Gatehouse Admissions Consulting Reviews

Background: 26-year-old white/Asian male, marketing and strategic comms at homebuilding company, English major at liberal arts college, 3.67 GPA, 750 GMAT

Results: Accepted to Booth, Kellogg ($), Tuck ($), Darden

In many ways, I’m what you would call an unconventional candidate. I did not study business or economics in college, I do not work at a well-known company, and I am not coming from a common pre-MBA industry. With this kind of profile, it’s easy to feel like you don’t belong at a top business school. And in fact, the first consultant I spoke with urged me to reconsider my initial list of schools.

But not Liza. From our very first call together, Liza made me feel confident that my story could be uniquely compelling — provided that put I forth my best possible application. Luckily, that’s exactly what Liza will make sure that you do.

It’s really no exaggeration to say that I could sing Liza’s praises for days. Here are just a few things to highlight about my experience working with her:

• Before you get started with any part of your actual application, Liza will really take the time to learn who you are and tirelessly work with you to construct your overall narrative.

• Liza is a true pleasure to speak to and work with. