Lisa Cummings

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

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.

Stratus also provided second readers for my essays, which was invaluable. These second opinions mirrored the way applications get read in real life by the admissions officers, and challenged me to address any blind spots within my work.

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.

I HIGHLY recommend Lisa for your MBA application journey. I did significant due diligence with ALL of the admissions consulting firms/consultants, and knew right away that Lisa & the whole Stratus Admissions team was the real deal. Lisa’s greatest strength is that she’s not afraid to tell you what you NEED to hear. I personally attest to the outstanding coaching & mentorship Lisa provided.

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/seven 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 another 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 scholarships, collectively) and waitlisted by the other 2. I’ll be attending an M7 (with a 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.

Lisa was an absolute superstar through this entire process, and beyond. She not only did an amazing job of guiding me through voicing my own story, but helped me create an amazing application for school but also aiding 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.

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 time 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 with 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.

Overall, Stratus was a great investment toward my MBA admissions and Lisa Cummings is awesome to work with. I applied to six schools total R1, two using Stratus. I interviewed with 5/6, was accepted by 3/6 with $$-$$$, and was waitlisted at 1/6. I will be attending an M7 with an $80k scholarship next year (one of the schools I worked on with Lisa).

After months of debating whether I should hire an admissions consultant and setting up informational interviews with multiple companies (including Stacy Blackman, Fortuna, MBAMission, Career Protocol, and MBA Prep School), I ultimately chose Stratus for their team-based approach to reviewing candidates’ materials and the fact that their consultants were realistic but optimistic. What turned me off about some of the other consulting firms during the initial calls was that they took one look at my profile (F/Asian/Consulting) and my GMAT score (720) and discouraged me from applying to certain schools. This wasn’t the case at Stratus. Although Lisa was my primary consultant, everyone I interacted with, including Jennifer Jackson and Melisa Prevost, was extremely helpful and encouraging.

I chose to work with Lisa because she is straightforward and efficient yet thorough (and yes, I could get this from our introduction call). We spent the spring brainstorming and developing my story and resume. She made sure to capture my entire story in a thoughtful manner. She also ensured that I did enough of my own research on the schools so I knew what I was getting into when applying to each. Then, over the summer we worked on multiple iterations of my admissions essays. This phase was the most valuable part of the experience. Lisa quickly turned around drafts of my essays (1-2 business days) and provided incisive feedback. After we finished my essays, she sent them to an unbiased school expert for a final review. In the fall, Lisa conducted mock interviews which prepared me for all of the schools I applied to. When it came to making my decision between schools, all of the introspection and reflection I had done in the spring made my decision easy.

Lisa is super responsive and flexible. She caters to your style (I preferred occasional check-in calls with frequent emails). She was always available to answer any of my questions, particularly as I was filling out my applications. She also went above and beyond – even though I only worked with her in two schools, she provided tips and advice for the other schools I applied to as well.

While hiring an admissions consultant can certainly be pricey, I think it is well worth the investment to have a team of professionals supporting you along the way. It is also a small cost in exchange for peace of mind throughout the process (i.e, essentially a project manager to keep you on track and an editor to help you review), and in my case, help to get into my dream school with a significant scholarship.

Lisa was an incredible pleasure to work with. I had a low GPA due to several health issues through college, and Lisa knew exactly how to structure my applications to speak to them in a constructive light, which paid incredible dividends. She was also a great resource for gut-checking my assumptions and feelings; she didn’t shy away from letting me know if a given school was going to be a stretch or if another would be more in my ballpark, which I really appreciated. If you’re looking for a consultant who will give it to you straight while also being one of the greatest supporters in your journey, I couldn’t recommend Lisa enough!!

Lisa shared insights and actionable feedback throughout the application process to help me put my best foot forward from early conversations on ways to strengthen my overall profile to essay outlining and interview prep. There were a few earlier essays where Lisa was particularly helpful in identifying critical background that I needed to share with the reader in a non-industry-jargony way to best tell my story. While there are maybe three types of MBA interviews, I really appreciated the practice interview with different questions available for every school where I received an invite. Although I only planned to apply in R1, Lisa was flexible in letting me submit applications for some schools in R1 and working with me on R2.
I learned about Stratus through different organizations and from friends’ experiences but only decided on Lisa from Stratus after meeting with eight different consultants/companies. Lisa from Stratus was a great match for a multi-school full package.

