Susan played a critical role in helping me make my dream of getting into Stanford MBA program a reality. She supported me all the way through the application process, from deciding which Round to apply, to crafting essays and preparing for the interviews, and helped me with every single question I had - even the most stupid questions that were on my mind.

It was important to have Susan's shoulder early on, as she helped me work out a powerful strategy and point my efforts in the right direction. In the brainstorming process, she came up with novel ideas that I somehow did not come up with on my own. Those ideas turned out to be key to my application strategy. Strategy is important, but so is implementation.

Susan was surprisingly fast to reply to my emails, especially given the amount of value her emails contained. I feel it's important to reemphasize this - every single piece of correspondence from Susan contained HUGE value for me! Her feedback on the essays helped me focus on the most impactful points, leaving non-value adding details aside, thus making the most out of the limited word space I was allowed in the essays.

I cannot overestimate the importance of Susan's help on the so-called stupid questions. Honestly, I did not expect that I would have so many of those. Turned out, the application file itself was so lengthy and contained so many little questions that seemed to be tricky. I felt that, when combined, answers to these little questions could make a difference between being admitted and being rejected. Luckily, Susan had the kind of empathy I needed to feel comfortable asking her these stupid questions.

When it came to the interview stage, Susan once again helped me focus on the most impactful parts of my story so that I felt confident sharing my story with the interviewer. It was important that I was prepared for the interview in advance, since this preparation translated into my confidence during the actual interview. I definitely would not have this courage if I was not sure I was telling the right stories to the interviewer. Susan made me believe I was.

Simply put, I would have never gotten into the Stanford MBA program without Susan's help. And I am forever grateful to her for helping me make my dream a reality.

Read More

I had a great time working with my consultant, Temi. She took the time to understand who I am based on my background and experiences both personal and professional before diving into essays and interview prep which I think was a fabulous approach. This rapport and the Stratus strategy/process helped me to build winning essays that landed me acceptance to my top choice in MBA program. I had a very busy schedule and very short turnaround time while applying for business school and Temi showed me so much patience, determination and attention to detail. I wanted to do better for myself but also as a result of her motivation. She put me in touch with many people from her Stratus team, including Susan Cera and Melisa Prevost, and past MBA candidates who gave tangible advice for my essays and interviews. I was 100% satisfied after every cent was spent on this package with no regrets. I would highly recommend working with Stratus and definitely with Temi!

Read More

I worked with Susan for two schools package. I finally ended up receiving only one offer with half of the scholarship. At first, I really depressed about going to apply for b-school because I have low GMAT score and low GPA. However, Susan did really well to guide me through an application process to highlight my robust work experience in an investment banking field, making my essay content matching smoothly with my career goal. I am a CFA charterholder, and she did really know how to play this card right in the table. ฺฺBuilding up on Susan's guidance, I eventually received an offer from various schools in my list. With her solid guideline and interview preparation, it did push me to reach my top choice from Tepper-CMU.

I worked with Susan completely online and I have found no trouble at all working with her. Our timezone is 12 hours apart. I think Susan knows what she does and trust me, she is really good with her work. I would like to add my comment on Donna as well. As she came on board and gave me another perspective that was independence from your views and Susan. It was really something you need to know after you finish your application, and you need to make it better. Choosing Stratus as my admission counsultant was worth every dollar I paid for the service.

Read More

At the beginning of my MBA journey I reached out to 3-5 consultants for the free consultations. My GMAT/GPA are slightly lower than the averages at the programs that I was targeting so finding someone that understood my story was crucial for me. Within the first 5 minutes of talking to Susan I knew she was the person I wanted to use. She took the time to understand my background and asked thoughtful questions to learn more – this was vastly different than my experience with other consultants who were just trying to put me into a pre-defined framework to craft my story. Susan felt more like a mentor who genuinely wanted me to succeed rather than a consultant who was focused on getting my business.

I ended up purchasing the one school package and using the ad-hoc/hourly service for essays on the other programs that I was applying to.

We first started on the “introspection” exercise which ends up serving as the basis to answer the most common questions: Why MBA, Why Now and Post-MBA Goals. Based on this information Susan helped me craft a strategy specific to each program that I was applying to. This not only helped with my essays but also with my informational chats with students and alumni. I come from a non-business background (engineering) and I felt very polished during my phone calls with students.

In addition to the introspection exercise, Susan helped me rework my resume, gave me multiple rounds of feedback on my essays, and helped me prepare for my interview. I even got positive feedback from the admissions committee regarding my interview and overall application. I was waitlisted at my top choice due to my GMAT score, but Susan helped me with my updates to the admissions committee (about 5-6 in total).

