I am extremely grateful to my consultant Paul and everyone at Stacy Blackman Consulting for guiding me through every stage of the business school admissions process with knowledge, strategy, kindness and patience. Thanks to them, my dream of attending Wharton will be a reality later this year. I grew up outside the United States and have a very unusual background for business school. I did not have friends to ask about the process and was becoming confused by the discussions in the forums. Paul helped guide me, answered all of my questions and spent many many late nights reviewing essays and advising on strategy. The practice session for the Wharton group interview was excellent. I gained so much from this application process, including of course, my admit! I learned a lot about myself and credit the team at Blackman for helping me with the self-discovery!

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I have the highest recommendation for Lisa and SBC. I could not have asked for more during my application to an EMBA program. In completing research on the internet I knew SBC was a top notch support service for MBA applicants. Even with the strong reviews of SBC, Lisa exceeded all of my expectations. I had a low college GPA and barely met work requirements to be considered by schools that I desired to apply. In short, I considered myself a reach candidate for elite schools. Lisa rounded my applications using the SBC process perfectly and did an outstanding job in interview prep so that I could highlight my strengths and market myself as an asset to each program. Her help paid off, I was admitted at 2 of my dream schools. Thanks to her help, I was able to choose between my dream programs and will now be alumni of an elite school. Outside of the results, Lisa was a great person to work with. I felt like we were a team and she was just as eager to hear the results of each school as I was. Further, she was glad to help with any questions that I had and talk through each aspect of the process in detail. Again, I am extremely happy with the results we achieved, supported significantly by Lisa. I will gladly provide a recommendation on her behalf to anyone requiring an MBA consultant.

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Words really can't say express how thankful I am to Stacy Blackman Consulting and particularly to my consultant, Lisa Anderson. Without Lisa's guidance, encouragement and help, I am convinced I would not have gotten into business school. The entire application process was daunting and given my sub par GMAT and GPA, I was not feeling confident that I could even get into business school. I owe so much to Lisa from that very first phone call, she was able to build me up and actually made the entire process fun. She was very organized, professional, prompt and always available for anything I needed. I was constantly amazed at the quick turnaround for all my emails and calls. She challenged me and always gave me great constructive criticism so that I was able to present myself in a polished and compelling manner. She really believed in me and I don't think I would have ever received this much attention or hands on treatment anywhere else. Thank you so much for giving me this second chance!!!!!

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I talked to a few admissions consultants before deciding on SBC and Caryn. They all looked at my list of school and told me to have more 'realistic' expectations. They told me that given my demographic and background, I had a slim chance of being admitted to my dream schools. SBC was different. I could tell SBC really believed in me, and was committed to helping me craft my story in a way that set me apart from other applicants. Caryn's marketing background was a key success factor in our work together, as she had a good sense of how to best position my application and bring the most out of both my professional experience and extracurricular involvement. Given my ambitious list of schools, we started working extremely early (I'm talking a year before applications were due, early). And after all was said and done, I got in to HBS. I am so incredibly excited for this opportunity, and as much as I am proud of myself for successfully making it through the application process, I have to say, I could not have done it without Caryn.

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I am ecstatic that I have been accepted to my first choice program - Duke! Just a few months ago, I was reading numerous testimonials from admitted MBA candidates on the Stacy Blackman website wondering if I would be lucky enough to be accepted to a top program. With a GMAT score 640, I knew I had a slim chance and I had to win over admissions committees with my essays, recommendations and interviews. Sherry, my consultant worked relentlessly with me to PERFECT my applications. I asked a lot questions and Sherry was always available to answer my questions promptly and thoroughly. Sherry was incredibly meticulous, sincere, knowledgeable and diligent -- She was my MBA bible. The MBA application process is quite overwhelming and much more complex than I had imagined. With her help, I was able to navigate the process with ease and confidence. She reviewed my essays with a fine tooth comb each and every time (and I had over 10 drafts) and she pushed me to dig deeper and further to pull my thoughts together. Sherry and the team know what qualities and personal traits admissions committees are looking for in a candidate and this allows them to help you hone in on your best attributes and let you shine on your applications. This has been one of the most exhausting, and yet exhilarating and reflective journeys of my life and I am grateful for my success. Thank you again Sherry and the team!

