Stacy Blackman Consulting | MBA Admissions Consultants

As a nontraditional applicant to business school (physician looking to make a career pivot), I was coming into the process with some knowledge, but knowing I may need someone with more expertise to help me stand out. I was fortunate to be paired with Alex, who went above and beyond to ensure my success.

From the outset, Alex’s attentiveness and straight-shooting approach were invaluable in helping me secure admission to some of the top business schools in the country, including Kellogg, Ross, McCombs, and Kenan-Flagler. His in-depth knowledge of the application process and his ability to communicate effectively made me feel confident and well-prepared every step of the way. He was able to filter things down on a granular level to highlight my strengths and background. We went over each essay in detail to tailor them specifically and I know they would not have been nearly as compelling without his help.

What sets Alex apart from other consultants is not only his expertise in the admissions process but also his genuine commitment to his clients. He was always extremely responsive to my questions and concerns, providing prompt and clear answers that addressed my needs. I never felt rushed or dismissed; instead, I felt like I had a true partner who cared about my success and was willing to go the extra mile to help me achieve it.

Even after our official consulting period had ended, Alex continued to follow up with me multiple times, assisting me in the crucial decision-making process of which school to choose. This level of dedication and personal involvement is rare to find in today’s fast-paced, results-driven world, and it speaks volumes about Alex’s character and his resolve to help his clients succeed. Ultimately I chose Michigan Ross, Go Blue!

I cannot recommend Alex highly enough as an MBA consultant for anyone seeking expert guidance and support in their business school journey. He is not only an attentive and responsive professional but also a genuine and compassionate individual who truly goes above and beyond to help his clients reach their goals. Thanks to Alex, I have the incredible opportunity to study at a top-tier business school and embark on a life-changing new chapter in my career.

I was very lucky to have Mark on my side during the MBA application. As I had relatively high GMAT score and past experience in M&A, I thought the only way I could fail in getting into my desired program was through the essays. And boy was I right…

I only applied to one program, no backup.

Mark really deeply understands the small details of crafting a standout application that gets through to adcoms, while keeping everything that you truly are in the picture. Honestly, it felt great to understand myself and my desires on a deeper level and being able to put those thoughts on paper. Why am I here, why do I want this, is this the right choice, and if so, why..? It was a really introspective experience.

He was really helpful throughout the whole journey, answered all my questions in a very clean way immediately… all-in-all, a great experience.

If you feel like you need help with your application, trust me, most of the time you actually do. And Mark is the right person to guide you through your journey.

I had the pleasure to work with Christine as an all-in-package customer. In today’s world where there are countless number of MBA application advisors, I am so glad I was able to come across Christine from SBC. This really was the first critical step in gaining acceptance to a top MBA program a reality.

She was always asking me sharp questions and encouraging me to dig deeper, which enabled me to really explore my inner self and clarify my short and long-term post-MBA goals in an efficient way.

Because of her relentless support, I was able to gain admission to several competitive programs, including Chicago Booth. I would also like to add how much I appreciated SBC for providing me with team-based support. Esther helped me find the right advisor and Kim supported me with the flight test, which was a great, reassuring feature of the all-in-package.

I 100% recommend Christine to anyone who wants support for their MBA application process!

Christina is simply the best – I got admitted into 4/4 schools I applied to, including my dream schools: HBS, GSB, Wharton (with a 130k Lauder scholarship), and Columbia; and this is largely thanks to Christina.
Christina helped me put my best foot forward in all aspects of my application in ways I would have never been able to achieve myself and has an extremely deep understanding of what it takes to enter top MBA programs. She truly understood my profile’s strengths and weaknesses and how to make the best of these in my application. She started by understanding me and what drove me, to help me craft a great, yet authentic application. She went above and beyond in terms of her engagement and dedication to my application, always going the extra mile and putting in the extra effort and hours to make sure that EVERY SINGLE element in my application thoughtfully reflected my profile in the best possible angle. Beyond helping me put forward my strengths, she also pushed me to work on the weaker points of my applications throughout our 8 months of work together. Through a combination of incredible intelligence, care, persistence, and honesty, she pushed me beyond what I expected was possible. Christina was EXTREMELY supportive and was a huge source of motivation throughout what can be a long and challenging process. Along the way, Christina also helped me learn more about myself and my life goals. I could not recommend Christina more highly – she is definitely THE consultant to work with. You will never regret working with her throughout your b-school application journey.

Looking back, I now know that working with Meg and SBC was the single most important decision I made during my MBA admissions journey. The team’s in-depth and candid expertise at every step of the process was instrumental in my admission to both Booth and Kellogg. It all started with my initial consultation with Sarah, who in a matter of minutes, assessed my candidacy and told me how she would go about crafting and positioning my narrative. It was easy to tell that she and SBC knew what they were doing. Then, it was Meg who really helped me unlock the potential of my application. With her expertise as a former MBA admissions officer, Meg was my primary partner and ultimate support system during the grueling application process. She spent a lot of time just getting to know me and my aspirations and really helped me to understand that my story was valuable. She enabled me to weave together all my life experiences and ambitions in a way that helped me craft essays that were uniquely me and uniquely powerful – essays that no doubt made a difference in gaining admission to Booth and Kellogg. In addition to Meg’s unwavering support, the SBC client database was immensely helpful with school-specific resources and sample essays. The vast information there was really a cherry on top of the breadth and depth of expertise that the whole SBC team provided. I would highly recommend Meg and the SBC team to anyone looking to take their MBA candidacy to the next level – I wouldn’t have found the success I did without them!

