Services & Publications

Full Support Services

Our Full Support service is exactly what the name implies: we guide you through the entire MBA application process and customize our approach to fit your specific needs, timeline, target business schools, and goals. Based on your individual situation, your journey with us will likely include either all the following steps or a combination thereof:

• Making a plan: No two candidates’ timelines are the same—the schools’ deadlines differ, as do their application requirements and associated workload. And of course, each applicant’s personal work style, life circumstances, and goals also influence how the various stages should be handled and when. Keeping track of all the moving parts in the MBA application process is complicated and can for some feel like a full-time job. But this is something we have done countless times and can therefore help you craft an effective, manageable road map that will ensure you hit all the necessary milestones and apply with confidence.
  
  
• Gatehouse’s proprietary Experience Inventory (EI) Understanding who you are and what you can offer as a business school candidate is of utmost importance in the MBA application process. Our meticulously designed and time-tested EI walks you through a guided exploration of what makes you you to facilitate this necessary introspection and make the process more productive. Thoroughly inventorying your experiences, values, triumphs, and failures will reveal compelling patterns, themes, and stories that can be used to create effective essays and when preparing for interviews.
  
  
• School-candidacy calibration: Whether you already have a short list of target schools in mind, have no idea where to start, or need help culling your choices, we will help you determine your best options based on your goals, preferences, risk tolerance, and profile. And we will always be honest and transparent about what we believe your chances of admission are at your schools of interest so you can finalize your list of business schools. Finally, we will assist you in developing a strategy for getting to know the different MBA programs, from where to prioritize your outreach efforts to which resources to leverage and whom to reach out to.
  
  
• Essay strategy development and execution: MBA application essays allow you to tell the business school admissions committee who you are beyond what the bullets on your resume or your grades on a transcript can convey; you can share what motivates, challenges, and rewards you—and reveal your future potential. Using the information collected in your EI, your Consultant will work with you to determine the best approach to each essay question, which stories to include, and how to structure your essays. Then, with each new draft you provide, your Consultant will offer comments, pose questions, and suggest edits to help you craft essays that are the best possible reflection of your candidacy—no matter how many iterations are needed or how much time it takes.
  
  
• Resume Overhaul: Your MBA application resume should serve as an impressive snapshot of who you are professionally and must be approached and constructed much differently than a job search resume to have the desired impact. Our in-house tools and strategies will help you start rebuilding your resume into a powerful and engaging representation of your experiences, strengths, and accomplishments. Then, your Consultant will guide you through the revision process to ensure your final resume is strong enough to make an impression on business school admissions teams.
  
  
• Recommender/advocate strategy alignment and execution support: Because your letters of recommendation and other references are the admissions committee’s only opportunity to get to know you through someone else’s perspective, they need to convey the desired messages and be written by the right people. Your Gatehouse Consultant will help you choose the best recommenders (including how and when to use less traditional or additional advocates) and prepare them to respond to the recommendation prompts in ways that support and promote your MBA candidacy effectively.
  
  
• The smaller, but still critical, components: From one-minute “Introduce Yourself” videos to 250-character online questions to creative essays (such as one consisting almost exclusively of pictures), we have seen such application “extras” and nonstandard requests intimidate or overwhelm candidates. But we consider these additional components positives for you as an applicant because the more opportunities you have to tell the business school admissions committee about yourself, the better! We will help you optimize every single part of an MBA application down to the smallest detail, so the admissions committee sees you at your very best.
  
  
• Interview training and practice: The same energy and diligence you commit to your written application must be applied to your MBA interview. Great interviewing takes strategy and practice, followed by even more strategy and practice! The Gatehouse three-step approach ensures that you will leave nothing to chance on the big day:
  1. Independent learning and practice through our interview video series, which breaks down the core types of questions typically asked in business school interviews and models how to approach answering them
  2. Guided practice through a starting-point mock interview with your Consultant, with feedback and tactics for improvement
  3. School-specific mock interviews with your Consultant, designed to replicate a given school’s approach and using actual questions reported from experience by past interviewees
  
  
• Decision making, waitlist strategy, scholarship negotiation, and other key steps: The MBA application encompasses much more than—and extends beyond—just submitting your application and completing your interview. When the time comes to decide among business school acceptances, navigate the waitlist, negotiate for a scholarship, or address anything else that might come up along the way, your Consultant is your confidant, sounding board, and guide throughout your journey, leveraging strategies that have proven successful for others to now create success for you.
  
  

Note: The applications for Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business require notably more work and reflection than those of other business schools. Gatehouse Admissions has priced services specifically for these two schools to reflect the additional time and effort your Consultant will dedicate to working with you on these applications.