I decided to pay for 10 hours as I did not have enough money for the comprehensive service. I decided to work with Reene. she was very helpful and helped with my school selection. I decided to apply to HBS, Wharton and Kellogg- I initially had never considered HBS or Wharton. I'm glad to say I got into both Wharton and Kellogg and deferred to R2 at HBS. I've also got a huge scholarship from Kellogg and now have the wonderful problem of deciding what school to go to!
Reene was really helpful throughout and always got back to me promptly. She was great at helping me restructure my essays, which made them read much better. With what I learned from working with her, I went on to apply to Ross on my own and have now been offered a full tuition scholarship there! I doubt I would have been able to apply on my own before.
Thanks to Reene and SB, I now have to chose from 3 amazing programs with huge scholarships at 2 of them.

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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'm a little older applicant so it was easy for me to write a million ideas that ultimately lacked focus. Kevin kept me grounded and helped me to see how to keep to my brand, giving me great advice on essay edits that got me into Booth. It was a process that evolved and he was happy to answer my questions. I bought 5 hours and spent 1 in review and strategy, 3 in essay and resume edits, and the last 1 on a mock interview. I also bought the guides for recommendations, Booth interview, and resume prep. Everything is consistent and insightful. I highly recommend their services!

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I was on the fence about whether or not to hire a consultant to assist me with my application process. I knew I didn't need comprehensive help with my entire application, rather just a little preliminary work to craft my story and then a few hours here and there to get my questions answered.

I ended up choosing Stacy Blackman because I immediately clicked with the gentleman I did my free 30-minute conversation with, Bill Chionis. He recommended I work with Margaret, saying that she would be perfect for what I was looking for.

She was. Margaret and I were able to pack a TON of helpful conversation into my first hour-long session--and every hour-long session thereafter. She was extremely knowledgeable (with the kind of insider information not available to the average applicant--we know what the questions say, but what are they really looking for?), respectful of my time, and most importantly, available. Sometimes you need a quick answer via email, and Margaret was very consistently available to answer.

Not to mention, I really enjoyed working with her. The application process sucks, but having a friendly person in your corner makes it a little more bearable.

I highly recommend Margaret, and frankly anyone else with Stacy Blackman, as I trust they would deliver to a similar standard.

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I completed a mock interview with Esther Magna before interviewing with several top schools and found it extremely helpful. Her insights into both the interview process, as a whole, and the criteria used by the specific schools for which I was preparing were invaluable. I know that I felt more at ease going into my interviews after having done a "trial run" with someone who was helpful and friendly but still felt more formal than just rehearsing with a friend. I took the notes from our conversation with me on all of my interviews and wove Esther's constructive criticism into my planned responses. I was accepted to a few of my dream schools and even offered a generous monetary fellowship at one of them. I highly recommend Esther for mock interviews and/or general consulting re: the admissions and interview process. She is a fantastic resource!!

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I worked with Aliceson at Stacyblackman and I am thrilled to say that with her help I have been accepted to my dream school (H/S).
As an International student with a non-traditional background, I was somewhat unsure about the entire process and had many questions. When we were first matched together, Aliceson took the time to understand the different aspects of my profile and answer all my preliminary questions.
She guided me through the process and encouraged me to focus on one aspect of my application at a time. She was extremely accessible and through her honest feedback, challenged me to reach further. From our initial chat to my mock interview, she encouraged me to focus on what made me unique rather than trying to fit into a certain mold.
With her great support, I successfully built an application that clearly reflected my personal story and background. I recommend Aliceson and Stacy blackman consulting to anyone looking to apply to business school . This scary journey gets easier when working with someone with experience and a great knowledge of the schools you are applying to.

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B-school apps can be challenging, frustrating, scary, and overwhelming. At the end of the day, it really helps to have a professional by your side to guide your thought process as you think about the topics for your essays, and the overall strategy for each school. I worked with Margaret at SBC, and can say from the bottom of my heart that she did a great job in steering me in the right direction. While I didn't get into my first choice school, I ended up in a top-20 school with a FULL FELLOWSHIP, which means my entire tuition was paid for (I didn't apply for any fellowships, but was rather selected based on my application, which was a ridiculously nice surprise). As I look back, I remember second guessing the essay topics for the B-school. It seemed they were too cheesy, too personal. Margaret didnt let me stray and reassured me in every revision of the essays. I can honestly say that without Margaret I would not have written these essays and who knows whether I would have gotten the same result. If I had to do anything differently, I would have been a bit more creative and brave with the topics I chose for other B-schools. At the end of the day, SBC and Margaret were there for me to guide my own options, they could only work with what they had. SBC won't make up ideas for you, won't write the application for you, so you really have to be determined to stand out and show the school who you really are with how you write your application. SBC will however guide your thinking as you write the essays, focus the topic on important factors that we tend to skip over but the admissions committee really care about, and help you understand which topic, in which manner makes your application the strongest. Thank you Margaret and thank you SBC!

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When I started my MBA application process, I realized that I needed customized services suited to my requirements. I decided to purchase the hourly service from Stacy & Blackman and selected Jed Sturman as my coach. I want to share that I had an absolutely amazing experience with Jed. He provided valuable strategic feedback on my essays and helped me strengthen my strategy for the MBA process. Jed helped me focus on the strong aspects of my career so far and also provided insight into what colleges actually look for. I really appreciate his professionalism, his quick responses, and his eagerness to walk that extra mile. I got admitted to a college of my choice with a generous scholarship. I would highly recommend his services.

- Yamini

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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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I purchased the hourly service at Stacy Blackman and used two different consultants for five hours each. Both of them were very experienced and helpful. I found it effective to gather two points of view and had them work on similar themed essays for two different schools. They both pushed me and challenged me and definitely got me a lot further than I would have gone on my own. Ultimately I was admitted to one of the two programs but don't attribute that to better service or insights by the one consultant. It showed me if anything what a crapshoot the process is and reinforced the notion of applying to more than one school. By the way the one I was admitted to is known to be more competitive. I highly recommend Blackman after working with their team. They added true value and I truly wonder if I could have been successful without their expertise. Don't really think I could have asked for anything more in an admissions service.

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