Kerry took the time to understand my background, strengths, and weaknesses and created a customized list of questions that were likely to be asked during the Harvard interview. She then conducted a mock interview with me, providing detailed feedback on my responses and helping me to articulate my thoughts more effectively. Thanks to Kerry’s guidance and support, I felt fully prepared and confident going into the Harvard interview.

I worked with Erin throughout my MBA application journey, and feel extremely lucky to have been paired with her. When we started working together, I had general ideas on why I wanted an MBA, but Erin was instrumental in helping me develop an authentic and compelling narrative of my motivations. She trained me to think from the perspective of the admissions committee and went above and beyond to ensure that I positioned my strengths in the best light both in my essays and in interviews.

As a result of her guidance, I have been accepted to INSEAD, my top choice school, with a women’s scholarship. I could not recommend Erin more highly to prospective MBA applicants for European or US schools and am very grateful for her consistent expertise, support, and wisdom throughout my application process.

I enjoyed working with John Noum from Stacy Blackman Consulting and couldn’t be more impressed. From the very beginning, John was professional, knowledgeable, and responsive. He took the time to get to know me and my goals and provided valuable insights and guidance throughout the MBA application process. His feedback on my essays was incredibly helpful, and he was always available to answer any questions I had. Thanks to John’s expertise and support, I have been admitted to my top-choice MBA program. I highly recommend working with John and Stacy Blackman Consulting for anyone pursuing an MBA.

Stacy Blackman was the only MBA consultant firm that I engaged with to prepare my applications, based on rave reviews from some of my colleagues and friends. I would now add my voice to these rave reviews – I’ve had nothing but positive experiences from my time working with them and ESPECIALLY my consultant: Joey.

Joey worked with me from scratch to create a narrative that felt impactful, cohesive, and mostly important – authentic. I started off with a series of unconnected anecdotes that I wanted to share – Joey helped discover a central theme and throughline that tied them together, Moreover, Joey wasn’t afraid to be blunt or candid about things that didn’t work – and he always conveyed them in a humorous (but not personal or unprofessional) way. I also want to highlight Joey’s eye for detail – without exaggeration, edits from Joey would often come back with 100+ comments, exhibiting just how much care he took into reading every line of my essays to make sure that they were as concise and impactful as possible.

In summary – I would ABSOLUTELY recommend anyone interested in applying to business school to work with Joey. He helped me overhaul and fine-tune nearly all aspects of my application – from the resume to the application, essays, and interview prep. More than his expertise, he’s also simply a pleasure to work with funny, empathetic, and relatable. Thank you, Joey!

Received admissions offer from Stanford. Alex is an amazing consultant. His guidance and advice was instrumental in helping me navigate the application process. He helped me shape my application strategy and put my best foot forward for the ad-com. The flight test was absolutely key in helping me see a 3rd person’s perspective on my application. I was also well prepared for the mock interview because of Alex.

I started working with John at the beginning of my application process journey. I was attempting to understand better what top schools are looking for and what each application requires. John was immediately helpful in breaking down and putting together a narration of my experience, distilling the unique aspects, what would differentiate my story from other candidates, and what would attract the interest of top schools. He continued to press me to dive in and reflect, helping me to refine, over multiple iterations, what I wanted to do with my future and what was unique about my longer-term aspirations. During my time working with John, I continued studying for the GMAT. I took it three times, eventually ending with a score we were both happy with submitting. While initially not knowing what GMAT score I would submit, John helped me highlight the aspects of my application that helped to offer additional evidence to my capabilities and continued to encourage me in the study process. He ran through two mock interviews with me and gave me a pep talk call before my interview with my top school. I felt prepared and confident as a result. John was responsive, encouraging, thoughtful, and aware throughout the process, committed to helping me put forward my best story. I would recommend John to anyone unfamiliar with navigating this complex process and wanting to put together and submit their best possible application.

After hearing from some current and former MBA students about their success with admissions consultants, I decided to look for consulting options myself. Stacy Blackman was rated highly on just about every site I looked at, so I set up a call with Sarah, one of their principals, to see what consulting with SBC would entail. While I was initially taken aback by Sarah’s critiques of my resume and emphasis on the “softer” parts of the application (I’m more of a facts and numbers person), I knew this type of candid feedback and inside perspective would be exactly what I needed to get into a top MBA program. Although the price tag made me feel a bit uneasy, Sarah’s recommendation that I use an hourly approach was a great one. I ended up purchasing 10 hours for around $4K, which ended up being the perfect amount of time with 2 months before Round 2 applications were due and was an excellent deal compared to the single school packages.

Based on my career background in CPG and my preference for Ross and Fuqua, Sarah connected me with Laura, one of SBC’s consultants. Laura was extremely easy to work with and quickly helped me find a career vision that was consistent with my background and also attractive to admissions committees. She helped me transform my resume into one that would be very impactful. I especially appreciated Laura’s calm personality and straightforward advice for tackling many different types of essays. Her turnaround time was often less than a full day, which always amazed me. Laura is a great editor and really helped me communicate genuinely and concisely in my essays. Using Laura and SBC made applying to six schools much easier by keeping me on track with each draft of essays and applications.

I was extremely pleased to have been granted interviews at every school I applied to, and I set up a few hours of calls with Laura to help me prepare. Laura helped calm my nerves before the interview by helping me point out parts of my background that could help me address most of the common questions. I was impressed that SBC’s interview advice was extremely accurate and I didn’t feel that there were any curveballs in the entire interview process.

