I purchased the MBA Two-School Consultation Package after being referred by a coworker. His recommendation was the best advice I could have received. As someone coming from outside of the business world, I did not know what I did not know. Lisa was incredibly patient, providing guidance at every step. She quickly identified what I was looking for, what I wanted to convey with my essays/interviews, and how to accurately show my strengths to the admissions committee. With the help of the Stratus team, I was accepted to four of the five schools that I applied to, for all of which I was near the bottom for GMAT/GPA, and I firmly believe that this would not be the case without their assistance. I highly recommend their products to anyone interested in pursuing an MBA.

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I give my highest recommendation to Lisa Cummings from Stratus. I was an unprepared non-traditional applicant and enlisted her help late in the application process. I was accepted to 3/4 MBA programs that I applied to, including an M7, T10, and T15. Lisa has deep knowledge of the admissions process for premier MBA programs and explains what is important to each school and why. Communication and advice from Lisa was fast, direct, and clear. She is persistent and pushed me to make progress and meet deadlines, which I needed. She excels at listening to and understanding your background and goals and recommending how to leverage that in your applications (resume, essays, LORs, interview, etc).

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I chose to work with Lisa at Stratus because of her experience working with transitioning veterans. She made the application process as stress-free as possible, and did an excellent job identifying my individual strengths, and making sure I highlighted those in my essays. She edited my essays quickly and gave great feedback, significantly improving the quality of my writing. She was also very helpful during the interview stage, ensuring I was prepared and comfortable for my interviews. She was always willing to hop on a call and discuss any concerns I had, and even accommodated difficult time zones as I was deployed to Asia. I strongly recommend Lisa to anyone who is applying to business school, especially if you are transitioning out of the military.

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Lisa was truly an incredible admissions consultant!! She is thorough, personable, and takes the time to give deep, constructive feedback to help you build your story. I did hourly services and she does not include time spent on emails as part of that package - and she would send very lengthy (extremely helpful) emails to ensure you got every bit of feedback from her perspective. She is also very responsive and works around her schedule to make sure she gives you the time needed. Through Lisa's help, admitted to MIT Sloan with scholarship and currently invited to interviews for both HBS and GSB! I highly, HIGHLY recommend Lisa if you are looking for strong, honest assistance with MBA applications!!

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Working with Lisa was nothing short of a revelation. From the very beginning, she did more than just guide me—she unlocked the story within me, helping me see strengths I hadn’t fully realized. Her approach wasn’t about plugging details into templates; it was about digging deep, understanding who I am, and turning that into a compelling narrative that stood out.

Lisa was relentless in her pursuit of excellence. Whether it was brainstorming hidden gems from my past, refining my resume to make it sharp and concise, or giving precise, honest feedback on my essays, she always knew how to push me just hard enough to get the best out of me. And she did all this while being a constant source of support, calm, and clarity. Her dedication to my success was palpable, and it made all the difference.

If you're looking for someone to just check the boxes, move along. But if you want a partner who’ll get in the trenches with you, challenge your thinking, and help you present the best version of yourself, Lisa is the one. Thanks to her, I not only got accepted, but I walked away from the process with a clearer sense of who I am and where I’m headed.

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At the start of the process, I reached out to 3 different consultants at different companies. Lisa and Stratus stood out as clear winners; I felt confident in the Stratus offering / backing, which included help developing my story, essay iteration with a second reader, and interview prep. More importantly, I found Lisa to be genuine and easy to work with.

The time spent working with Lisa on shaping my story before starting essays was invaluable. I would not have had as strong of an application without her guidance at this stage in particular. When it came to essays, she always returned drafts quickly and with thoughtful suggestions. Just as important was interview prep. I valued Lisa's candor and experience as a prior interviewer. I also appreciated Stratus' Wharton TBD simulation, and know that it helped me nail the actual Wharton TBD.

With Lisa's help, I gained admission to 7 top MBA programs, with scholarships / fellowships at 3. I will be attending Wharton with a partial scholarship as part of the class of 2026

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I could not have been as successful as I was in my application process without Lisa's help! From the very beginning of my journey, Lisa provided me with helpful and much needed guidance.

What most impressed me was that she took the time to get to know me as a person and fully understand my future goals before ever putting pen to paper on any of my essays. This helped me polish my overall story, and built trust that enabled Lisa to provide very direct feedback whenever my work was not hitting the mark.

With Lisa's help throughout the busy application season, I ultimately gained admission to 7 MBA programs, many of them with scholarship offers! I am certain I would not have been as successful without her advice along the way.

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Like many aspiring MBA applicants, I "shopped around" for an admissions consultant by listening to webinars, capitalizing on free consultations, and reading online reviews. Stratus immediately stood out to me not only because of their team-based approach and proven track record of success, but also because they were the one counseling team that encouraged me to apply to reach programs and didn't try to use scare tactics on me. I had a 'fit' call with Lisa and knew that her experiences and personality were exactly what I wanted from an admissions consultant.

