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365
8,700
Graduate: 3 Years
Firm
Columbia Business School
Biopharmaceutical
Education
Finance
Healthcare or Healthcare Management
Management Consulting
Goldman Sachs
English
Consultant
Stacy Blackman Consulting
San Francisco, California
United States
Net Promoter Score: 10
Carrie comes from the Admissions Office at the Haas School of Business at University of California Berkeley, where she directed admit decisions for hundreds of prospective students. Carrie holds a MBA from Columbia Business School (CBS) and a BA from Dartmouth College.
Prior to advising MBA applicants, Carrie held a variety of management, marketing and strategy roles. She served on the Management Committee at the Business Talent Group (BTG) and headed up the Talent Acquisition and Development efforts for the firm. She was responsible for recruiting the talent network and relationship management for over 5,000 independent consultants. Before BTG, she worked at Neuberger Berman and Goldman Sachs, where she worked in a relationship management role interfacing with senior leaders to manage strategic client relationships. Carrie also served as strategic management consultant at the ISO Health Care Group where she advised pharmaceutical and medical devices companies on strategic business issues.
Carrie is on the advisory board of Bridge the Gap in Marin County and serves as the Treasurer of the Ross School Foundation. Carrie volunteers for the Admissions Office at Dartmouth College, her alma mater, interviewing prospective students.
A St. Louis native, Carrie currently lives in the Bay Area.
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.
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
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Phone: 866-667-8229
Email: info@StacyBlackman.com
Website: https://www.stacyblackman.com
10=Without Hesitation, 1=I would advise against it.
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Carrie kept me focused on the critical components of my application that helped me best position myself as a candidate. Specifically, she provided guidance on where I could benefit from sharing more in my personal statement and supported me through any uncertainty I felt. Her candid feedback helped me sharpen the content I presented from my resume to my supplemental essays. Her commitment to my success enabled me to feel confident in the presentation of my story and accomplishments when I submitted my application.
I was newer than most to the competitive school admissions process, and Carrie’s advice was crucial to making my dreams come true. What I like most about Carrie is that she is a straight shooter who provides candid advice on how to market yourself. She is easy to work with and brings a lot of passion. MBA admissions is a tough game, and Carrie knows how to play it.
Carrie at Stacy Blackman Consulting was incredibly helpful and an invaluable resource for my application experience. She was incredibly perceptive to my wants and needs out of an MBA, and from beginning of the experience trying to select schools to apply to, to the GMAT process, to drafting my essays, to preparing for my interviews and even selecting the schools, she never stopped making sure I felt taken care of and that I had everything I needed to succeed. Carrie put me in a position where I felt feel confident that I could get into at least one of the schools I applied to. She was so detail-oriented and really made sure that, as a former admissions officer, she gave feedback on every part of my essay from that angle as well as from the angle of someone who understands my background and what I am looking for. With Carrie, this standard application process felt extremely individualized, and I could tell she wanted this experience to be very personal to me, and not using the same template of any other client. This entire experience was made so much better having her to help me, and with Carrie’s help, I got into 3 schools and waitlisted at another—two that Carrie specifically helped me on and were reached! I really enjoyed working with her and felt very taken care of.
Carrie at Stacy Blackman Consulting was incredibly helpful and an invaluable resource for my application experience. She was incredibly perceptive to my wants and needs out of an MBA, and from beginning of the experience trying to select schools to apply to, to the GMAT process, to drafting my essays, to preparing for my interviews and even selecting the schools, she never stopped making sure I felt taken care of and that I had everything I needed to succeed. Carrie put me in a position where I felt feel confident that I could get into at least one of the schools I applied to. She was so detail oriented and really made sure that, as a former admissions officer, she gave feedback on every part of my essay from that angle as well as from the angle of someone who understands my background and what I am looking for. With Carrie, this standard application process felt extremely individualized, and I could tell she wanted this experience to be very personal to me, and not using the same template of any other client. This entire experience was made so much better having her to help me, and with Carrie’s help, I got into 3 schools and waitlisted at another—two that Carrie specifically helped me on and were reaches! I really enjoyed working with her and felt very taken care of.
Before I started applying to business school, I was on the fence about whether or not to hire a consultant. Some of my friends who were already in business school were urging me to hire one, but the price point made me consider going through the process without external help. I am happy to say I am beyond thrilled that I chose to work with Carrie. She was extremely flexible with her time, and was able to work with me to get the personal brand messaging on my application in a great place. I ended up getting into my number one choice school, and I am not sure that would have happened without Carrie’s help. I really appreciated Carrie’s ability to work with me to ensure that my application hit all the points that admissions offices were looking for, while giving an accurate depiction of my career and career goals going forward.
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