I cannot recommend Melisa enough. By the end of the 2020 R1 application cycle, I had not only gotten a full tuition scholarship to one of my top choices, I had learned a lot about myself and had become more confident in the direction of my career. From our very first call, I sensed an authenticity to Melisa that I hadn't sensed in other consultations. I started the application process with very little idea of why I wanted an MBA other than to pivot out of my current career or what the application process looked like. Stratus' process is tried and true. Throughout the first few weeks working together, we dug into experiences, events, and feelings that had mattered to me throughout my life, and, in doing so, I figured out what type of impact I wanted to have in my career. As a very private person, I was initially nervous to share some experiences because, while it was important to me, I didn't think anyone else would care. Melisa made me feel comfortable talking about myself and pushed me to think past the experience to examine why it was important to me. I felt like I was talking to someone I had known for much longer than just a few weeks. Initially, I told Melisa that I wanted to pursue consulting, and eventually, throughout the introspection process, I realized, thanks to Melisa, that another path was more aligned with my career aspirations.

Once we figured out my 'why' and 'how', Melisa helped me to nail down my story. I was worried I'd struggle to stand out as a male, finance applicant, but she helped me to leverage my personal experiences into a cohesive, unique story that pulled together my background, current career, need for an MBA, and future career aspirations. It was truly my story and I was proud of what we put together. Throughout the outlines and essay drafts, Melisa was always always always available to talk or ask questions. Every time I had an outline/essay returned, I felt like Melisa had really looked at it from an adcom perspective and provided thorough and thoughtful feedback that helped me to put my best self on paper.

After receiving interview invites, Melisa took me through a few mock interviews and provided some specific tips that really helped me to verbally communicate my story and experiences in a succinct, impactful manner. Come interview day, I felt prepared and confident in explaining the relevance of my experiences and story to an MBA and future career.

Melisa was a total pro all throughout the process. All edits and reviews were returned promptly, and in most cases early. She worked around my tricky schedule, and even made time on the weekend to help me brainstorm after we decided to scrap and restart one essay. Professional through and through.

More than anything, it really felt like Melisa was in my corner, and I am very grateful for that and all the work that she did. I would not have had the success that I did in the application process without her. She is the best and I highly recommend working with her!

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First, I took a baseline gmat and received a 550. I spent 3 months using a competitor as sole study course. I worked my way through the books in ~3 months time, studying a varied amount per day but usually at least 1hr. After finishing the course, I took a practice gmat to see where I stood. I scored a 650. Figuring I was doing ok, i continued using the competitor and continued to take practice tests, but was consistently scoring below 600. Realizing the competitor was not clicking for whatever reason, I started asking friends who had prepped for the gmat what course/material they used. A friend who I trust and received a high score recommended Target. I decided to give it a shot.

Upon starting Target, I quickly realized it was extensive and thorough. I worked my way through the program, completeing each module and each test in sequential order. I scheduled a gmat about ~70% of the way through the program and received a 620...not exactly what I was hoping for. I was pretty defeated, but I stayed with the program. After finishing the program, I used the custom test function to drill concepts and create tests that would help me improve my weakest areas. 3 months after the 620 score, I took the gmat again. I felt extremely prepared and felt like the work I had put in on Target would set me up for success on this test. I received a 48Q and 730 overall.

Target does a fantastic job breaking down each concept into its most basic components. After you work to master the fundamentals, Target does a great job on building on those fundamentals to get you confident in answering the most difficult quant problems. I ended up using Target for ~6 months. I was working full time and studying 1-2 hours per day m-f and 3-4 each saturday and sunday. I can honestly say I felt I understood every quantitive concept that the gmat was testing because of Target.

Targets was able to make material click in ways that the competitor I was using was not able to. I felt that the way that the course was structured was perfect in that it really drilled each aspect of the fundamentals until you mastered them. Once you mastered them, the course introduced more difficult questions, but provided extremely detailed video and written explanations for each concept/question that helped to explain how to break down the question into the fundamentals that the GMAT was attempting to test. These written and video explanations were thorough and I felt like I was receiving in person tutoring.

Lastly, the custom tests that you are able to create following the completion of the program was an extremely valuable tool. I felt like I was able to create new quant sections each study session from Target's bank of easy, medium, and difficult questions. These custom tests allowed me to drill home concepts, but also to nail timing that is essential to success on the gmat. On their custom tests, you can pick and choose concepts, # of questions, difficult, and time limit. The possibilities are immense and I used this tool for the last 2 months relentlessly to feel confident on test day.

As someone with a liberal arts background, quant did not come easy to me. Target took me to 48Q and I will definitely be recommending it to anyone who asks!

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