Background: Caucasian female, 5 years of experience (2 years investment banking, 3 years private equity), GMAT: 690
Results: Accepted to Booth, Kellogg and Tuck

April was the guiding force for me throughout my MBA application process and was a true advisor and friend along the way. From the onset, April provided the perfect balance of “tough love” that I needed to be held accountable yet feel supported in the process. When there were weeks I needed to study for the GMAT or prioritize work, she gave me the space to do so and updated our calendar accordingly. When time was getting tight, she was honest and held me to our deadlines. This balance and her approach gave me the structure to make progress on my applications without feeling overwhelmed or behind during busy weeks.

This balance of serving as a sound advisor and supportive friend extended throughout the process, from essay writing to interview preparation. As I worked through brainstorming my essay topics, April helped pull out pieces of my “story” she thought would be interesting to focus on. As I iterated drafts with her, she was never afraid to be honest when things weren’t clicking and to ask thoughtful questions to help move me along and solidify my points. She helped me effectively communicate my values, what in my life shaped these values, how I have leveraged them in my career, and how I plan to in the future by asking tough questions and talking through my responses. The process not only helped me write an essay I was very proud of, but also allowed me to better understand myself and my motivators. This guidance extended throughout my application – from ensuring my resume was data-dense and focused on quantifying my accomplishments, to running through several mock interviews and pushing me regardless of how prepared I felt, her guidance was instrumental to my success.

April was also extremely professional throughout our time working together. She was responsive and organized and always made the deadlines she set. She was always open to schedule a call to chat through things and always provided comprehensive feedback, regardless of the number of iterations she had already reviewed of an essay, resume or short answer. Her patience and commitment to working with me until my applications were great was steadfast and deeply appreciated. In summary, I cannot recommend April enough. If you are looking for someone to push and support you to drive the best MBA outcome, April is your girl!

Read More

I worked with the MBA consultant April Stewart from Gatehouse Admissions. Though it was a large investment of time and money, I truly believe April was a key factor in being admitted to business school. A bit about my background, I graduated from the University of Virginia with a 3.5 GPA and a degree in Political Science. I’ve worked in management consulting at a large firm (but not Big 4) for about 3.5 years when I applied to business school in Round 2 of 2022. I also had worked in a sales role for 1.5 years as my first job, totaling 5-years’ work experience upon application. I had some volunteering/additional leadership outside of work that I discussed. I did not have a strong quantitative background through undergraduate courses, (just micro/macroeconomics/stats with B’s). I did not apply with a GMAT/GRE score as I applied to receive a COVID Test Waiver. I applied to 7 schools to get a COVID Test Waiver and ultimately received 6, which were the 6 schools I ended up applying to in Round 2. I applied to Cornell, UNC, UT, USC, Boston College, and Michigan in Round 2. I went through a process of self-reflection and several in-depth calls with April to select which schools were right for me over about a month period. Going into working with April in early October of 2021, I had not selected any schools that I was planning to apply to ahead of time so that was part of our process of working together.

April and I had weekly calls to discuss choices for schools, strategies for applications, my career goals, talking with current students/alumni, and then further into the process reviewing specific edits on each essay, and then practicing for interviews. April was very thorough and knowledgeable about what each school was looking for regarding my essays. We easily did 15 rounds of each essay (2 per school) for the 3 schools I selected to work with her on through Gatehouse Admissions. April also helped me draft my COVID Test Waivers, additional information the school requested on extracurriculars, as well as another 15 rounds of my Resume. The process was very detailed and tedious, which is what you want in order to get your material to be the greatest it can possibly be. I then used the extensive work I did for those 3 schools and utilized that insight (and often the same wording of my story) for my other 3 school’s applications. April helped me frame my story for all of my application materials, but also for my interviews. Once I was into the interview round, April sent me 20+ interview questions for each school that past applicants had been asked, which ended up being very accurate to what I was asked in my interviews. We also did several mock interviews for each school.

Ultimately, I got into all 6 schools that I applied to, and I also received scholarship money (anywhere from 10k-70k) from all 6 of the schools. I chose to go to UNC Kenan-Flagler based on the great environment for women, consulting track, Forté scholarship money, and school atmosphere! At the beginning of the process, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to work with an MBA consultant, I had friends who had gotten into business school with and without one. I decided I would rather pay for assistance for the best possible chance to get in. I was so happy I chose to work with Gatehouse Admissions and ended up having 6 options for school selection, which I never thought would happen.