For those interested in business school admissions consulting services, look no further than Lisa Cummings of Stratus Admissions Counseling. It is hard to describe how immensely helpful Lisa was in helping me apply to MBA programs this fall.

When it came to the essays, Lisa continually pushed me to uncover my personal story for WHAT my career goals were and WHY I wanted to get my MBA. She was always frank yet constructive in her feedback, something I really appreciated. She also returned her feedback very quickly; there was never a time that I could not move forward on my essays because I was waiting for a response from her.

Moreover, before I started working with Lisa, my resume was outdated and in no shape to be submitted to MBA programs. Yet Lisa’s expert insight allowed me to expand my resume where needed while removing all of the content that was unnecessary. Likewise, when I found out that I was fortunate enough to receive interviews at several MBA programs, Lisa did everything in her power to ensure I was prepared. Not only did she send me detailed, school-specific interview guides, but she also set aside time to conduct multiple mock interviews with me.

In summary, from essay writing, to resume updating, to interview preparation, Lisa proved an indispensable resource during my MBA application process. However, what impressed me most about Lisa is that I can tell that she truly CARES about her clients. After my interviews were done, it would have been easy for Lisa to simply wish me the best of luck and move on. Instead, she took the time to talk me through the decision I was making between two business schools, offering very helpful advice. Overall, for those looking into MBA admissions consulting services, you should undoubtedly consider Lisa Cummings. I promise you will not regret this decision.

I was a re-applicant to several schools this cycle and was looking for targeted hourly help on a couple of schools. Stratus’s flexible packages were just what I needed and Lisa especially was instrumental in helping me put my best foot forward the second time around. Haas was one of the schools I received direct help on and ended up getting accepted with a scholarship. Lisa was a great counselor and supporter throughout the process – from helping me update my Resume, to developing coherent & concise essays, to Interview preparation. Moreover, I always felt that Lisa was very flexible in he approach and available to support me in any way possible. I would highly recommend Lisa and the Stratus Admissions team.

I come from a nontraditional background and underestimated my strengths when comparing myself to other candidates with traditional MBA backgrounds. Lisa understood who I was and what I would bring to an MBA class immediately. She helped me formulate a pitch that was true, cohesive, and compelling. She gave me the (often tough) feedback I needed to hear and always got back to me quickly and with concise notes. With Lisa, I was able to create essays that I was extremely proud of and certainly wouldn’t have iterated to on my own. I truly feel like I submitted my absolute best application possible school thanks to Lisa’s help. I would highly recommend Lisa to anyone who is serious about putting the work in to craft their best possible application.

When applying for business school, I was most anxious about writing essays that had the power to tell admissions exactly who I was in the matter of a few hundred words. Working with Stratus, and Lisa in particular, gave me confidence knowing I put my absolute best forward in a clear and coherent way for admissions. Lisa was an easy choice given her extensive experience working in admissions herself. Her feedback not only gave me a second set of eyes on my essays but more importantly, comments and questions an admissions rep at my target school would also have. Lisa was instrumental in keeping me on track in terms of deadlines and really lessened my anxiety around the process, knowing I had someone to provide unbiased, holistic feedback on my application. Lisa took me through every step of uncovering my whole story for “why business school” so by the time I interviewed I could recite my true “why” like the back of my hand with confidence. Outside of essay and story strategy, Lisa also helped me finetune my resume and interview skills – both things I already felt really strong in. She added value where I did not think I needed any help and was there as my support cheering me on through the daunting process. I worked with Lisa on 3 schools and was accepted at all 3 (Tuck, Booth, Kellogg). Finally, I would say Lisa is flexible in her working style and will tailor her approach to your needs (i.e. working independently, following strict deadlines etc.) which really helped to be able to personalize the process. I would highly recommend Lisa and the full Stratus team.

