Dawn (SBC) Reviews

The hourly services were fantastic. Very concise and helpful advice that significantly helped my candidacy.

And it's catered exclusively to your requests (e.g. resume review, essay review, etc.) I would recommend Dawn Clare and Erika Olson to anyone interested.

I did not feel the need for the comprehensive services because I felt that I could already write well and had a strong understanding of what my "message" would be to the schools. For those who are in the same position and are looking to spend less, I would recommend the hourly service package.

Also - the hours and flexibility of those I worked with were very helpful and impressive.

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I decided to hire an MBA Admissions consultant because I knew I had the potential to get into a top school (solid GPA, acceptable GMAT, tons of leadership, and significant upward progress in my career thus far) but I came from a somewhat untraditional background, where I had few resources to consult within the work place or from friends and family, so needed help guiding me on the process. I had one shot to get in as I was in the latter half of my twenties and the time was now or never. I didn't want to look back wondering what if....

I had spoken to a few people I knew who had used Stacy Blackman and MBA Admissions. Both were pricey though and I was unsure if it was worth it. From my first call with Esther Magna though, I was blown away by how she was able to dissect my strengths and potential weak areas to work on as through an admissions officer was reviewing my file. I liked her candor, ability to converse with my about my fears, the process, the costs, etc. She recommended 3 potential SBC consultants to me and I ultimately chose Dawn Clare based on her prior client feedback and personal approach.

On our first call, she clearly communicated her style, approach and how we would work together to ensure it was a good fit. I had a stressful job as it was, and she ensured she would guide me through deadlines but not be another boss or nagging parent. I also liked her focus and ability to separate out how the schools were different and how to approach each one.

She also guided me through info sessions and what schools I should consider. As an expert, she was very informed as to what would play to my personality and strengths.

I decided to apply to 6 schools, 3 using SBC and 3 on my own. Since rankings matter, 5 were the top 5 and I chose a 6th that is ranked #10-12 depending on the ranking. Dawn helped me create a comprehensive brand and strategy, which was the cornerstone of my application. She also made a deadline chart and adjusted it accordingly when huge projects came up at work. I aimed for Round 1, but it soon became clear that in order to do a good job, Round 2 for all of them was of going to be necessary.

Having the SBC resources of sample essays, sample resume formats, sample recommender guides, etc. was so invaluable to me! I am the type of person that needs to read other things to get my creative juices flowing. Using this as a framework, I could then ask Dawn all of my silly and random questions. We went through an outline process that was helpful in framing the essay and did most of the revisions there prior to the essay writing. My biggest issue is not being consice (point in case by this blog post) so she helped me stay within the word limits by forcing me to cut my outlines down too.

While at times her feedback was blunt, it was always timely and on point and allowed me to keep things moving. In the end, I was invited to interview at 5 of the 6 schools. She helped do a mock interview for one, which allowed me to prep like it was the real deal. Then she also put me in touch for the mock team based discussion, which greatly calmed me nerves about the format.

I ended up receiving acceptances from all 5 of those schools, some with merit scholarships! She even helped walk me through my choices as I was ultimately deciding between my top 2. I am delighted to say that I am going to HBS.

Dawn really does care about her clients and is able to see what sets them apart, even if you don't always know it. I would highly recommend her to anybody. She is selective in her clients, and only takes on a limited number that she knows she can truly help and commit to, which I greatly respect.

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I was a unique candidate with several entrepreneurial ventures under my belt that don't fit within a neat box. Luckily I contacted SBC for help. Esther Magna put me in touch with Dawn Clare, and the rest is history. I was admitted into Stanford GSB's 2015 MSx Program (i.e. Sloan Program), the GSB's awesome 12-month, full time accelerated business degree for mid-career professionals.

Dawn's advice and recommendations were spot on! She helped me craft a unique application strategy tailored to the specific sensibilities of the executive level program I was applying for. The comprehensive application strategy included a custom executive resume template, recommender and essay guidance, and many email and phone strategy sessions. What stood out was Dawn's specific knowledge of the Stanford GSB, then translated into the fundamental attributes of me as a professional that should be highlighted within my application. She knew how to differentiate the GSB's MSx program from the MBA program - showing a detailed knowledge of both.

Many thanks to Dawn, Esther, and SBC!

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I applied on my own and had no luck. Then a year later applied with the help of the team at Stacy Blackman Consulting. I am now going to Harvard.

I could go into details about the service but I think those two statements sum it up. I would highly recommend them because they know what they are doing. At the end of the day you want to go with a service that works. Their service works and it works well.

Dawn was able to cut right through all of the information I provided and map put what i should use to answer questions. That saved me time and helped me focus.

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I enlisted Stacy Blackman for hourly services after writing my first set of essays and feeling dissatisfied with the end product – I wasn’t confident they’d get me into my dream school (one of H/S/W).

I was assigned a consultant named Dawn Clare. Her thoughts on content changes, structure and themes were spot on and took my app to the next level. She weeded out a couple 'weaker' content topics from my successes / set-backs essays (eg, weathering the recession - like most other applicants...) and had me focus my energy on some areas unique to me that I didn't necessarily think full essay worthy but turned out to be really great subjects and my favorite essays. She was also very helpful pushing me to clean house in terms of language, making my essays very crisp and action-oriented (and below the word limits, argh!). The final product really had a bow on it - highly polished and highly unified, which I think is just what admissions was looking for.

I also used Dawn for two hour long skype sessions that were EXTREMELY useful. Several of her questions were repeated in my real interview, but it was also just a great confidence-builder to interview with a complete stranger as opposed to a friend or relative.

I was accepted round 1. I do not think I would have been accepted if I’d submitted my essays without the changes Dawn suggested or if I hadn’t felt so good going into my interview. I highly recommend Stacy Blackman Consulting to anyone and especially Dawn Clare.

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