I used Susan for help on my essays on an hourly basis for two other programs. She was incredibly generous and upfront about what can be accomplished in the hours I purchased. We managed to do 2-3 drafts of my essays for each program within the 2 hours that I purchased.

I could not be happier with my experience with Susan, I would highly recommend her to anyone looking at applying to MBA programs in the future. I am headed to a Top 15 program this fall with a sub 3.2 GPA and sub 700 GMAT.

Read More

Like many people applying for an MBA, I was concerned that there was nothing special about my profile and I wouldn’t be able to stand out to the universities. Thanks to Susan and the Stratus team, I not only received multiple acceptances from top 20 schools, but scholarships as well. It was more than I could have ever hoped for, especially as a Round 3+ candidate.

Susan changed my entire perspective on the MBA process. From her I learned that the events in my life weren’t as important the lessons I had gleaned from them. I started to look at even supposedly insignificant events in a different light. This coupled with Susan’s insightful questions helped me create a strong narrative around my drivers for pursuing an MBA and my post-MBA goals.

Susan’s grasp of my personality combined with her deep knowledge of the different MBA programs made her an excellent advisor at every stage. Her feedback was instrumental in ensuring my essays communicated my qualities and plans effectively. She iterated on the drafts with me until I felt good about what I turned in. If I was having trouble finding any information on universities, she was able to suggest programs or activities I might have missed in my research.

I really appreciated Susan's thoroughness and promptness during the review process. I had been talking to her on and off for sometime, but when I decided to apply, I only had one month to turn around 5 applications. Susan gave me the confidence to meet those deadlines and hustled with me through the entire process.

She did a mock session with me before each interview and gave me feedback to better articulate my responses and boost my confidence. Once I received offers, she was quick to jump on a call and help me weigh the pros and cons. Having been on the admissions side herself, she was also able to help me communicate with the different schools during this time.

I’m now thrilled to be attending Berkeley-Haas.

I couldn’t have asked for a better counselor than Susan. She is kind and empathetic but not afraid to give you the tough love you need to reach your potential. She went above and beyond and was truly with me till the end, cheering me on. I’m so grateful and I couldn't have done it without her. I highly recommend her and the Stratus team!

Read More

I applied to joint degrees at various top 10 schools but had limited work experiences (2 years), was in between jobs, and had already been at multiple jobs. Needless to say, I needed a strong story to get into my reach program.

Susan helped me build the foundation by having me brainstorm applicable stories on different themes, as well as by identifying the kind of leader I am/want to be.

Based on these, she helped me put together disparate stories to craft quite a compelling narrative, something I certainly would not have been able to do at the same level.

She also helped me review my essays. Her astute and detail-oriented feedback proved exceedingly useful.
The result was that I got into Berkeley-Haas, my top school, and more than I could have hoped for at the outset of this process.

Thank you, Susan.

Read More

I came into the MBA process looking to make a career change. I applied during R2. The story I wanted to convey was kind of nebulous and I had a hard time definitively describing why exactly I was making the career change and was pursuing an MBA. Jennifer quickly helped me construct and clear and compelling narrative. The team at Stratus really was thorough with helping edit my essays and they all came out remarkably polished. I could not recommend Jennifer enough as with her help on a 2 school package, I got into both schools with scholarships! I don’t think I would have gotten the scholarship without their guidance throughout the application process – from the interview prep to the essay corrections, to the overall brainstorming sessions to construct the application narrative. My sister who went through the MBA application process with the Stacy Blackman firm and remarked that Stratus was much more accessible, responsive, and had more resources than what she got. Overall I could not be more thrilled with my choice of Jennifer and Stratus, and with the scholarship, it was an investment that paid huge dividends!

Read More

I had the chance to work with Meridith/Stratus on my application for business school. I chose the 3 class package however only applied to one school - Stern, mainly because I knew I was going to go to a part time program in NYC, but also wanted to get the experience of networking/camaraderie.

For the essay writing process, Meridith/Stratus had a very detailed rubric that they ask the candidate to fill out which forced me to dig deep into my past and why business school was right for me now. Through the process, Meridith was available around my schedule to help me formulate some of those reasons. She was able to extract details that I forgot I had, which later proved to be a crucial part of my essay. Given that it was only 500 words, I needed to make sure that my framework was concise, yet detailed enough to give the adcom color around why I was a great candidate. Meridith was able to keep me on point and paint a picture of my background that gave Stern the most transparent clarity into "why me".