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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 worked with Jed Sturman on a 4-school comprehensive package and was accepted to one of my top choices: Yale SOM. Jed was extremely thorough in his approach and helped me craft my non-traditional background into a unique and marketable story. It was truly a pleasure working with him and I highly recommend his services. I explored several different consulting services, and SBC seemed the most professional from the outset. Jed, worked with me to set up a reasonable work schedule and helped me stick to it. His insights into school selection were also valuable. He wanted to me to apply to some safety schools, but I choose not to. Thankfully I will be attending Yale SOM!

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Because I had a lot of friends at business school, I felt I had a good handle on the admissions process and initially decided to go it alone. I was VERY skeptical that paying someone to help me could top the advice I would get from a very tight friend who was super smart and knew me well. I worked solo on two applications round 1 and then fairly late in the game, three weeks before my round 1 deadlines, decided to throw in two more. Because I had so little time, and the final two felt like stretches, I caved and hired Stacy Blackman Consulting. BEST. DECISION. EVER. Why? Well, first of all, I was successful. I applied to two more competitive schools and got in. However, of the first two that I applied to on my own, I received one admit and one rejection. Not just that...it was so much harder doing it on my own as I had no idea whether I was approaching things in the right way. So, I was extremely stressed, burned out...basket-case.... It MAY be possible to ask friends, weed through all the info available online, read books, review websites and replicate the expertise I got from the team at Stacy Blackman but who has time for that? Plus I had a hard time knowing what info was actually quality - there is so much junky, BAD information available online. When I was solo, I always questioning, and ultimately I know now that I did make some pretty big mistakes in the way I approached my essays. I also want to say that the interview support I received from Stacy Blackman was nothing short of stellar. Bill, who helped with the interview prep, gave me some very simple exercises to help me focus my answers, and it transformed the experience for me. A lot of the questions I practiced were very similar to the ones I was asked. AND I felt relaxed and in control during my real things. So - YES I am grateful, no longer a skeptic and just on top of the world. Thank you to Stacy Blackman Consulting and to Meredith.

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I had very high expectations when I hired SBC. My brother and his
roommate both worked with them and had very positive results.
Plus I was writing a big check and they had quite a reputation.
So I expected professionalism and excellence, and results. Almost
a year after deciding to engage with them, I am happy to report
that they did not let me down at any turn. I may have driven them
crazy at several points along the way, but I definitely received
the insights, support and level of service that I was looking
for. When I initially met with my consultant I knew that I had
many stories to tell, and there were many angles that I could
take. But I felt extremely scattered and overwhelmed as I did not
know how to weave it together, what to leave out etc... The HBS
essay especially threw me as there was so much I wanted to convey to my first choice school and I was not even sure if I should be submitting anything at all. My consultant helped me weed through everything and brought a calm, expert, outside perspective, helping me bundle ideas together and form the pieces of my strategy. There was a very systematic approach that helped me to see the big picture and fill in details. I appreciated the
confidence with which my consultant directed me - of course I
could do as I wished but he absolutely had no doubts with regards
to the way he advised me and that boosted my confidence in the
path we took. The fact that I could leverage additional SBC
resources throughout the process was also very helpful. Knowing
that I had some extra reviews from others on the team just added
to the thoroughness. I truly recommend Stacy Blackman Consulting - great approach, great team, excellent process. And...oh yeah -
I am HBS bound.

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I spoke with 11 different firms when deciding who to work with on my applications. It was easy to axe out 8 of them. Many were quite new to the business and I felt that if I had the opportunity to work with a company that's been around for a decade, then why not? Why would I go with someone who had a 5 year or less track record? Plus several of them were not professional or terribly responsive just when setting up the initial calls to gather information. I thought it can only go downhill from there. Ultimately it came down to Stacy Blackman, Veritas and MBA Mission. Veritas felt like a machine, very big -in fact they tout being the biggest on their website which was not something I liked. Also, they clearly focus on test prep, college admissions and other areas. MBA Mission also has a law school arm. I liked the MBA focus at SBC. I also liked the fact that I had many options for reviews with SBC. I definitely took advantage of this when working with them. My consultant Sherry was awesome, but I also had other members of the team check in which Sherry organized for me. When you are trading ten emails a day with your consultant - it's nice to get that outside perspective from a new person. In terms of my experience with Sherry - it was spectacular. It was a true pleasure to work with her day in and day out. She went the extra mile for me every single day and I know she cared very much about my outcomes. This is more than just a gig to make $$ for her. I don't know what I would have done without the support of Sherry and SBC in general and highly recommend using them.

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