Mariesa Ricks

I worked with Mariesa on 1 MBA application. I come from a traditional finance background (IB -> PE), and Mariesa took the time to fully understand my motivations, career journey, and professional goals. Her thoughtful and direct feedback were instrumental in crafting my story and clearly articulating my post-MBA goals. As we discussed the essay, she helped me pull together themes from my previous school, personal, and work experiences to tell a cohesive story – she is incredible at spotting the common threads between different aspects of my life. We also worked together on my resume and interview preparation. She has deep expertise in what admissions committees are looking for when they review resumes. Her mock interviews and guidance developed my confidence going into the real interview, and I felt that I was able to tell my story in an authentic manner.

I applied to HBS and was admitted there. Mariesa’s guidance was instrumental in successfully navigating the application process; overall, I would highly recommend working with her.

I worked with Mariesa on five business school applications for Round 1. With a career in Product Marketing in the health care tech space and aspirations of moving into Product Management and Entrepreneurship, Mariesa’s expertise in crafting a compelling story was immensely supportive. Mariesa was organized and mapped out timelines and work back plans to ensure I submitted all my applications ahead of time, decreasing stress as the deadlines approached. She took the time to get to know my background, my personality, and what I was interested in getting out of business school which helped me share my authentic self through my applications. She identified areas where my application was weaker (on the quant side) and ensured we worked together to showcase my quantitative skillset in multiple ways. Mariesa was there every step of the way and was available to help for every question or concern. After submitting my applications Mariesa helped me prep for my interviews which I found extremely valuable. Her in depth of knowledge of the business school process, the programs, and how to position one’s background / goals was critical in submitting strong applications. I am excited to say that I am attending Kellogg this fall! I believe Mariesa’s support was instrumental in this outcome. I highly recommend working with Mariesa on your business school applications!

I worked with Mariesa after deciding in January to apply to MBA programs round 3, leaving only 2 months between starting the process and submitting my first application. I’ve spent the last few years working full-time as an engineer, and business school applications were a completely new world for me. I so appreciated receiving Mariesa’s feedback on my resume, essays, and mock interviews. Given the tight timeline, I was tempted to immediately rush into writing essays. However, Mariesa insisted that I take time for self-reflection, and asked probing questions to help establish my personal and professional accomplishments. By resisting the urge to jump right into writing, Mariesa helped me craft impactful stories that ultimately resulted in stronger essays and interviews. Mariesa is not one to mince words. When providing feedback on revisions, Mariesa was always clear and direct, and my essays were all the better for it.

I ended up applying to 3 programs: Wharton, Kellogg, and Sloan. I was admitted to all 3, and received a full-ride scholarship to Kellogg. I am grateful to have a company that is sponsoring my education, which gives me the flexibility to attend my first-choice school, Wharton. I am so grateful for Mariesa’s guidance in this process. I genuinely believe that she was the difference between 3 acceptances and no acceptances.

I thought Mariesa was instrumental in helping me successfully navigate the particularly burdensome MBA application process. As someone who has spent the last 5 years in finance, Mariesa did a great job in bringing to light some of my other strengths as an applicant and helped me craft a cohesive narrative that definitely improved my candidacy.

In terms of our working relationship, I found Mariesa to be very clear and direct, which I appreciated. She was explicit in timing expectations (which helped us abide by all of the relevant deadlines) and she was always timely in her responses back to me. I personally really enjoyed her working style and thought she was very helpful in helping me adapt to changing circumstances (whether it be personal or work) as we went through the application process.

I will be attending GSB in the fall and I can’t thank Mariesa enough for her help – I definitely wouldn’t be in this position without her!

Throughout the grueling application process, Mariesa was incredibly efficient, honest, and straight to the point; I was impressed by how much we would be able to accomplish within a 30-minute meeting together. Early on in the application process, Mariesa identified gaps in my application and worked with me to craft a clear course of action to address any weaknesses. Additionally, she created a personalized timeline to give me goalposts to work towards, with regular check-ins to keep me on track. For instance, although I had a solid undergrad GPA (3.8 from an Ivy), Mariesa encouraged me to improve my GRE score, baking in time for retakes (which I ended up needing), and with her careful planning and support, helped me land a 332 which certainly helped bolster my application.

Mariesa is also a clear communicator and quick to identify opportunities to stand out in a competitive applicant pool. I was originally matched with Mariesa because of her marketing background; with my own experience in Consumer/Retail, Mariesa was able to quickly understand my backstory and help me weave a cohesive story while identifying key moments that still felt true to who I am.

With her support, I was fortunate to receive admission to both Harvard and Wharton for the Class of 2025. Mariesa’s support was invaluable and I would highly recommend her (+ the whole Gatehouse team) to anyone undergoing the MBA admissions process!

Working with Mariesa was an awesome experience! I concentrated on a small set of schools and will be attending Harvard Business School next fall thanks to her help.

I met with several consultants, and she clearly stood apart in my mind. She leverages her own professional marketing expertise and knows exactly how to help craft a story. Even in our intro conversation, she found and tied together key threads from my work and life experiences. After spending more time with her, she helped me discover my key differentiators, particularly given that I come from from a traditional IB/PE background. In addition to the overall story, she really focused on the details. There were a number of times that she would remind me of something in my own life that I referenced in the intake form and would suggest adding it to the end of a sentence to tie everything together. It was those small details that allowed me to share so much more than I ever could’ve imagined with the admissions committee in the short application essays.

Another aspect I really value is her honesty. When something wasn’t the best it could be, she took the time to explain it and let me know. Especially as a Harvard Business School grad herself, she took her insights to the next level at every step of the process, pulling from her own experiences. I found this super helpful during the interview process. She conducted general and school-specific mock-conversations to help prepare me.

Overall, would definitely use Mariesa!

Mariesa was the cheerleader, project manager, and mentor I didn’t know I needed before diving into the application process. Mariesa made sure I understood my strengths and weaknesses, and really helped me identify powerful stories from my life experiences to craft a unique and compelling application package. With a lower GMAT score of 670 (Q41, V41) and subpar grades in quantitative classes (but a 3.5 overall GPA from a T5 undergraduate business school), Mariesa was realistic about my chances at top programs, but made sure I remained positive and pushed myself to see my true potential. She made sure I highlighted my unique CPG startup marketing background – as a marketer herself, she also really understood where I was coming from and made sure I used my niche background to my advantage.

I came into the experience with surface level ideas and Mariesa was able to question certain areas and pushed me to think beyond what I thought I was capable of. She helped me stay true to our deadlines (we were on a compressed 1-month turnaround), was incredibly responsive, and also helped me overcome self-doubt throughout the entire process. I worked with Mariesa on two schools, mainly on my Early Action application to Duke Fuqua. With her help, I was ultimately admitted into the Class of 2024 and even received a scholarship ($XXK)! I truly couldn’t have done it without her dedication to helping me throughout the process and would highly recommend her and the Gatehouse team for your MBA admissions needs!