After 4 months of preparing with Laura and SBC, I was very excited by the outcome! I was admitted to three of the six schools I applied to (Ross, Tuck, and Darden) and even received scholarship money at one of them, which was very unexpected. I truly do not think I would have achieved these results without the help of Laura and SBC. I feel that the cost of a consultant was more than worth it, not to mention the amount of stress Laura reduced in my short two months of application preparation! Not only did I achieve my admissions goals with SBC, but using Laura’s guidance for my admissions journey has also given me the confidence to enter recruiting at an MBA school with an impactful resume and clear vision for my future career goals.

Ashley was diligent, responsive, professional, and incredibly knowledgeable about the HBS application process. I can’t say enough good things. My favorite part about working with Ashley is that she genuinely wanted my own voice to shine through. She didn’t give me templates, or essay frameworks, because she was convinced that it would result in a bland, unoriginal essay. Instead, she guided me to help me craft a strong narrative that still felt very personal. Thanks, Ashley!

John was helpful, I worked with him for a short duration of time, but he gave me good advice that helped me make decisions and work out my story for Kellogg. He was very responsive and worked fast, while there were some things he suggested that I did not use, he was always professional and great to work with.

Ashley helped me with all aspects of my HBS application but her help on the essay was most impactful. She brings deep insight into the HBS AdCom’s perspective and process. She also took significant time to learn about me as an individual and to help me articulate my personal story. I find writing self-reflective essays challenging and could not have done it successfully without Ashley’s help. She was always quick to review drafts and provide comments and revisions. Finally, her interview prep including off-the-shelf materials and mock sessions was excellent. I can’t recommend Ashley highly enough.

Amy was absolutely wonderful to work with! Because of her, I got admitted to my #1 school, Wharton! I was also accepted to LBS and CBS with a 100k scholarship! She really got to know me at the beginning to create an approach to my business school applications. She found ways to weave in unique experiences I have had into my applications. Because I didn’t get my desired GMAT score until a few weeks before R1, I had to rush to finish up my applications. Amy always responded with feedback and edits to my essays very fast to ensure I would be ready for the application deadline. I highly recommend Amy!

Having attended undergraduate studies overseas, I felt I needed some support for my Executive MBA applications. Wharton was my top choice and having worked at the school for over 12 years, Amy was the perfect consultant for me. She provided multiple value-additive comments on my essays and application forms. However, the highlight of working with Amy was the interview preparation session. We rehearsed answers to almost all of the questions that came up in the real interview, which enabled me to perform strongly. Would highly recommend Amy for any MBA applications, but especially Wharton!

Beth is the best MBA consultant EVER! Having worked with other MBA consultants previously, I can tell Beth is very knowledgeable about the overall application process, what each school is looking for, and how to help students succeed. Beth is extremely strategic, detail-oriented, and personable. She helped me to design the strategy for my application and worked with me to execute the strategy. I’m especially impressed by the letter of recommendation part, we covered who I should choose, what areas my recommenders should touch on, and how to complement my overall application. In addition, after working with her to update my resume, I got feedback from the adcom team that there was “no need to spend a second on updating the resume” during the resume review session. Most importantly, Beth is very sweet and I felt very comfortable telling her my stories. She always responded to me within a few hours of my reaching out to her.

Beyond grateful for Amy and her tentative help and advice as I applied to four schools in one month. Was admitted to three all with significant scholarships and have chosen Columbia. Definitely, a great decision to have insight into the process and a guide to ask all your questions. Would recommend without a doubt!

Amy was essential to my admittance to HBS as a re-applicant. In the prior year’s cycle, I was admitted to NYU through the help of Applicant Lab, but I wanted to give it another shot. With her expertise as a former Wharton Admissions expert and professional editor (this came in very clutch!), Amy helped me create a completely different application that highlighted a more authentic and personal story. She was especially amazing during the final stretches of applications when she quickly responded with her thoughts to each new draft of my essays. I would highly recommend her as a consultant to anyone going through the process!

The rest of the SBC team was also great. Sarah quickly paired me up with Amy. Kim, my flight tester, gave me solid feedback and the confidence that my application was in the right direction. The Stacey Blackman wiki database was also very helpful for understanding what successful essays look like. Overall, a great experience with Amy & the Stacey Blackman team and you can’t argue with the results! Highly recommend!

Ashley was wonderful with every step of the process, but in particular, I’d like to mention her help with the essay sections. Completing many different essays becomes tiresome, but she worked with me relentlessly, bringing a fresh perspective and critical view to each one. From the idea stage to the final stage, her essay help was crucial in my acceptance to several top 20 MBA programs.

Hannah was an incredibly valuable and helpful resource throughout the application process. I initially met with her to brainstorm my essays for both CBS and Stern. She was able to break down each essay question and tell me what the schools want to see from each prompt. This brainstorming session made writing the first draft of my essays much less daunting. After a couple of rounds of Hannah’s review, I felt very comfortable with my essays and how they all tied together to tell my story. Hannah also offered to answer questions from my recommenders which made the process much easier for them.

Overall, Hannah was a pleasure to work with. She consistently provided valuable constructive feedback that I feel enhanced my application as a whole. Additionally, she was always easy to reach despite her busy schedule. Throughout the entirety of the process, I felt like Hannah was invested in my success and I will forever be grateful for that. In the end, I was accepted to both CBS and Stern!