I spent a significant amount of time researching MBA consultants. I was overwhelmed by my options and wanted to ensure that I picked the right partner given the time and financial investment required. I read hundreds of reviews and set up at least 15 phone calls with different people before finding Lisa Cummings. Initially, I was skeptical but after reading her reviews, it became apparent that Lisa is a critical thinker and excellent communicator with a proven record of helping candidates get into top MBA programs. Her relevant experience working in admissions for more than 15 years at MIT and graduating from my dream school (Cornell Johnson) was enough to catch my attention – I had to contact her. Her and I spoke on the phone. She was kind, a great listener, non-judgmental (I was embarrassed to let her know what schools I wanted to attend thinking that I’ll never get in, but she instilled a level of confidence that I hadn’t received), and extremely effective in her communication. Immediately after our phone call, I knew she was the right partner for me.

Lisa immediately understood my background, my story, and my future goals to help me craft a compelling application that presented me authentically. She was exceptional in helping me brainstorm and come up with ideas that would showcase me through each part of my application. She answered all my questions and provided quick turnarounds on all my materials. I remember handing my essays to Lisa thinking “I don’t see how she can fix them. They are pretty good!” but her critical thinking skills and honest feedback were instrumental in crafting and fine tuning my best responses. She provided me with on-going edits, feedback, and ideas until each part of my application was exceptional (essays, short answer questions, Statement of Purpose, Resume, and interview prep) and she was fantastic at keeping my writing, concise, clear, but still genuinely authentic.

I was impressed with Lisa’s ability to dig deep to help uncover my unique story and develop my strategy to stand out amongst the thousands of MBA applicants. I was confident with my applications and felt even better after working with her on interview prep. I was provided with on-going support from the start to the end by both her and her firm (Stratus Admissions) and felt I presented myself in a unique, humble, and genuine manner to the adcoms.

Lisa and her entire team’s efforts throughout the entire process were superb. I felt supported by a collective village that rooted for me and looked out for my best interest. My essays were looked at by multiple consultants at Stratus and an editor, so I was confident that I submitted my best application. This was a huge advantage of working with her and the firm.

I received interviews at both schools that I applied to. Lisa’s interview prep resources helped me tremendously by feeling confident going into the final day. I ultimately got accepted to my dream school (Cornell) and I could not imagine having gone through this process without her and the team.

My advice to those searching for the top MBA consultants – you will not regret working with Lisa and if I could do it again, I would. She is extremely competent with a magnificent eye for detail and story development. This is what separates a great candidate from an exceptional one (remember the adcoms reads thousands of applications). Selecting a consultant is overwhelming but I assure you that if you work with her, you will feel as confident as I did walking into your interview at your dream school!

Lisa is an amazing consultant and an excellent coach for prospective MBA candidates. As a Forte Foundation MBALaunch participant, I had access to various consulting companies via webinars starting in February. Through watching these webinars and doing phone screenings with multiple consulting companies, I decided that the Stratus Personal Strategy format, their four-school guarantee, and their proven success record made Stratus the best consulting partner for me to work with. I had heard Lisa speak on the Forte webinars and her personality and background made her the perfect match for me. I signed up with Stratus in February and therefore had eight months to work on my applications before the round one deadline.

Working with Lisa was a terrific experience. Lisa’s many years of experience were evident throughout the process; she understood exactly how to be supportive and uplifting while still pushing me to be more reflective in my work. While I was studying for the GMAT Lisa helped me determine what schools to send my scores to, based on my practice test scores, and what work I could focus on during study breaks. When my “why MBA” story was too fuzzy, she helped ask guiding questions to get to the heart of what I wanted to do. She encouraged me to find job descriptions of post-MBA and 10-year-old roles to help me connect the dots of how an MBA would enable me to meet my career goals. These steps made writing my application essays and answer interview questions much easier because I had a clear vision for my future.

During the application-writing phase, Lisa worked with me to ensure my personal story was as strong as possible. She provided constructive feedback on every essay while ensuring that she did not change my voice or writing. Additionally, she pushed me to research the programs in deeper detail, enabling me to write a better essay and make a deeper connection with the programs.
Lisa worked with my schedule throughout the process, always going out of her way to make availability early in the mornings or late at night to accommodate my work schedule. During interview preparation, Lisa conducted several mock interviews with me and helped ensure my answers were program-specific. Finally, Lisa was there for me as a neutral party as I made my choice between 6 top programs, giving me feedback on how each program aligned with my goals. Her support, patience, and guidance were critical to helping keep me confident and calm during the MBA application process and I would highly recommend her to others!

