Liza Weale

Founder

With more than 100 five-star reviews on GMAT Club, Liza is one of the most sought-after admissions consultants in the industry. A former Bain & Company consultant and an MIT Sloan graduate, Liza brings discipline, logic, and curiosity to her coaching, enabling hundreds of success stories at schools such as Harvard, Stanford, UPenn Wharton, Northwestern Kellogg, and MIT Sloan. Her past clients also cite Liza’s relentless commitment and positivity as critical factors in their success.

Liza believes that the best applications — the ones she and her clients are most proud of — are those that result from deep reflection, patience, and iteration. She founded Gatehouse Admissions to give MBA applicants a willing, capable, and eager partner to leverage throughout the application process.

Brooke Wheelan

Special Advisor

A former Associate Director of Admissions at Harvard Business School, Brooke served on the HBS MBA Admissions and Interview Board for a total of 13 years. She reviewed more than 10,000 MBA applications and traveled globally to conduct more than 1,000 interviews while overseeing candidate evaluation and online application processes. Prior to HBS, Brooke was a management consultant at Bain & Company. She earned her MBA degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia with highest distinction.

Brooke’s coaching philosophy is to be honest, supportive, and demanding. She is motivated by understanding who her clients are at their core, guiding them to come to their own personal realizations and tell their own authentic story. As Special Advisor, Brooke enables Gatehouse Consultants to deliver a 360-degree perspective to their clients — as MBAs, as admissions consultants, and as the admissions committee.

April Stewart

Consultant

A Harvard Business School MBA and former management consultant with Boston Consulting Group, April takes a methodical, hands-on, and client-centric approach to admissions coaching. Her additional experience in strategy and innovation — specifically in retail — has equipped her to identify the critical details, ideas, and words that will bring a client’s application to life and showcase their candidacy as a whole. April particularly enjoys learning what makes each of her clients unique and helping them craft a compelling narrative that highlights the best of who they are. While not afraid to push her clients to dig deep as they advance through the admissions process, she also works to ensure that they believe in themselves and their aspirations throughout the journey.

Before pursuing her MBA from Harvard, April earned a bachelor of arts in economics from Bryn Mawr College, where she was captain of both the varsity Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Teams.

Brett Lewis

Consultant

In his MBA admissions coaching, Brett draws on the broad knowledge he has gained from a career spanning strategy consulting at Bain & Company, founding and selling a startup venture, private equity, and business development for Big Tech. Brett — who speaks four languages and has worked in five countries — earned his bachelor of arts from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He also holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and master’s degrees from both the University of Pennsylvania’s Lauder Institute and the London School of Economics.

Brett has a longstanding passion for coaching and writing. While at Wharton, he became inspired to demystify the business school application process for other applicants and conceived of and published 50+ Successful Wharton Business School Essays. He served as Class Marshal and has led on-campus recruitment efforts for his past employers. Brett is motivated by the opportunities business school can provide at pivotal stages in one’s career and enjoys helping clients navigate the challenges of applying to the world’s most prestigious institutions.

Hollis Kline

Consultant

Hollis earned her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and her bachelor of arts in literature from Yale University (Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude). Eight years ago, a lifelong love of reading, writing, and editing led Hollis to consider admissions coaching as a career, but what cemented her choice was the opportunity to support MBA applicants on such an introspective journey. Hollis takes the trust clients place in her very seriously, helping clients to explore their dreams, fears, traumas, and triumphs and convey what makes them compelling candidates.

Earlier in her life, Hollis worked as a student journalist, holding different editorial positions at The Yale Herald and co-founding a Stanford GSB blog. Pre-admissions consulting, her career spanned real estate private equity, public relations and executive search. An avid photographer and outdoor athlete, Hollis enjoys rock climbing, hiking, and backpacking — and the attendant documentation of exciting pursuits and beautiful settings.

Mariesa Ricks

Consultant

Mariesa received her MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS), where she served as an Admissions Ambassador. Today, she partners with the HBS Admissions Office via its alumni chat program. In addition, she earned a master of science from the Harvard School of Public Health and a bachelor of science from Harvard College.

Mariesa’s post-MBA professional experience has centered on helping premium and luxury brands to execute branding communications and experiences. Before attending business school, she worked at the intersection of health and technology for two app-based start-ups and a boutique management consulting firm.

Mariesa volunteers for the HBS Club of New York as part of its Strategy and Innovation for Programing team. Ever the dog lover, she is a devoted foster dog-mom to some of New York’s cutest borough-bred pups.

Rachel Nelson

Consultant

Rachel used to sit on the other side of MBA admissions as an alumna interviewer for UPenn Wharton. Interviewing prospective business school candidates revealed to Rachel the increasing complexity of the application process. As a former rower for Harvard’s Radcliffe Crew, Rachel has always loved teamwork and understands how crucial it can be in one’s success. With that in mind, she pivoted away from evaluating business school aspirants in favor of working directly with them. She loves exploring her clients’ motivations and goals, guiding them on which stories to showcase and how, and utilizing her own experiences to help them increase their odds wherever and whenever she can. With a liberal arts degree in government from Harvard College and her Wharton MBA, Rachel relies on both a strong EQ and sharp IQ to be a formidable partner for MBA candidates targeting the very best schools.

Rachel splits her time between Boston and the Cotswolds in England, while partnering with business school applicants from all over the world. Prior to becoming an admissions coach, Rachel built a career focused on strategy and marketing in financial services.