I could easily write paragraphs upon paragraphs about how truly invaluable she was to my application process, but I'll focus on what I found to be the four greatest benefits of working with Lisa.

1. Refining My Story - Whether MBA hopefuls like to admit it or not, your story is a major part of your application. Lisa pushed me to develop an air-tight story that logically conveyed where I'm at (pre-MBA), where I want to be (post-MBA), and how I'm going to get there (through the MBA). I had moments where I was tired of answering the constant "Why? Why? Why?" questions that seemed to follow every statement of mine, but it was these questions that built the foundation of my applications. She also helped me strategize how to best incorporate my story throughout my application, not just the essays. Without Lisa, my story and subsequently my applications would not have been near as strong as they were.

2. Polishing Essays - I wrote an average of six drafts for every essay I submitted (note that I didn't even start drafting until multiple iterations of an outline were reviewed). Lisa provided timely and THOROUGH feedback for every single draft. Her feedback went beyond surface-level comments and provided real value to my essays - she told me where I needed to show versus tell, pointed out if my essays didn't reflect enough school research, noted where phrasing needed to be improved, etc. There were times at which I was very close to accepting an essay that was "good enough," but Lisa pushed me to submit the best version possible of every essay. I can look back at this application cycle and be proud of everything I submitted because Lisa challenged me to do my best work.

3. Interview Prep - Though getting an interview invite from a school is something to celebrate, my happiness would quickly turn into panic. I have always struggled with interviews and knew they would be a major challenge for me. I shared my concerns with Lisa and she went above and beyond in helping me prepare for them. She sent me interview guides, which included commonly asked questions, for every school I was interviewing with. Additionally, she set up multiple mock interviews to provide me with the opportunity to practice answering interview questions. She provided excellent feedback during these sessions, which helped calm my nerves during the actual interviews.

4. Genuine Care - If there was a single reason I'd recommend working with Lisa, it is because she genuinely cares about you as both an applicant and a person. I lost both my uncle and grandma while applying to business school and consequently fell behind on some of my applications. Lisa (and other member of the Stratus team) were so understanding and worked overtime to help me submit my applications by the deadline. I can't put into words how much it meant to me when the Stratus team rallied behind me to help me through what was a very difficult time.

I applied to 6 schools across the T15 and was ultimately accepted by 4 of them (with over $340,000 in scholarship, collectively) and waitlisted by the other 2. I'll be attending an M7 (with scholarship!) this fall and I could not have done it without Lisa or the Stratus team. I know the thought of hiring an admissions consultant can be daunting as they do come with a price tag, but I can personally attest to Lisa being more than worth it. You only do your MBA once and I knew I wanted to get into the best school I could, and Lisa helped me do just that.

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Lisa was an absolute superstar through this entire process, and beyond. She did an amazing job of guiding me through voicing my own story that not only helped me create an amazing application for school, but also aided me as I reflected on life and what I wanted from my future, all without being overly hands-on. I cannot thank her enough for everything. After I was accepted, she then continued to make herself available as I spoke through a few important decisions. It felt as though she were a mentor and even a friend by the end of the process.

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I received several M7 acceptances with Lisa's help. Her biggest strength is that she will help you put your best foot forward on each application and every interview you will get.
Lisa understands admissions at b-schools. She has years of experience in admissions at a top business school. She understands what admissions offices look for in b-school candidates.
Lisa is excellent at identifying your strengths, weaknesses, and story. She spends a great deal of time learning about you, your background, what makes you tick, accomplishments you are proud of, and the strengths to highlight and the weaknesses to minimize on your application. This personal touch, tied in with her deep knowledge of b-school admissions, is an excellent combination to create a winning formula to present yourself exactly how b-schools want to see their applicants presented.
Lisa holds no punches and drills into your story, essays, and interview answers. She isn't going to let you slide with anything that isn't your best. She's going to point it out, and work with you to make it your best. However, she communicates in a very effective way. She conveys her critiques less as criticisms and more as opportunities. You feel empowered and excited when she tells you that you can make something better.
Lisa is always available to you. She responds to emails quickly and always makes times for calls to explain the nuances of some of her ideas and the business school requirements.
Stratus has excellent resources, including experts on all of the major b-schools. Lisa routinely shared my essays and ideas with school experts who were able to provide valuable feedback to tweak a few things to capture the spirit of the individual programs.
The most difficult aspect of the interviews is the unknowns. What questions will they ask? What answers do they want to hear? How much of the school should I discuss? Lisa provided me school specific questions and completed a mock interview with me and offered to continue doing mock interviews for each school. I walked into each of my interviews having already heard each question they could ask, practiced answering them, and received feedback on what I did well and what I could improve. I knocked my interviews out of the park because of that.
The best investment is an investment in yourself. Get into the best b-school you can. Use Lisa to help you achieve that.

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