There are not many things I would write a review for, but Hannah and Stacy Blackman Consulting as a whole are well-deserving of one. The ability to work with a consultant who was a former associate director of admissions at my top school choice proved invaluable. If you are serious about attending an elite business school, I highly recommend hiring Stacy Blackman Consulting. Worth every penny!

I had the great opportunity to work with Mark during my 8-month LBS application process. As a former LBS admissions officer, Mark’s insight into the program, the region, and adjacent schools within the space was invaluable. Through our time working together, Mark and I identified my strengths and weaknesses, how best to own them as well as highlight them in my application packet. With Mark’s feedback, I was able to best utilize my word count and response space to share my story in a relevant manner. I really appreciated Mark’s professionalism, responsiveness, and candor toward my application and candidacy. I absolutely recommend him to anyone attempting to gain admittance to their MBA dream school. Thank you so much to Mark and the SBC team!

Meg was an incredible partner and supporter in my application journey. During our first call, I didn’t realize how much I had to offer until she asked some questions about topics I didn’t realize were relevant. She helped me understand my story was valuable and communicated that with my authentic voice. Beyond that, I got helpful information from the full SBC network of former admissions officers, and my flight tester provided valuable feedback with an impartial but experienced viewpoint. Despite coming from a fairly non-traditional background, I got interviews to 7 of the top 10 programs and acceptances from Tuck, Haas, and Kellogg. I highly recommend her to anyone looking for someone to listen to!

Prior to starting my MBA applications, I was told admissions consultants were unnecessary. This could not have been more wrong. Carol was absolutely amazing and helped me throughout application the process. She made sure I understood how the various parts of my application fit together and pushed me to craft a coherent narrative around that story. Without a doubt, my application would not have been as strong without the help of Carol. I’ll be starting at an M7 this fall and could not be more excited!

I cannot recommend DeeDee enough – especially for a business school applicant coming from a non-traditional career/background. DeeDee was a fantastic consultant to partner with for my applications because of her attention to detail, willingness/availability to get on a call and talk out my ideas, and her candid/honest but optimistic feedback. She helped me select which parts of my background/profile to highlight and helped me identify countermeasures to potential weaker spots in my application.

I originally chose SBC because of its reputation for having their consultants work with fewer students in each application cycle. My decision was made after consultations with Esther and DeeDee which made me feel the time and investment would be worth my while. Having insight into what areas of the application are most important, understanding the interview process, and general guidance on admissions proved invaluable.

With DeeDee’s guidance, I secured admissions to 6+ Top 10 business schools with both full and partial scholarships.

Alex was extremely diligent and responsive. I am confident that I put the best application together that I possibly could have with his help. He is very responsive and I was able to submit applications weeks before they were due. He was always able to be realistic, while at the same time keeping me confident in my own abilities and candidacy.

Margaret was a great resource when working on MBA applications but also in helping me figure out what I wanted to do long-term with my career goals. She really made me sit down and think about what I wanted to do with my career and how to get there. She was instrumental in making sure that I was reaching out to the right people, doing my research, and keeping to strict deadlines. I applied to 4 schools using SBC and was ultimately admitted to 2. I plan to go with a full-tuition merit scholarship as well and could not be able to do this without Margaret’s help. I can’t recommend Margaret more for the work she has done and helped me with!

I engaged SBC and Dione as my MBA admissions consultant for an all-in package because I wanted to be sure to put my best foot forward for the top schools, especially coming from an overrepresented career (consulting + tech), educational (engineering at top state school w/ large b school pipeline), and demographic (Asian-American) backgrounds. I greatly appreciated the support throughout, and I was admitted to Wharton and Kellogg MMM and received an R2 deferral for HBS.

Dione was extremely knowledgeable about the application process and helped me in particular with:
1. Fleshing out my short-term and long-term career goals — I had specific industry areas, companies, and roles in mind already, but Dione pushed me to consider specific responsibilities within those roles and sharpen my reasons for why I had these goals
2. Incorporating smaller stories into my existing narrative: there were some stories I overlooked because I struggled to tangibly identify impact or because they didn’t seem fully relevant to my narrative (even the fact that I sing at piano bars), but Dione helped me identify and incorporate them (both into my essays and sometimes in the short answer questions where applicable), allowing me to paint a more interesting and compelling storyline
3. More broadly, choosing the best stories from my potential list, framing those stories up, and ordering them within the narrative to most strongly demonstrate my leadership specifically
4. Writing about my identity and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work. I specifically sought out Dione for her experience in this area. I didn’t have to explain DEI concepts as I would have to other consultants, and she was able to help me to convey my identity and DEI work in a way that was understandable to laypeople and that would resonate.
5. Adjusting my resume to be more targeted towards MBA applications specifically instead of just a job application

Although I initially found Sarah (the matchmaker) from my intro consultation to be very spiky and not easy to work with, I’m glad it didn’t deter me. The process with Dione was very smooth once I requested and was matched with her. I found her exceptionally responsive (often reviews + feedback within a few hours or same-day), and it was always easy to find time to speak over Zoom. Dione’s working style is very open/transparent and a bit stream-of-consciousness (which both Sarah and Dione called out before we began working together), but I found her candor and detailing of her thought process to mesh well with my personality. Dione was able to help me figure out not only the big questions but also the small questions as I iterated on my applications; I was incredibly thankful to have her as a thought partner.

