Stratus and Susan Cera Are Amazing!

Strengths:

See below

Would make the product better:

Nothing

Susan Cera was truly amazing to work with, as were the other members of the Stratus team who supported me throughout my MBA application process. I ultimately got into each of the schools I applied to—several of which felt like “reaches” when I first began—and I don’t think I could’ve done it without Susan and Stratus.

Susan is a true expert at her job and helped me effectively navigate every aspect of the MBA application process, which is time-intensive and can feel daunting at times. She was there every step of the way, rolling up her sleeves alongside me as I shaped my narrative, wrote my essays, drafted my applications and resume, prepared for interviews, and ultimately decided which school to attend. Every time I faced a situation I wasn’t sure how to approach, Susan knew exactly what to do. From the very beginning, she took the time to truly get to know me—spending months before I even started writing essays helping me think through my professional, personal, and educational experiences, my values, and my future goals, and tying those together into a cohesive narrative. She did an amazing job of helping me recognize themes in my life that hadn’t been top of mind but that are very true to who I am and ultimately shaped much of my application process. She worked tirelessly alongside me as I translated those themes into cohesive essays and applications that genuinely reflected who I am, and later as I prepared for interviews. I felt like I had Susan’s full attention the entire time—she was incredibly responsive; we often spoke multiple times per week and iterated on my essays several times each week. She put tremendous effort and thought into every aspect of my application and interview process and provided insightful feedback that helped me frame and elevate many parts of my application in more effective ways.

Susan and Stratus have the MBA admissions process down to a science—not in a cookie-cutter way, but in a way that is highly personal and provides the structure, methodology, and resources that enabled me to navigate a complex, multi-step, months-long process. Susan broke everything down into discrete steps, each with resources and guidance to help me approach it correctly—from brainstorming relevant life experiences, conducting school research, and developing my key themes and application strategy, to crafting my MBA resume, briefing my recommenders, writing my essays and applications, and preparing for interviews. I felt in control at every stage because I knew exactly what I needed to do and what to expect next. Stratus brings together so many unique resources from its years of experience—I not only worked closely with Susan, but also received feedback at multiple points from Melisa and Lisa as I refined my narrative and prepared for interviews, as well as from reviewers who are experts in each school’s application. I also had the opportunity to connect with past Stratus clients and students at my target schools to learn directly from their experiences.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed working with Susan, feel like she really got to know me personally and really invested in my success. I could not recommend working with her and Stratus more highly.