I could not be happier with my choice to work with Lisa Cummings and Stratus in my MBA application process! I was not ready to financially commit to a comprehensive consulting package, so I booked the 5hr package with Lisa after speaking with a few different companies. Lisa was extremely respectful of my need to make the most out of each hour with her, and even suggested ways to do so along the way. At the end of my 5hr package, I was so pleased with Lisa’s help that I purchased an additional hr to support interview prep.

In all our interactions, Lisa provided incredibly direct, specific, and actionable feedback, truly looking to maximize my gain. For example, we had a half-hour call to discuss the goals I wanted to portray in my application, and the feedback she gave me during that time was enough for me to go off and do 5+ hours of work on my own before circling back with her.

Lisa also made it very clear that she was happy to work in whatever workflow was best for me. This ended up being mainly email during the essay writing period and, with each chunk of her constructive feedback, my essay improved drastically draft over draft (the improvements were much larger than they were when I just edited my own work or sent it out to friends or family for review). Lisa took the time upfront to understand my interests, background, and goals and kept it in mind with every set of feedback she provided. She also was often able to pinpoint inconsistencies or “fluff” within my essays that I wasn’t able to identify myself – this made my submissions content-rich and still within the tight word limit.

When interviews came along, Lisa was fantastic at really making our practice interviews feel real, and once again gave me loads of concise, actionable feedback that I directly used during my various interviews.

I really appreciate Lisa for putting in the effort to at first understand where I was at in the application process, catering her approach to maximize my benefit, and providing direct feedback that I could act on right away. She was a great coach in that she did not write my essays or “hand hold” me in any way, but pushed me to carve out the best version of my applications myself. I highly suggest working with an admissions consultant, specifically Lisa, who can provide an objective third party eye to your application content. I received admissions offers from my top schools, and don’t think my applications would have been as strong without her advising.

When I was looking for a consultant, I knew I wanted someone who would help me uncover my story. Lisa did that – she would ask me questions to help figure out the best way to tell my story. Whenever I had ideas about how to structure my essays or the examples I wanted to share, she would talk through them with me and challenge me to strengthen my thoughts. Additionally, her insights into the programs I was applying to were really helpful for framing my story in the most productive way so it still felt true to me, but would make sense to admissions. Finally, Lisa is very responsive and supportive. The application process can be overwhelming, but Lisa made it feel very manageable.

I would also add that the Stratus personal strategy process is a really helpful template for reflecting and the numerous rounds of review on essays made me feel like I was truly putting forward my best possible work. I felt clear about the steps I needed to take to successfully submit applications.

I wound up with offers with scholarships from an M7 and 4 T15s, which I know Lisa played a very important role in. She really cares about the results of those she works with and puts in the extra time and effort to help us succeed. I’d very much recommend working with Lisa!

I interviewed 6 MBA application advisory firms before selecting Stratus because of their proven track record of success, their team-oriented operating model, and their support for women. As a Forte Foundation member, I saw Stratus present in multiple webinars, conferences, and office hours sessions. Every interaction with one of their Stratus reps was productive and positive.

Within Stratus, Lisa had the most relevant experience with my target schools at the top MBA programs. I worked with Lisa for 6 months during my MBA application journey and was thoroughly impressed by her expertise in the industry, her targeted feedback, and her kind demeanor. She frequently responded with detailed feedback within 12 hours (well within the Stratus SLA) and, most importantly, she challenged me to produce even higher-quality results for my essays and short answers. On principle, Lisa was a true professional coach because she did not write any material on my behalf, but coached me in a tailored manner and challenged many of the initial assumptions that I had.

The MBA application process is a reflective journey that happens to produce an application as a result. I received an overwhelming amount of advice during this journey (from admissions committees, current MBA students, alumni, family, friends, non-MBA grad students, online blogs, YouTube videos…) which meant it was critical to have a trusted advisor who could cut through the noise and represent my best interest. I am grateful for the relationship that I’ve built with Lisa, and would highly recommend her! At a minimum, I recommend that you sign-up for Stratus’ newsletter and one of their webinars.

