SBC’s 360° Personal Orbit in Action
Today, we’re pulling back the curtain to share the step-by-step journey of one of our successful round-one clients who went “all in” this past fall. But first, a brief explainer of what going all-in means. MBA applicants who sign on for Stacy Blackman’s All-In Package take advantage of the eight core modules of our signature SBC System. Once you choose the SBC consultant who best aligns with your personality and profile, the next step in the process is Module 2, the 360° Personal Orbit.
In your kickoff meeting, your primary consultant will work to understand you authentically along multiple dimensions and create a strategy reflecting what MBA programs are looking for. Your consultant will dig into the who, what, how, and why that forms your story through our 360° Personal Orbit . You will then “go around the sun” to explore the key MBA acceptance triggers that will be central to crafting your personal story.
How the 360° Personal Orbit System Helped This Class of 2026 Admit
Our All-In client shares the highlights of his experience working with his primary consultant for round one applications in fall 2023.
Accepted to: Columbia Business School ($50K scholarship) and NYU Stern
Waitlisted at: Yale SOM and Cornell Johnson
Initial contact: Sarah was my initial contact at SBC who was helpful matching me with Caryn, my primary partner and former MBA Admissions Officer. I was given a choice of two potential consultants to partner with along with their bios and reviews from prior clients. I went with Caryn, given her prior experience working with applicants from similar backgrounds as mine (non-traditional applicants).
Groundwork: After connecting with Caryn, we spent a lot of time working on the Career Goals and the 360° Personal Orbit documents, which essentially serve as a period of introspection highlighting aspects of my background that could be used as fodder for the actual application.
These documents proved to be extremely helpful and paid dividends later on in the process right up to my interview preparation. This also helped Caryn and I identify the angle we wanted to present my application.
The Partnership Process
Caryn and I had an initial call over the phone and corresponded via email for the most part. She was very responsive, and I was able to get great feedback throughout the entire process. Because I was applying to seven schools, I had a tight timeline—Caryn was instrumental in helping me manage this while working a full-time job.
Honestly, this was HUGE—having someone who has been on the other side of the table and knows exactly how to present your candidacy in the best possible way and guide you through the essays, resume, and overall application saves you SO much time.
Once we finished my first full application, we sent it to a Flight Tester, where another member of the SBC team reviewed my full application. I also had access to the Vault database, which has an incredible amount of information on schools, potential interview questions (along with a mock interview platform that you have unlimited access to), and prior successful essays.
Once you finish with application work I started prepping for interviews. I thought my mock interview with Caryn was very helpful because it gave me a sense of what my actual interview was going to be like, and she also gave me a full list of feedback items I could improve on. I interviewed for Cornell, NYU, Yale, and Columbia and I felt very well prepared for them.
Overall, I am not only so, so happy with my results but also happy about the smooth process that the SBC team provided.
We’re so thrilled this client achieved his MBA dreams in partnership with Stacy Blackman Consulting!
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Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your MBA application needs, from our All-In Partnership and Interview Prep to hourly help with essay editing, resume review, and much more! Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.
Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.
Ashley
Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure. Ashley holds an MBA from HBS. During her HBS years, Ashley was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...
×Kerry
Kerry is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). During her 5+ year tenure at HBS, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe. She also led marketing and outreach efforts focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, ran the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), and launched the 2+2 Program during her time in Admissions. Kerry holds a B.A. from Bates College and ...
×Pauline
A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally. Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM. For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...
×Geri
Geri is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). In her 7 year tenure in HBS Admissions, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a diverse set of academic, geographic, and employment backgrounds. Geri also traveled globally representing the school at outreach events in order to raise awareness for women and international students. In additio ...
×Laura
Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years. Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...
×Andrea
Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years. In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee. In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School. Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...
×Jennifer
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) Admiss ...
×Erin K.
Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB). Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...
×Susie
Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications. She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics. Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...
×Dione
Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford. Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...
×Anthony
Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise. During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year. Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...
×Meghan
Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies. In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...
×Amy
Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team. During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students. She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...
×Ally
Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS). During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...
×Erin B.
Erin has over seven years of experience working across major institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU's Stern School of Business. At Columbia Business School, Erin 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 pro ...
×Emma
Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director. Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants. ×
