About MBA Admissions Counselors

Donna Bauman

Donna Bauman

Hi, I’m Donna Bauman, Northwestern Kellogg MBA and former admissions committee member with more than 15 years of experience on the school side and roughly ten years on the MBA consulting side.

I’m a Senior MBA Admissions Counselor at Stratus.

Let’s Talk!  

Learn More About Me

Academic Background

  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, BSBA
  • Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, MBA

Experience

Admissions Consulting

I have coached clients to acceptances at all M7 programs as well as all the top MBA programs in the United States, Europe, and Canada.

My clients have received scholarship offers totaling over $6M.

I was recognized by Poets&Quants as one of a small group of MBA admissions consultants with a perfect customer satisfaction rating.

Admissions Committee

I gained internal insight on the MBA admissions process while spending 15 years reviewing thousands of applications and conducting thousands of interviews as part of the UNC Kenan-Flagler admissions committee.

Post-MBA

I served as the associate director of UNC Kenan-Flagler’s undergraduate business program, where I built its career development and co-curricular offerings.

I also helped open two restaurants, and I earned a natural chef certification.

As a Leadership Story Lab Certified Story Facilitator, I help applicants present themselves in the most compelling way.

Pre-MBA

After working at Morgan Stanley for two years, I spent three years at advertising agencies in New York City working on campaigns for global brands including Maxwell House, Corningware, Pyrex, and Corelle.

We’ll Work Well Together If…

  • You need help developing a compelling MBA story narrative. I have worked with clients from every background, and I use my business storytelling expertise to help my clients share their most authentic and compelling MBA narrative.
  • You are an undergraduate interested in applying to deferred MBA programs. My background working with undergrad business students has equipped me to offer guidance in preparing for these special programs.
  • You are an international applicant. I previously managed admissions decisions for Chinese, Korean, and Japanese applicants, and I reviewed thousands of applications from Indian candidates while working at UNC Kenan-Flagler.
  • You are an athlete. I am an avid tennis player and enjoy working with clients who bring an athlete’s mindset to their MBA applications.
  • You are passionate about fermentation. Ask me about my failed attempt at fermenting fish sauce!

What My Clients Say About Working with Me

Donna made a huge difference in my application journey. She pushed me to think deeper in my past experiences and made personalized suggestions on which schools/programs are the best fit for me and my career goals.

MBA Class of 2027

Donna is an amazing admissions counselor, and went above and beyond to support me as I navigated the MBA application process. From the very beginning, she was warm, kind, and expressed a genuine interest in getting to know me and my career goals. Through her guidance, I was accepted to multiple schools with scholarship offers.

MBA Class of 2027

Donna goes above and beyond in preparing you, whether it’s advising on overall application strategy, helping curate/pressure-test essays/personal storytelling, or interview prep. She was patient and empathetic with me while keeping firm accountability on progress.

MBA Class of 2027

Throughout this entire process, Donna has been more than a consultant—a mentor and a friend. Working with Donna on my applications was one of the best decisions I have ever made! If you want to put your best foot forward—I would highly recommend Donna.

MBA Class of 2025

Above all else though, the thing about Donna that I believe truly sets her apart from any other consultant is how much she cares.
Working with Donna through Stratus on a four-school package was the best decision I made during the MBA application process.
[Donna’s] guidance made the process far more manageable, especially when it came to understanding the unknowns of the application and interview process. I’m truly grateful for her insight, responsiveness, and unwavering support throughout the process—it made all the difference.

MBA Class of 2027

[Donna] helped me craft a narrative that was not only authentic and personal but also strategically framed to show admissions committees who I really am—beyond just numbers and credentials].

MBA Class of 2026

Working with Donna definitely increased my application material quality, and I loved the team-based approach where I got brutally honest feedback from multiple perspectives. I was able to land at multiple M7 schools including one of my top choices and couldn’t be happier with the outcome!

MBA Class of 2027

From helping build my essays to preparing for interviews, Donna was a pillar of support throughout the process. With Donna’s help, I was able to get admits to multiple M7 schools, most importantly, my dream school—HBS!!

Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2026

With Donna’s guidance from an end-to-end perspective, I got into three M7 programs (Booth, Kellogg, and Columbia) and all five of the other schools that I interviewed for (Yale, Tuck, Fuqua, Stern, and Cornell), including multiple scholarships, and I couldn’t be happier. If you are looking for an admissions consultant, you cannot go wrong with Donna and Stratus.

MBA Class of 2027

My Recent Blog Posts

My Press Mentions

Start Your MBA Admissions Consulting Journey with Stratus!

Learn how Stratus’s team approach can help you get accepted to your top-choice business schools. Start with a FREE consultation with one of our Admissions Counselors. Our team is ready to dive into your goals, answer your questions about your profile and the application process, and help you boost your appeal to admissions committees!

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