Ally

Consultant Bio

Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS).

During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and domestically to recruit and build relationships with high quality prospective students, turning many into successful CBS students. At Columbia, Ally also managed the class visit program and worked to ensure prospective students had a meaningful, engaging, and fun experience.

Prior to her time at Columbia, Ally spent 3 years working in graduate admissions at NYU, where she earned her M.A. in Higher Education and Student Affairs. She also earned her B.A. in Psychology from Muhlenberg College.

Ally is extremely well-versed in the application process, interview process, and all things related to student life and community on-campus. She understands the balance between pursuing a rigorous program and living life in a bustling city like New York. An (extremely) avid ice cream fan, be sure to ask her for her best ice cream recommendations in and around NYC!

Company Information

Since 2001, Stacy Blackman Consulting clients have been admitted to every top business school worldwide, often with merit scholarships. Stacy Blackman Consulting (SBC) delivers results, as shown through its record of the highest number of online reviews across multiple MBA admissions ranking and review sites. Our online track record includes #1 on MBAinsight, BeattheGMAT, ClearAdmit, and #1 out of 11 firms for our team caliber by PoetsandQuants.

We begin with meticulous matchmaking before we begin an engagement or accept payment. We recommend a primary consultant only after evaluating your candidacy strength and differentiating qualities; we respect your investment and the trust you place in us. We offer a high-touch, limited client-per-consultant experience.

Contact us to request a free MBA advising session with an SBC Principal. Just give us 15 minutes.

OUR TEAM

SBC is the only consulting firm in the industry who has on our team a complete panel of former MBA Admissions Officers from the top US programs and European programs. No other firm has this complete talent. 75% of our MBA consultant team hails from the top seven US MBA programs as MBA graduates and/or former MBA Admissions Officers, including from Harvard and Stanford. The SBC team has MBA expertise at every top school, has graduated from elite MBA programs and understands career paths in every industry, traditional and non-traditional.

Over 1/4 of SBC’s consultant panel is of minority background, and SBC has five consultants who identify as and specialize in LGBTQ+ applicants. This reflects the company’s mission to further diversity in the MBA applicant pool. No other established MBA admissions firm has a team that is as diverse.

OUR KNOWLEDGE

We know what’s going on, and we know it first. We have former Admissions Officers (AdCom) from every top MBA program who are informing us of the current internal program priorities, best practices, unusual dilemmas, successful essay strategies, and interview standards. We have tremendous insight as to what is currently keeping the AdCom up at night and what values they are looking for from their current students.

As one SBC client explained, “What really sets the SBC team apart, however, is the breadth and depth of knowledge; any time that my consultant 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.” Another client said, “I appreciated how the team uses all their former AdCom members to make sure you feel like you’ve put your best foot forward in the application process.”

OUR MODEL

The SBC System™ has eight core modules and is the most robust of all firms.

SBC offers unlimited time with a carefully selected primary consultant, who will be dedicated to understanding you authentically, creating a winning strategy, and defining your unique story for each school. Your primary consultant will be your creative and strategic guide, helping you to create materials that are provocative, informative, school-specific and ultimately effective in resonating with each of your target MBA programs.

Your primary consultant will engage in multiple iterations of brainstorming, development, outlining, and applied review across all MBA application touchpoints—resume, online application form, recommender letters, essays, short answers and more –to eliminate blindspots and optimize every detail so that your story shines and reflects deep knowledge of each of the MBA programs.

SBC also believes in checks and balances, as it has the Flight Test™ which is a complete review by a former AdCom. This structured feedback from a former AdCom mimics a real AdCom review and helps to ensure that a candidate’s application is most compelling to the target audience.

We also include free access to THE VAULT, SBC’s Resource Center with over two decades of sample essays, recommendations, resumes, school overviews, interview transcripts and more. A recent client shared, “The large SBC database was priceless, especially when understanding the differences between schools and when preparing for interviews.”

GET STARTED WITH SBC

SBC deeply values mentorship within its client engagements and limits the number of clients for each consultant. We engage with clients only after evaluating candidacy nuances and deciding that we could be successful together.

Our matchmaking process includes criteria such as track record with target schools, proficiency with your career path, demographics, interests and character qualities, and the consultant’s availability at the time you’re interested in engaging. You’ll be matched with a primary consultant who believes in your candidacy and who is truly excited to work with you. Some of our consultants have a sweet spot for non-traditional applicants while others excel with engineers. Just like you, our consultants’ backgrounds and perspectives are varied.

SBC offers a limited number of complimentary phone or email-based consultations weekly for inquiries who have been pre-screened by our tenured team.

Contact us today to request a free MBA advising session with an SBC Principal.

Menu of Services and Associated Costs

The SBC All-In Service

A FORMER HBS ADMISSIONS OFFICER ON OUR SBC TEAM SHARED THAT MBA ADMISSIONS LOVE A GREAT STORY AND CLARIFIED:

“I believe it’s true that all people, and therefore all MBA admissions boards, love a great story. It’s a way to bring life to your application and show the realness of who you are during what can be a dry process.”

The majority of our clients select our All-In package because they recognize that the competitive admissions process requires an application set that is stellar and strategic on all levels. SBC’s  “All-In” engagement includes:

• Personal Assessment & Critical Reflection. Your primary consultant will work to understand you through deeply-probing questions that reveal your authentic dimensions.

• Your consultant will dig into the who, what, how and why that forms your story through our 360° Personal Orbit™. You will explore the key MBA acceptance triggers that will be central to crafting your personal story.

• We will evaluate your school preferences and criteria and develop a school list according to reach, reasonable, or safer program choices that ensures you apply to programs that you’ll love attending.

• We will cover career path guidance–selecting and optimizing your career goals to ensure they are ambitious, purposeful, and attainable– and also recommendation letter(s) guidance to support your story and reinforce your aptitude and potential.

• You will receive a complete MBA Application Strategy written summary including your value proposition and career path evaluation, as well as deliverables and tasks with an Attack Plan & Timeline.

• One AdCom Flight Test™ as described by a recent client: “After I had gotten the applications to a near-finished state, we shared my application with my flight tester, 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. 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.”

• Up to three formats of interview coaching. Post-application consultation to work through issues such as interviews, waitlist and deferral strategy and school selection.

Hourly First Services

Start with 2-3 hours for the initial strategy work a la carte to test the waters, and you can then roll up into the purchase of an All-In package.

Hourly Services

Hourly services can include any or all of the below:

• Initial Strategic Planning

• Background Assessment & School Selection

• Resume Review

• Recommendation Counseling – selection, prep, review

• Essay Review – one draft of set of essays

• Waitlist Strategy & Communications

• Ding Analysis

Contact us to request a free MBA advising session with an SBC Principal. Just give us 15 minutes.

Location: United States

Email: info@stacyblackman.com

Website: https://www.StacyBlackman.com