MBA goals and matched me with Jen who was the perfect consultant for me based on my background and goals.
Jen was able to relate to me and provided very insightful feedback throughout the application process, everything from generating ideas for essays through to interview prep and waitlist management. Jen took a vested interest in understanding my entire background and future goals so she could deliver top quality advice, help research MBA programs based on what classes and clubs they offer and how the program fits into my career goals. Jen and the entire SBC team is very thorough and know the industry really well. You’ll know you’re in safe hands and I highly recommend working with SCB.

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