Overall, I feel that most admissions consulting companies would have been relatively good options (including a few that were a little cheaper), but I ultimately went with SBC and am happy with my experience because:
1. Dedicated single point of contact with a consultant vs. multiple specialists (often with less MBA-specific experience) overseeing different parts of the process. Unlike some other companies, SBC also offered some network benefits since the consultants are able to speak with each other, and there’s the flight test with a former AdCom member independent from your consultant.
2. SBC consultants’ strong qualifications based on their educational and professional working experience; I also liked that they were dedicated specifically to MBA admissions as opposed to college admissions more broadly
3. Unlimited support time, which SBC offers but I believe some of the multi-specialist model companies do not
4. Straightforward pricing. Unlike most other companies, SBC didn’t have different tiers of pricing based on consultants or schools (e.g., HSW vs. rest). It also included interview practice for both traditional behavioral interviews and Wharton’s team-based interview without additional charge.

I had a fantastic experience working with Jen this year, and can happily say I will be attending my dream school! What I most appreciated most about working with Jen was that she spent a lot of time understanding and crafting my story upfront, so that all subsequent insights and advice came through this perspective of truly knowing me. Secondly, Jen provided a great balance between being realistic and believing in me, and providing me encouragement. I didn’t want someone selling me a bill of goods that I could for sure get into my dream school, but I also didn’t want someone who thought I had zero shot – Jen was realistic about my chances but gave me confidence in my story. The last thing I appreciated about Jen was her responsiveness and professionalism. She always responded or provided edits to my resume/essays within 24 hours (usually much much less), and always made herself available for ad hoc questions. From my friends who used other consulting companies, getting feedback took days if not weeks, and was equivalent to pulling teeth – this was NOT the case with Jen. Overall I am completely satisfied and would 10/10 recommend – thanks again Jen!

Laura helped me through all stages of the MBA admissions process from brainstorming schools to deciding on offers. Having conversations with Laura allowed me to present my best self and created a safe space for me to practice presenting my story. Going into this process I was not sure I would be accepted to my target schools, yet I received 5 full-tuition scholarships and two half-tuition scholarships. I applied to 8 schools and my top 2 choices were both full scholarships. Laura is responsive, efficient, genuine, and completely invested in helping you achieve your goals. If you are serious about an MBA, I 10/10 recommend her services.

Amy was an incredible help. She helped me work through my application at a pace I was comfortable with. She did a great job of steering conversations in a direction that would help me answer key questions for business schools. I worked with her for HBS and Wharton and got admitted to Wharton. Super flexible with a busy schedule

From start to finish, working with Christina was nothing short of extraordinary. Both her enormous knowledge about what the different schools are looking for, as well as her incredible dedication and attention to detail were definitely instrumental in helping me build an application that got me admitted to Harvard Business School!

Christina and I started to work together already half a year before the application deadline. She helped me plan the whole process and, crucially, identify areas in which I can still take action to improve my candidacy. Throughout, she always pushed me to put together the strongest application possible, whether that was by thinking more concretely about my career plans and speaking with people who have the types of roles I would like to work in after the MBA, or by focusing relentlessly on drafting and re-drafting powerful essays.

Perhaps most importantly, Christina is simply a great person and a joy to work with. She is full of energy and enthusiasm, and while she definitely expects a lot from candidates, her own work ethic more than matches her expectations. I cannot thank her enough and recommend her highly to anyone looking to apply for an MBA.

I came from a technical professional background that doesn’t typically send many people to top MBA programs. I didn’t have anyone in my network to guide the application process. DeeDee, with her years of experience as a former admissions officer, provided that guidance and showed me a clear path to a strong application.

DeeDee’s expertise, timely replies, and thoughtful comments certainly strengthened my application and I’m happy to share I have my choice between attending Booth and Ross with a full-tuition scholarship at the latter. I would recommend her services to anyone looking to submit a stronger application.

I chose the All-In Package for my MBA application process and couldn’t be happier with that decision. By working closely with Christine and the rest of the wonderful SBC team, I managed to get admitted to all three schools – HBS, GSB, and CBS – that I applied to!!! Truly a dream come true that I would not have achieved without Christine’s help. You simply couldn’t ask for a better consultant – Christine has been my rock of the storm, a wise advisor, an incredible sparring partner, and an amazing communicator and she possesses an exceptional ability for always keeping in mind the big picture as well as all of the necessary details and structuring both. She has encouraged me to go deep into introspection (and accompanied me in doing so). Through thoughtful questioning, she has helped me to develop a storyline that was extremely authentic and meaningful to me. At the same time, she mentored me through all the ups and downs of this long process like a champion and world-class coach, always responding in an extremely short time with very helpful advice. In our interview preparation, she asked questions that prepared me optimally for the real experience.
I am infinitely grateful to Christine. She has been a tremendous enrichment for me over the last year – not only professionally but also personally. With her great expertise, kindness, encouraging nature, radical candor, and great humor, working with her was a pure blessing. Thank you so much Christine – I would choose her again and again and can only say: if you can work with her, you are lucky!!! 🙂

Applying to business school is one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do and requires the right balance of personal introspection and external framing. As a reapplicant this year from a very target/overrepresented background, I felt a lot of anxiety about the process and I consider Amy to be the biggest reason I was able to gain admission to all three of the programs I applied to. From meeting with Sarah Tsai, an SBC leader who matched me with Amy, I appreciated the personal touch Amy and the team brought to my application. I had worried that for this amount of money and given how big of a brand they have, I’d get more removed service, but Amy felt like a friend and constant advocate throughout. Her ability to connect the dots between my personal story, listening ear to understand what I wanted to express and share and how to best frame that, and excellent editing skills helped me gain admission to my dream program and, more importantly, kept me feeling sane and confident throughout.