This rubrik took around 3-4 weeks to complete as there were 5-6 iterations and sections. While it seemed onerous at the time, it gave me the chance to extract the necessary details that eventually made it into my essay.

I couldnt recommend Meridith any more highly than I do. I don't think that I couldve written the essay in a manner that was fit for Stern that wouldve put my best foot forward. This is partially because of the amount of details that are important that I didnt realize were.

For anyone looking to apply - working with Meridith will position you to standout from other applicants in ways you didn't know were possible

Read More

When I decided last minute to apply for schools this year, I talked to a number of consultants before finding Susan. After the initial consult, I knew that Susan would go the extra mile to really listen to my story and find ways to bring out the best aspects of it.

As part of a multi-school package, we worked together to outline important milestones and distill my motivations down to their key elements. Her guidance was crucial to putting together a compelling narrative and bridging the gap between the career I was coming from and my plans for the future. Her insight was thoughtful, articulate, and measured; she'll tell it like it is.

When it came time to put the application together, Susan and the Stratus team were prompt to deliver feedback on resumes, essay drafts, and overall strategy. She will work with you endlessly until you have something you'd be proud to submit. Every base was covered, from developing realistic post-MBA goals to advice in approaching your recommenders to live interview prep. The result - In addition to Yale and Kellogg, I was admitted to Booth, my dream school, with scholarship! Though it's easy to speculate on the outcome without a consultant,
I'm confident that Susan and Stratus were the difference maker when it came to the scholarship.

In Susan you will find a warm and generous counselor, a trusted voice throughout the process, and a champion in your corner who will help you put forth the best application possible. She is highly recommended!

Read More

After taking the GMAT at the beginning of September, I decided to move up my MBA time-frame a year and apply R2 for Class of 2022. Surfing through various websites, I scheduled a couple of free consults. The first was with the associate of a popular admissions consultant. I am happy with direct feedback and tough love, but referring to their clients as 'kids' turned me off massively and soured the idea of an admissions consultant altogether. However, I had already lined up my consult call with Susan and figured it was in my interest to speak with her. Oh my god. What a difference. Susan and I clicked on SO many different things and we flew way over the scheduled 30 minutes. The moment that call ended I knew if I were to use a consultant, it would be Susan. I ended up going with the 4-school package to diversify my options, but targeted Fuqua from the get-go (another plus for Susan given her wealth of experience in admissions there.)

My undergraduate was in a foreign language, and I've worked in sales (not very strategy / corporate business-savvy role or group of people) in Asia. Zero healthcare experience, despite that being my target industry post-grad. Susan had me lay out all of my stories from birth to present, highlighting overarching stories to keep in mind throughout the entire process. While Susan was my main point of contact, Jennifer Jackson (another Stratus consultant - fantastic too btw) also popped in to give an unbiased opinion. Ultimately we nailed stories down to clearly show why a move into healthcare is logical for me.

Alongside the above, we made a robust resume, pulling on my work-stories, tweaking to highlight any sort of leadership (formal or informal).

Tackling essays was very structured. I connected with students (often times Susan connecting me with previous clients at my target schools) to get info on each school. Using those notes and my own research, I created templates for each essay. Templates got a couple of edits from Susan, and a final look-over from Jennifer. The actual essay drafts were then super easy to write. Having the foundation of the outline, it was easy to knock out the writing. Susan was super fast with her edits, all of which I accepted without hesitation as she knew (and knows) my voice. Any questions I had on edits we talked it out quickly and efficiently. All essays were read over a school-specific advisor, who often gave very helpful insight that I used to tweak each essay. Finally, essays got proofed by a formal third party and were ready to submit.

With the bulk of the application done, Susan looked over my final applications and caught any stupid mistakes I may have made.

The comprehensive process for multiple schools helped me also tackle other schools confidently. Interviews began rolling in. Susan provided me a list of practice questions, compiled by all of the Stratus consultants. She took the time to do mock interviews with me, giving really helpful feedback (especially given I had to do Skype interviews from Asia.)

End result? I got into Fuqua, my dream school, with a merit-based scholarship coming in at just under half tuition. Thinking things through objectively at the moment, but everything is looking to come up Duke in the end. Without Susan, Jennifer, and the rest of the Stratus team behind the scenes, I would not have achieved this result.

Anyone looking to use an MBA consultant, I highly recommend the Stratus team, and especially Susan. 

Read More