Erin

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).