Amy spent a few hours upfront really getting to know me and I think my process was easier for it. I highly recommend starting earlier (I believe I matched with her in June) to make sure you have time to really think about what you want to say in your application before starting essays and resumes. When the time came to do that, Amy’s quick turnarounds and direct feedback made it easy to complete my work in a short timeframe and I appreciated her flexibility to discuss feedback live – she really knows what to think through, and will be honest if your ideas don’t work.

I also appreciated Amy’s strategic mindset in putting together my applications and thinking about how I could make each part of my application really count. She understood the underlying themes and goals each school wants to see and helped me tailor my applications effectively. Throughout the process, Amy’s kindness and friendly attitude made me feel like I was in very capable hands and honestly made parts of a scary process very fun and interesting.

In addition to Amy, I appreciated the Flight Test application review I received from Kim, the TBD prep I received from Anthony, and how the team uses all their former AdComm members to make sure you feel like you’ve put your best foot forward in the application process. Signing up for SBC was the best decision I made and Amy’s the best support and advisor I could’ve asked for. I remember what it felt like to not get in anywhere, and Amy helped give me the confidence to push through that and find my voice in a rigorous, long process. It’s expensive but definitely worth the investment to get where you want to go, and I will be forever grateful for the guidance I wouldn’t have had without her!

DeeDee from SBC was a crucial part of my MBA application process. She helped me craft my story, personalize my essays, and prep for my interviews. When my essays were not quite there yet, she pushed me to think deeply about the essays until they were the best they could be for submission.

I started working with DeeDee in May of 2022 and I thought I was starting too “late” for the application process. Additionally, I was nervous that my GMAT score was too low (710) for my target schools. DeeDee helped me gain the confidence I needed to believe in myself during the process and she helped me set a clear timeline to ensure that I did not feel behind throughout the process. I submitted every single application early thanks to DeeDee’s help.

Dione was my consultant and I highly recommend working with her. As a military applicant looking to transition into Product Management in tech, I had trouble connecting my life and work experiences and Dione was extremely helpful in pointing me in the right direction. She gave helpful advice on how to be specific where it counted (such as the impact of my work, what I wanted to do and to really nail down my short-term and long-term goals). The main challenge for me was taking my diverse military experience and positioning/explaining it in a way that was compelling and believable in my application and Dione was essential on that front. Dione was always honest when she felt I fell short of what I needed to do(not explaining something correctly in my application, not highlighting my work experiences better, or clarifying what my career goals/why MBA as it was definitely too vague in the beginning). What I also appreciated was that she was always available. Although there were many holidays during the time we were working together, she always responded promptly to any emails I sent her, and was more than happy to jump on a call when I needed to bounce some ideas around. I think that commitment/availability was crucial in streamlining my application process and helped me put my best foot forward.

From SBC, the flight test provided a good informed outside opinion on my application and helped me refine my application further. I also appreciated the mock Wharton TBD discussion with Anthony and the feedback that was provided afterward, as I believed it took some stress away from the actual TBD.

I only applied to 5 schools, was admitted to a HSW, and received a half-tuition scholarship at Haas. Happy with the result and glad to have worked with Dione and the SBC team.

I am writing to share a phenomenal review of my time working with the Stacey Blackman Consulting team, specifically with my consultant Alex Liff.

After evaluating multiple consulting groups online, I came to the SBC team in January for an initial MBA Candidacy assessment. I felt that their team offered the most robust resources, experienced consultants, and a breadth of professional backgrounds/experiences. Given that I was early in the process (applying for R1 that September), Esther provided a succinct, realistic evaluation of my profile/stats and provided some suggestions of where I could work to improve my profile in the coming months to strengthen my candidacy for the top programs that I was targeting. She was also frank about the fact that I came from ORM, a competitive applicant pool to set realistic expectations. After the profile evaluation, I diligently worked to address my profile weaknesses and retook the GRE that moved me from the average to the top range of my target school’s class.

With a strengthened profile, I reconnected with Esther in May to discuss the next step of finding a consultant to prepare for the R1 application deadlines. We reconnected for an in-depth interview over the phone where she gathered the inputs to intentionally connect me with a consultant on their team. She assessed my background and post-MBA interests, ultimately connecting me with Alex Liff. Next was the fit interviews. I’ll add that the SBC team really emphasizes fit with your assigned consultant, so I would highly recommend not taking this step of the process lightly as it is critical that you connect with your consultant whom you will spend hours working alongside. Given Alex’s aligned background, mutual interest, and wealth of knowledge about the application process, I felt like I had won the lottery from our initial fit interviews! Therefore, I signed up for the all-in package for my two dream schools: HBS & GSB.

Alex & I hit the ground running that week, and he shared several helpful SBC proprietary resources to kick off my application journey. We started very broadly by discussing and writing up all of my life experiences to date. Even if it felt like a tangential detail or irrelevant to applying to grad school, I bought into the exercise of starting to put pen to paper. This introspective process lead some key themes to emerge from my life’s experiences, and Alex helped to validate them as themes that would spark the intrigue of an Adcom. At the start, I remember feeling very vulnerable and uncertain of what I put to paper, but Alex was tremendously reassuring and supportive in helping bring my story to light. From there, I spent very intentional time connecting my lived experiences together in a few first-draft essays. With every draft (15+), Alex provided seamless, timely feedback that allowed me to continue my momentum. Throughout the process, he was extremely communicative, available, and honest. I found that these are the three most important attributes that a candidate can find in a consultant!