The admissions process is long and demanding. As a foreigner and quite older than the average applicant, it was clear to me that contracting an admissions counselor was an investment, not an expense. I evaluated carefully different admission consultants: Stratus stood out among all due to their personalized approach and their substantial expertise. I feel they really listened to my personal needs and concerns; for example, I requested to interview my potential counselor to provide my approval before starting the engagement and they were happy to accommodate it.
I finally signed up for the two schools package and was paired up with Lisa Cummings as my primary advisor. I could not be happier! Lisa went the extra mile to understand my background and goals and ensured I presented my best self through the application package.
Lisa’s expertise and outstanding commitment were key to successfully navigate through Stratus sound methodology that supports the entire process – from school/program search to decision – and to take full advantage of the excellent support materials, including timelines and templates for essays.
The pieces of Stratus methodology that I valued the most are the introspection and the strategy exercises. They helped me uncover my own personal key background themes/strengths/motivations and define the best personal strategy to differentiate myself and put together a coherent and strong application.
I found this work to be not only helpful for the application but also for my future job search. I was assigned a strategy advisor as well to work on that piece with me and Lisa. My strategy advisor was Susan Cera who in my opinion did an excellent job not only with the strategy definition but also boosting my confidence.
Lisa also went the extra mile diligently and untiringly keeping my application package aligned to strategy, improving my writing, proofreading my essays and resume, coordinating additional proofreading by other experts, keeping the schedule to meet the deadlines, turning around work faster than committed to give me extra time for my own reviews and last but not least, giving me peace of mind throughout the process since I felt I was working in the right direction together with the best support there is.
I enthusiastically recommend Lisa Cummings and Stratus. I believe Lisa Cummings great empathy, commitment and expertise, and Stratus customer focus and sound methodology were key to my success.

Lisa is the best admissions and career consultant I’ve worked with!! Here is a brief background of mine. I went to a liberal arts college and I majored in Economics. I was hoping to get into a solid Master of Science in Finance program so that I could concentrate on gaining technical skills. Stratus seemed to have good reviews, so I thought about giving it a try by having a conversation with one of their consultants first (the first session was free) I ended up speaking with Lisa over the phone during my first session, and I knew I wanted to work with her immediately after our call.
If you are interested in going to a top business school, I highly recommend Lisa for three reasons. Firstly, Lisa truly helped me visualize my goals and understand the long-term value of a business school. Lisa has great work and life experiences. In fact, she went to work in finance also after a liberal arts education. Lisa perfectly understood my goals and concerns at this stage in life, and she guided me like a mentor. Secondly, Lisa is extremely professional and dedicated. As you know, it can take several months from application submission to admission decision. Lisa stayed on top of everything throughout the process, including a random thought of mine. For example, I had this idea of coming up with something creative to impress the admissions committee, but I wasn’t sure what would be the best form to deliver it. Lisa heard it and loved my idea of making a video. She was the person who helped me implement this idea and put it into real action. It turned out to be a big success. Finally, Lisa has a wonderful personality!! If you work with her, you will be charmed by her wisdom and thoughtfulness. I am thankful to have her as my admissions consultant and I hope to stay in touch with her!!

I highly recommend Stratus overall and in particular would recommend Lisa Cummings who helped coach me through essays, resume, and interview prep. I was accepted into MIT and believe she was essential to that process. Lisa was firm in her direction and keeping me on pace, yet patient with my more nuanced questions that came up. A good consultant is not writing your essay or resume but is ensuring you are presenting the best possible version of yourself. Lisa taught me to think of it as a branding exercise – does your story make sense, are your themes coherent, are you speaking directly to the program of interest. I spoke with a half dozen consultants plus two at Stratus before making a decision. These types of services are not cheap so it is essential you find someone that you can work well with and understands the program you’re interested in. The staff is very flexible and responsive and have a very refreshing approach to how they handle clients compared to other services – mainly that the consultants do not handle the sales and pricing conversations, which I found in other programs often made me feel like I was buying a used car. I found a package that worked best for me and do not regret it one bit.