About | Privacy Policy | Advertising| Editorial | Contact Us
Follow Us
Subscribe | Login
365
8,700
Graduate: 10 Years
Firm
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Technology
Oracle
English
Consultant
Stacy Blackman Consulting
United States
Net Promoter Score: 9
Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admissions, Jennifer can quickly identify your strongest differentiators, best examples, and how to connect with AdCom Readers using your own unique voice. When applying to multiple schools, she can also guide you to customize your strongest stories for each school (hint: you don’t want Stanford essays to sound “too much like Harvard” or vice versa).
From early career recruiting and management activities at Procter & Gamble, to the “MBA Essentials” brown bag lunch courses at Oracle which led to an official career shift into HR / Talent Development, to co-founding a Recruiting Tech startup, Jennifer has loved working with people to help them identify, articulate and achieve their professional goals. Having held a variety of roles including STEM, marketing, operations, entrepreneurship, finance (co-founding a search fund and a summer Associate i-banking stint), and non-profit (pro bono volunteering in education and Marketing Board Member for an Arts organization), Jennifer can personally relate to many client backgrounds and aspirations.
Her “road not taken” was pursuing a Journalism degree from Northwestern, and in every job and extracurricular Jennifer has found a way to include and further develop her writing and editing skills. She especially loves working with clients through the essay process to craft, polish and promote their own individual stories.
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
10=Without Hesitation, 1=I would advise against it.
Select "N/A" if you are a career coaching client only.
The information below is for P&Q verification purposes only. It will not be published. We may email you to verify parts of your review but you will not be added to our email list. Incomplete reviews will not be published.
Please upload a pdf, png, jpg or gif file.
I knew SBC was the real deal starting with my very first call with Esther. She was friendly, pragmatic, and efficient, and I’m so thankful that she paired me with Jennifer. Jennifer provided a perfect balance of empathy and personal touch throughout my application process, coupled with objective, detailed, thoughtful, and constructive feedback. She indulged my detail-oriented nature as I mapped out my application plan while also helping me keep the big picture in mind, and was responsive to every question I had along the way. I applied to HSW and was ultimately accepted to all three, and I am confident that Jennifer’s guidance was instrumental in my acceptances. Her perspective as a former GSB admissions officer was extremely helpful in my preparation not just for the essays but for the interview as well, and it was very comforting to know she was supporting me all the way to the finish line. I would strongly recommend that any prospective applicants work with Jennifer, and with SBC.
I worked with Jennifer this past summer after being referred by a friend (who previously worked with Jennifer and had great success). I could not have asked for a better person to work with than Jennifer. She was extremely knowledgeable about the application process for every school I applied to (GSB, HBS, Wharton, CBS, etc.) and was an expert in helping me navigate the essay and short answer portions of each application.
What set Jennifer apart for me was that she took the time to get to know me and my background, personal and professional experiences, goals, and dreams, and then took this information to help me craft the best set of applications/essays that I could. She was very responsive and provided thorough and detailed feedback to my questions and essay drafts.
Above everything else, I really appreciated Jennifer’s structured approach to this process. She has a tried-and-true method for approaching essays and short answer prompts that makes the essay writing process much more structured than it otherwise can end up being. With her structured approach I never felt uneasy or anxious that I wasn’t making enough progress with my applications.
Finally, Jennifer was terrific in helping me prep for interviews. I honestly could not imagine having to go through the application process without Jennifer. If I could go back the only thing I would change is that I would have started working with her sooner than I did! Jennifer is simply the best person you can work with to help you through a very stressful MBA application process. I would recommend her without hesitation!
Jennifer demystified the opaque MBA admissions process and without her, I would not have gotten into HBS! Jennifer genuinely spends the time to get to know her clients and provides personalized advice on how to best present ourselves in the application. Jennifer’s process was unique in that it helped me craft my own narrative by reflecting on my life experiences and identifying what makes me tick, which gave me immense clarity on my professional goals. Had I not gotten into HBS, I would have found that process alone well worth the price of the program.
When I first spoke with SBC, I really felt the excellent team bond and dynamics throughout the entire firm. You are not just hiring one consultant, but the entire team of SBC. Sarah was my initial matchmaker and was thoughtful in her advice to me as a prospective applicant as I had called her two years and a half before applying. After evaluating all the largest MBA consulting firms, I still remembered my conversation with Sarah, which led me to ping her again (a year after we first spoke). She was extremely attentive and eventually recommended I match with Jennifer.
Jennifer was truly amazing to work with. When I compared my experience working with Jennifer to others’ experience working with their respective consultants, I realized just how lucky I was. She not only is one of the most thoughtful human beings I’ve encountered but also a very tactical consultant. She was extremely patient in helping me figure out my voice and was there throughout all parts of my application process.
The thing that makes Jennifer stand out is that she went beyond being a consultant and became a friend throughout the entire application process. She was so easygoing that I could ask her any question; I would text her at all times throughout the day and she would be lightning fast with her responses. Her guidance and advice were unparalleled. After we mock interviewed, she even introduced me to a former client to provide additional interview practice.
The rest of the SBC team was also amazing to work with. For example, Beth completed my “flight test” for my full HBS application. She was instrumental to make sure that my entire application tied together as well as made sure we could get another set of eyes of a former MBA admissions officer on my app.
It still feels unreal to get into my dream schools of Stanford GSB, Wharton, and HBS. I could not have done it without Jennifer and could not have done it without SBC.
I would recommend working with SBC and especially Jennifer in a heartbeat! Jennifer is truly the best.
An international applicant, I was looking for a consultant to help me navigate the process when applying to the HSW trinity (spoiler: interviewed with all 3 and got admitted to 2!). Before getting in touch with SBC, I actually spoke to a couple of other long-standing teams with good reviews, but there simply was no connection and the conversations felt rather transactional. Esther from SBC, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air – genuinely invested and empowering from the very first minutes of our call. She then connected me with Jennifer who went to GSB, has experience in my industry, and (as I learned later) is highly professional and structured, yet creative and caring. Jennifer helped me not only to get through the applications and prepare for interviews but also to actually enjoy this stage of my life (even with the pandemic raging on). Her advice and questions were always insightful and provocative, she both kept me on schedule and gave me space when I needed to reflect further. Jennifer herself replied to all my queries within 24-48 hours. I would also strongly recommend taking advantage of the Flight Test (with Caryn) and mock TBD interview (with Meghan) that were part of the package and provided a fresh perspective. Free resources like the SBC newsletter and podcast (B-schooled with Erika) are a great bonus!
When I first contacted SBC, I spoke with Esther who paired me up with Jennifer after understanding my style and what I was looking for. I feel so lucky that she matched me with Jennifer.
I had previously worked with a different MBA admissions company who proved very unhelpful so I was nervous about paying for another but I am so glad I did.
Applying for business school can be an intimidating process but Jennifer broke it down and made it seem achievable. She helped me through the whole process – finding my story, choosing my recommenders, filling in the application form, practicing for interviews, and the waitlist strategy.
Jennifer helped me find my own voice by guiding me, rather than telling me what to write. I am from Europe and she helped me make that shine through in my application. She was always very quick to respond and a genuine pleasure to work with.
I also found working with the wider SBC team very easy. Caryn completed a “flight test” for me where she assessed my full HBS application. It was great having another pair of eyes on my application to spot any bits that I had missed being so close to it all.
I feel very grateful that I got into two of my dream schools – Wharton and HBS – and am very excited to start in HBS later this year.
I would 100% recommend working with SBC and Jennifer in particular!
Our Partner Sites: Poets&Quants for Execs | Poets&Quants for Undergrads | Tipping the Scales | We See Genius