Read More

Background: Caucasian Male, 30, 8 years work experience in Media / Entertainment, GMAT: 760, Communications degree from a top 20 Undergrad (3.63 GPA)

Result: Admitted to Kellogg MMM ($), Yale SOM, NYU ($$$$)

I had the pleasure to work with April during the 20-21 admissions cycle and can say without hesitation that she is the reason I am attending business school in six weeks. From start to finish, she and the entire Gatehouse team were supportive, insightful, and (most importantly for me) extremely organized allies that elevated my application beyond what I could have ever done on my own.

For context, I came into this year’s application process relatively late – leaving only two months to prepare six applications (including HBS) after focusing my summer on attaining my target GMAT score. Knowing that I needed someone I could hit the ground running with, I spoke with five different admissions consultants hoping to find the right fit. April immediately stood out. On just our first call, it became evident that April is at once deeply empathetic and practical. In 15 minutes, she was pulling stories out of me that I hadn’t thought about or told in years – specifically probing on areas in both my professional and personal lives that became invaluable building blocks to the narrative I crafted for my applications.

This blend of empathy and practicality would become a running theme throughout our engagement. With a tight timeline and a demanding day job, every day counted. In response, April expertly walked the thin line between being emotionally supportive while keeping me accountable to the almost constant work required to brainstorm, draft, redraft, and polish the 15+ essays I set out to submit. At every step along the way, April was a reliable and thoughtful partner and, even when we were working on multiple different essays, she never once returned a draft late or without constructive feedback that took into account the “whole picture” of my application. To track and grasp the widely disparate elements of my applications and still be able to build cohesive narratives that surfaced the best parts of my story (all while I’m sure doing the same for other clients) was truly remarkable.

All that said, April’s greatest contribution to my admissions process came late in the game. After being admitted to Kellogg MMM (my #1 choice that April had actually brought to my attention during school selection), I was torn between that program and a full ride at NYU. With April’s guidance, I was able to leverage my scholarship at NYU, make a compelling case to Kellogg’s adcoms, and ultimately received a meaningful amount of money at Kellogg - sealing my decision and enabling me to go to a school I had absolutely fallen in love with.

This process can be many things - demanding, frustrating, challenging, and enlightening all at once. Having a consultant like April makes a world of difference. I couldn’t imagine being in the position I am today without her and I wholeheartedly recommend April to anyone looking for a trusted ally in their journey towards business school.

Read More

Background: Male, six years of finance experience, 332 GRE, 3.5X GPA from a T20 undergrad, pursuing media/entertainment.
Result: Accepted to four T20s with $$

April is fantastic - she helped me whip up eight applications (three paid, the rest leveraging the material we worked on together) in less than 45 days before R2 application deadlines. It was a herculean task, but April rose to the challenge - at once career coach, admissions dean, crisis manager, and spiritual leader in addition to her normal roles of editor, narrative crafter, mock interviewer, scholarship negotiator, and so much more.

At the most fundamental level, she helped me crystallize what I wanted to get from my MBA, explained some of the key distinctions between the schools I was targeting, and devised a strategy that maximized my ability to reuse the materials we worked on together to cover as much ground as possible on the applications I worked on privately. From there, we began identifying the stories and accomplishments I needed to highlight - I was feeling particularly daunted by the application process and uninspired by my achievements at that point, so we worked tirelessly on framing them properly in my resume and essays, focusing always on the specific actions I took and explaining in detail how the results were meaningful. This was difficult and uncomfortable for me, but April always provided concrete examples of how it should be done and was never shy about letting me know the quality of my work, good or bad.

At the same time, she helped me construct a credible story, reframing what I had initially considered a hodgepodge of unrelated jobs, a year-long unemployment gap, and limited extracurriculars into a carefully-curated career plan in which an MBA was the obvious next step, and then helped me sell it confidently in a three minute package to the seven schools I interviewed with. During our interview prep, we discussed the questions I would most likely receive (which were 90% spot on), and how I should answer them. She has a keen eye; for example, she noticed I was often unconsciously downplaying my accomplishments to build rapport and avoid seeming arrogant, so we worked together to frame them in a more positive light.

Beyond that, April was incredibly professional, patiently answering my questions, never missing a deadline, and checking in constantly to make sure I was staying on track. She was eminently knowledgeable about the MBA process, and I found that many of the skills and frameworks she taught, like self-reflection via the STARR method, or how to sell yourself in a negotiation, have helped put my upcoming journey into perspective. I came into the MBA application season with a lot of unanswered questions about my career, and under April’s guidance and partnership, I came away with four great opportunities and answers to those questions, and I can’t recommend her enough!

Read More