SBC offers a tremendous team-based approach to setting up their applicants for success. After I had gotten the applications to a near-finished state, Alex shared my application with my flight tester, Lisa, who was a former MBA admissions officer, to offer a fresh perspective of my entire package. This review was unique and insightful because the reviewer reviews the file in the same way as an admissions officer. An admissions committee member spends, on average, less than 20 minutes reviewing a file in full. The Flight Test provides insight into how the application stands up under the realistic, unbiased scrutiny of an adcom member versus intensely in the details as your admission’s consultant. Thus, I found the perspective and feedback additive to my overall drafting process.

Ultimately, Alex was a fantastic sounding board helping me bring to light a holistic picture of my lived experiences and allowing them come to life in a coherent application. His excitement when I was accepted to the programs of my dreams was genuinely felt, and I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with someone who believed in me. I don’t feel that I would have had the confidence to be so vulnerable in my application about the things I shared without Alex instilling confidence by rooting for me along the way. SBC’s additional resources were also a HUGE time saver throughout the process, as I did not need to do as much in-depth research into every program I applied to, as it was already all there in their wiki. In summary, I cannot recommend Alex or my experience with the SBC team enough to future applicants, and I am tremendously grateful for the chapter that lies ahead! You will be in good hands.

I sought application help towards the end of my MBA application process, as I felt unsure whether my essays, resume, and story matched what MBA programs were looking for. John helped me hone in on my story and challenged me to restructure my essays to tell a more compelling and personal story. He was extremely quick, efficient, and helpful in providing feedback and advice for me, and ensured that my application was the strongest it could be. I was a bit nervous that my quant qualifications (GMAT and undergrad transcript) were a bit low, and he was realistic in giving me opportunities to highlight areas of excellence or alternate ways to showcase my proficiency. I applied only to Kellogg R1 as it was my top choice program, and was admitted a few weeks ago. I definitely recommend working with John for any MBA application needs!

Christina is the best consultant I could have asked for to guide me through the MBA process! I could not have been happier and I recommend her 100%.

How did she help?
1. Starting from our very first session, Christina prompted me to start a self-reflective thought process that guided my application strategy. Brainstorming sessions led by Christina provided invaluable input that led to the final essay and application plans.
2. She knows WHAT YOU NEED and is very honest and straightforward! At the beginning of your journey with Christina, she will give you a breakdown of your strengths and weaknesses followed by an action plan to turn these weaknesses into strengths – upon completion of the plan, your profile will be taken to the next level!
3. She was ALWAYS there! Christina understands first-hand the stress and difficulties of the MBA application process and supports you all the way in terms of preparation but also mentally and psychologically.
4. She CARES! Christina cares deeply about her clients and will listen to your needs.
5. By the end of the journey, you will be left with a great friend!

The result?
Received offers to all the schools I applied to (5/5): HBS, Wharton, CBS, Booth, Yale, incl. scholarships of c.$200k

I worked with Sherry during the 2023 R1 admissions cycle. I had applied to top programs in two previous cycles but never made it past the waitlist. I came to Sherry for advice in late August. At that time I was feeling hesitant to apply for R1 this year, having already gone through the admissions cycle roller coaster twice and countless rejections—my confidence and motivation were not at their peak, to say the least. Sherry was very considerate and thoughtful. She reviewed my materials from previous applications and gave me insightful feedback on how I could adjust my approach to make a difference. She was very encouraging and empathetic: she helped motivated me to apply for R1 and to write three quality applications in about 1 month’s time.
Throughout that time Sherry was very fast and responsive. Her attention to detail in reviewing my application was fantastic and she gave some excellent pointers in areas where I could better connect with each school’s admissions committees. Once I received interview invites, we did mock interviews, which really helped me build confidence and refine my story. In October I was admitted to EA to Fuqua and I couldn’t be happier!

Anthony did a great job helping me prepare for my MBA application. As a former adcom officer, he’s super familiar with the overall process and can help to design your plan from the very first step. Also, his expertise in reviewing essays can help you identify points to improve and give you some perspectives, to begin with.
He also helped me to prepare for the interview. He mentioned important points and advise specific suggestions based on the school. Overall he did a great job!

I had the absolute pleasure of working with Caryn Altman during my MBA application process. I did the all-in package, and Caryn seamlessly navigated me through the entire process of my school selection, essays, interviews, and decision day. I applied to 8 schools and received 7 interviews, with acceptances to top schools with generous scholarships. I now have the luxury of choosing between two M7 schools.
Caryn replies to emails promptly, is always there to lend either constructive criticism or her perspective, and truly keeps the client’s best interest at the forefront.
She is the guiding light throughout the chaotic application process and really understands what the adcomm boards are looking for in applicants. She’s been featured in numerous articles and podcasts and is always straightforward from the beginning of the process.
Esther, the person you will immediately meet upon coordinating with SBC, is extremely knowledgeable and matches client personalities and goals to the consultants’ backgrounds perfectly. She is very responsive and clear. My flight test point of contact, Beth, another consultant at SBC, was also very knowledgeable and helpful when providing a second opinion. Understanding how thorough SBC is and how structured their program is is ultimately what drew me to commit to their program, as well as knowing how well-versed the consultants are in the MBA world, as they are all former adcomm members.
I most definitely would not be in the incredible position I am in now without the help of SBC, and specifically, Caryn! 10/10 recommend their services– worth every penny!

