In short, I was very happy that I chose to hire Stacy and team. My consultant was absolutely great. Her biggest assistance was in helping me craft my essay topics and frame my stories in a more compelling way. We'd do this by sending drafts back and forth via email, first revising the big-picture" then working on the specific wordings and grammar. Between our initial phone discussions and reading my essays, Margaret got to know me quite well so she knew what kind of personal questions to ask and suggestions to make. I believe that we were up to version 15 for some of the essays, but by the end I had full confidence that my essays were as best as they could be. Margaret also gave me a mock interview over the phone before each of my real interviews and double checked my data sheets and resume before I submitted everything. Her turn around time was no more than 24 hours for essay revisions, but normally much shorter if I just had a quick question. Margaret would sometimes check with Stacy and others on tricky aspects or judgment calls on my application. The best thing about Stacy Blackman consulting is that it is truly a consulting relationship where I felt that they were my partners and they really wanted me to succeed.

Read More

I found that b-school applications were very much about selling myself, which is something that didn't come comfortably to me at all. Margaret helped me discover aspects about me that I previously thought were mundane, taught me to talk them up, and turned them into selling points. She also turned my marginally-readable essays into literary genius! The whole applications process was extremely demanding and just as a professional athlete has a coach and agent, having Margaret in these roles kept me motivated through this arduous process, which was critical for me in getting my best application in.The Stacy Blackman service is expensive. I found that it's absolutely worth the money because my results speak volumes. With my undergrad GPA well under 3.0, I didn't even have dreams of Haas, but with your focused gameplan, I made it in! Stacy's stats don't lie. Her clients make it in to where they want to go!

Read More

Just wanted to drop a note about what a fabulous experience it was working with SBC during my successful application for Kellogg Executive MBA program. Getting into Kellogg is a dream come true for me, and it simply wouldn't have happened without my consultant's support. I highly recommend them to anyone applying to Kellogg due to their intimate knowledge about the school, especially the Kellogg Executive MBA program. I was hesitant to engage an admissions consulting firm, as I did not see many testimonials for Executive MBA programs. My consultants lay my doubts to rest as they were very familiar with what it takes to build a solid application for experienced managers like myself. My ideas of how to answer the ten or so Kellogg essays were very different from what they suggested. Their explanation on how to answer these essays from the ad-com point of view was eye-opening for me and worth the cost of engaging them. I am certain that if I had written the essay questions without their assistance, I would not have been able to make a strong case for my candidacy.Not only did they work tirelessly to help me achieve my objective (my edited essays were always reviewed and returned with candid feedback within hours after sending them), they also drove me hard to self-reflect during the long discovery and essay-writing process. Although I did not like that upon my consultants' insistence I had to discard and rewrite an entire 1,000 word essay (I thought it was pretty good!), I trusted their judgement. They expertly guided me to highlight my strengths (work-experience) and to address the weak areas (low-GPA) of my candidacy and at the end of the day, that made the difference.

Thank you for offering such a valuable service. I look forward to a life changing experience at Kellogg.

Read More

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!!!

Read More

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!

Read More

I would really like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Stacy Blackman and particularly to my consultant, Sherry Holland, without whom I couldn’t have succeeded in the admission process. With a sub-par GPA, a decent GMAT score and my demographics, few gave me any chance! But guess what? I was invited to interview with all the schools I applied to-Wharton, Columbia, Kellogg and Indian School of Business and ultimately made it to Columbia and Indian School of Business, and wait listed at Kellogg. I have no doubt that my consultant played an extremely critical role in my success. Her in-depth experience in MBA admissions reflected throughout the process in her thoughts, suggestions and feedback on various areas of applications-Positioning, Essays and Interviews. She was extremely diligent in her approach, even making sure that I have the right opening to get into the admission officer's head and the right ending to leave a lasting impression. In all honestly and sincerity I recommend her to anybody who is considering B-School. In fact my wife would be also using her services for her B-School applications. I believe this itself is a testimonial to my experience.

Read More

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!

Read More

In at Yale and Oxford! Coming from a non-conventional government background, there is no doubt in my mind that I would have not been accepted to these MBA programs without the assistance of SBC. My consultant knew how to specifically sell each school I was considering on my unique story, and helped me to effectively tailor my background experiences to the essay questions at hand. What most impressed me, however, was the caliber of individual that I was working with. My SBC consultant was easy going, flexible with time, willing to offer advice on a whole host of issues, and most importantly, incredibly competent. In my opinion, it is a rarity to find a consulting company that produces consultants who put in as much effort as the applicant. In my case, the application process felt like a team environment, where ideas fluidly bounced back and forth, and communication was constant. I would recommend SBC to anybody who wants to significantly improve their admissions chances. After my experience, I find it hard to believe that there is a better MBA admissions consulting company out there. Looking forward to Yale and New Haven in the fall! Can't wait!

Read More

I would highly recommend working with Maureen to anyone applying to top business schools. Immediately after I started the process, I was so glad that I made the decision to work with her. She demonstrated a sincere interest in getting to know me as a person, which I think was absolutely critical in her ability to provide thoughts and edits on my essays. She figured out what makes me tick, what my personality traits are, and what my unique traits are that I would bring to a school, and then constantly found ways to work those ideas into my essays. She was constantly pointing out things I would have never thought to include in my application. Not only was she incredibly responsive in essay editing, she stayed up late to make sure we made deadlines, she responded right away to even the most seemingly insignificant question or concern, and provided sound, rationale advice and served as a wise sounding board when I was stressed out or doubting myself. I was recently admitted to both Tuck and Columbia Business School, which I am thrilled about, and I absolutely owe a large part of this success to Maureen. She is brilliant at what she does!

Read More

My biggest fear going into my MBA applications was how I would differentiate myself. I come from a very over-crowded demographic and felt like I was the same as every other applicant in my pool. Carol at SBC fielded late night panicked phone calls and many emails about this issue. However she showed me how to position myself in a way that showed that I was unique. Even if I had some shared activities or characteristics, I also showed how I was different from my competition. Carol's advice worked, because I am going to Columbia next year, and I viewed it as a stretch school when I started with her. SBC offered a great service, and I really could not have asked for more from their team.

Read More