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365
8,700
Graduate: 8 Years
Firm
Recruiting
School Admissions or Administration
English
Consultant
Stacy Blackman Consulting
United States
Net Promoter Score: 9
Erin has over seven years of experience working within University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU Stern School of Business. At Columbia Business School, she was an Assistant Director of Admissions where she evaluated applications for both the full time and executive MBA programs, sat on the admissions and merit scholarship committees and advised applicants on which program might be the best fit for them based on their work experience and professional goals. She also played a huge role in recruiting and interviewing both full-time and executive MBA prospective students. Erin was also an academic adviser at NYU Stern School of Business, where she worked closely with the admissions team.
Erin earned her B.A. in International Relations from Boston University and later earned her Master’s degree in Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Erin was also a competitive tennis player. She played in the number 1 singles and doubles spot for Boston University and went on to be the women’s assistant tennis coach at the University of Pennsylvania before transitioning into the world of business schools.
Erin values the role of authenticity in the MBA process and is adept at helping clients to articulate their own strengths and authentic voice throughout their application materials.
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: United States
Phone: 866-667-8229
Email: info@StacyBlackman.com
Website: https://www.StacyBlackman.com
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I worked with Erin during the summer of 2021 and her guidance helped me get into my number one choice, Columbia Business School. Throughout the entire process, Erin was incredibly responsive and insightful. She was a great sounding board for me to bounce ideas off of, and helped me to stay focused on answering the overall “question” posed by various essays. I have nothing but good things to say about Erin. She is kind, professional, diligent, and incredibly insightful, and I am so thrilled that we were matched together during this process.
I worked with Erin during the winter of 2020/2021 to help me get into my number one choice, Columbia Business School’s EMBA program. She was very responsive throughout our entire interaction, allowing us to get everything in on time with a tight deadline. Erin was very helpful to craft my own stories into the essays, making sure they were cogent and referencing my passion for joining the program. I also used her for Stern’s part-time MBA program and was admitted into this as well. I high recommend Stacy Blackman and Erin for overall general expertise in the MBA admissions process, along with the essay portion of the application.
I cannot speak highly enough of Erin and the Stacy Blackman team. I applied to two MBA deferred enrollment programs, and I was accepted to both thanks to detailed insight from Erin. I am a candidate with a sub 700 GMAT score, and I sincerely believed my score would hold me back from admission at top schools. Erin helped me perfectly craft my narrative and show my quantitative skillsets in other areas of the application than the test score. Erin helped me hurdle this challenge with great insight into my essays, helping me creatively articulate my interests and skillsets to the admissions teams. Erin is honest, insightful, and always available. I cannot thank her enough and sincerely recommend her as a consultant. I am so excited to be attending my top choice school in a few short years!
For me, Wharton was always my top choice, so when I didn’t get in as a R2 applicant in the 2018-2019 cycle, I made the conscious decision to delay my MBA plans for another year – determined on getting into Wharton as a reapplicant. With sights set on applying R1 in the 2019-20 cycle, I knew that I needed to fine-tune my application strategy and revamp my submitted materials if I wanted to succeed the second time around.
After speaking with a few firms, SBC immediately stood out from the pack given the comprehensive services, honest feedback I received as well as the strong, experienced team. Esther helped make the initial consultant match and paired me with Erin, who was formerly on the CBS admissions team and a true confidante every step of the way in my application process. She was always prompt with her responses but still incredibly thorough and thoughtful, making sure to highlight my strengths and streamline my story. Along with preparing my application materials, I was stressed with the demands of my job as well as balancing a GMAT retake, so having Erin really helped me stay on track and give me peace of mind during a time of extreme anxiousness and self-doubt.
Once my materials were in good shape, Lisa, my flight tester took a comprehensive deep-dive into my application package and provided further insightful feedback. When it came to finally submitting my applications for R1, I was incredibly proud of everything that I had crafted under the support of the SBC team. I knew that my application had ultimately evolved into the strongest version that it could be, so I was extremely grateful, regardless of what the outcome would be.
When I was ultimately awarded an interviewed at Wharton, the SBC team once again was right there to support me and helped facilitate a mock team-based discussion, which is a crucial factor in the Wharton application. In the end, when I finally got admitted to Wharton, I was so incredibly thrilled and appreciative.
The MBA application process can definitely be a long and stressful journey, so must make sure that you are setting yourself up in the best way possible. Choosing SBC proved to be decisive move that led me to getting admitted into my dream school!
I applied to only one school because I wanted to go to only one school…Columbia Business School. I had gathered a lot of pertinent data about the school and had done some soul searching to build my story. However, I had difficulty structuring it all and connecting the dots…this is where Erin came in. She listened carefully, asked probing questions, and provided recommendations that would highlight the strongest parts of my application.
Following the admission decision, I read the first draft of my essays and compared them to the submitted versions…night and day. Erin helped me build a structure around the areas that I needed to approve and she held my hand during the execution, being blunt when she needed to and encouraging when she needed to. Like most applicants, I applied while I was working full time, so having a targeted structured approach allowed me to optimize my time and put my best foot forward.
Overall, I had a great experience working with Erin and would recommend her to future applicants.
Erin is an amazing consultant! She is so smart, creative and strategic. She knows what the schools are looking for and she knows how to guide. I had some friends help me and they were very good at marking up my essays and telling me what was wrong. I now understand the difference between criticism and coaching. Erin showed me what was wrong, but also explained what was missing and where it needed to go. She then helped me figure out how to get there. She asked me the right questions that helped me to find my answers. It was actually a really cool journey of “self discovery” She was fun to work with – funny, kind and encouraging but also she pushes and coaches hard. Her interview prep was also excellent. I have anxiety around interviewing and she helped me understand that the right kind of practice was the key. I took advantage of all of the SBC resources – practiced on the video platform, read through their interview guides and looked through all of the transcripts on their resource center. I had a mock with Erin where she helped me hone in on where I needed to focus my efforts. It was the first time in my life that I walked into an interview feeling quite confident, because I know my story well and had so much practice telling it. She psyched me up and prepared me. Really could not have asked for more in a consultant. In many ways the experience exceeded my expectations because I created three great applications and also enjoyed the process (most of the time).
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