The business school application process is stressful and surprisingly emotional. You’re trying to condense your professional accomplishments into a short essay and resume while simultaneously communicating who you are on a very personal level. I knew I needed help, and Megan was the perfect match. From day one, Megan was ready for anything, and that was quite a lot in my case. From calls when I hit a wall writing to editing minor details in the 11th hour, Megan was there to help. In the end, it was obvious that Megan has a unique talent for appreciating candidates for their uniqueness and enabling them to weave an intricate tapestry of who they are in the minimal space your application permits. Her ability to connect the dots of my story is undoubtedly what made me fortunate enough to be admitted to Stanford, Harvard, and Wharton.

In addition to Megan’s support, the entire SBC team was incredibly supportive. From my first call with Sarah, I could tell that SBC did things differently as she immediately told me how she thought about my candidacy, what she would change about my resume, and how she would try to craft my narrative. The online SBC library was also extremely useful for tailoring each application to the specific school. What really sets the SBC team apart, however, is the breadth and depth of knowledge; any time that Megan and I were wondering how to approach a school’s application better, there were numerous former admissions officers from those schools that we could draw on. In particular, my flight test was specifically conducted by an ex-admissions officer from the school that was my top choice, offering me the opportunity to get school-specific insights that I likely wouldn’t have gotten elsewhere.

Thank you Megan and SBC, I couldn’t have done it without you!

Amy has been an incredible advisor and resource to me throughout the application process – her guidance helped me secure admissions to my top 3 MBA programs.

Through our initial touchpoint and a brief recap of my personal and professional experiences to date, Amy readily identified the idiosyncratic strengths and weaknesses of my application and helped me establish a unique personal brand. She put together a highly detailed and extremely well-structured plan to tackle school applications, with careful consideration not only of application deadlines but also of which school essay topics should be prioritized which we would later use as a baseline for the remaining school essays.

Amy is a gifted storyteller. Her strength is her ability to balance the core facets of what Admissions Committees are truly looking for in essays and applications (through her perspective as a former Wharton admissions officer) while eloquently conveying the core of one’s personal story and journey. Her keen attention to detail and ability to drive to the heart of ideas and concepts were invaluable in helping me craft four sets of essays and applications of which I am truly proud.

Amy was also invaluable in helping me take full advantage of the resources available to me at SBC. She helped me strategize the early completion of a draft application to my first-choice school so that I could complete a Flight Test of my application with a former school admissions officer. She also put me in touch with Anthony, who led a practice Virtual Team-based Discussion with other SBC clients ahead of the Wharton TBD interview – which proved to be invaluable preparation.

With Amy’s help, I truly feel that I put my very best foot forward with every application. I would highly recommend Amy to anyone who aims to apply to M7 schools – and I will certainly recommend her to family and friends in the future!

I was skeptical of hiring a consultant at first, due to the cost and a desire to preserve my own voice. Although, after drafting everything I still wanted a reality check. I contacted SBC looking for a Flight Test for my HBS application. Ashley reviewed the entire submission thoroughly and paid special attention to my resume. She provided excellent tips across several revisions–the result was a concise, good-looking one-pager. Couldn’t be happier! On our hour-long phone call, she really honed in on the essay. She provided specific feedback about where to cut and what to add. This outside perspective allowed me to tailor my materials while keeping my voice; I clicked submit with confidence and got the offer! Highly recommended to anyone, even if it’s just for a last-minute Flight Test!

I had a wonderful experience working with Deanna Moen and Stacy Blackman Consulting over the past year while applying to MBA programs. I used the all-in package to apply to three schools and was admitted to both Cambridge Judge and Dartmouth Tuck while using the services. Deanna was so helpful in every step of the process and broke down each piece of the process into manageable pieces that fit with my busy schedule. She was always so quick to deliver feedback and helped me maintain my voice while sharpening my messaging. Additionally, she was very helpful in helping me identify and address weak points in my application. Beyond Deanna, I really enjoyed working with the broader SBC team – Sarah Tsai was very helpful in getting me matched with Deanna, and my flight tester, Amy, had insightful commentary to help me finalize my applications and gave me the confidence that I was ready to hit submit. I chose SBC because of the full-service nature of the package offered – I have a very demanding job and knew I would need a very structured process. SBC helped me put my best application foot forward and I was so glad to have worked with them!

I initially reached out to SBC to do a flight test for my CBS application, but after doing an intro call, I was steered toward buying two hours of consulting with Christine instead (which was cheaper than the flight test and ended up being much more helpful for me). In those two hours, Christine did an initial high-level review of my resume, data form entries, and essays, providing lots of valuable insight about the MBA application process that I hadn’t considered since I did not know anyone who had applied before. She also did a second review (which I really didn’t think would be possible given I had only bought 2 hours) and gave detailed feedback that helped me finalize the application. Christine’s help in crafting my story for the CBS application helped with my thought process for other schools as well. I’m happy to have been accepted to 4 schools including CBS thanks to Christine. Overall, I was extremely impressed by Christine and the entire SBC team — I was able to get exactly what I needed at a price point that was comfortable for me.

The comprehensive package for SBC is expensive, but it is worth the price. With their guidance, I was accepted to all the schools I applied to: HBS, CBS, Kellogg, and Stern.

Jen was very thorough and responsive. I really enjoyed working with her. I come from an engineering background and was initially worried about adcoms not understanding what I did and seeing me as a stereotypical engineer. After our kick-off call, my worries were allayed. She understood my background, weaknesses, how to overcome them, and what I should highlight in my essays. I don’t think I would have written the essays I did without her guidance.

If you are worried about finding or telling your story like I was, I highly recommend Jen.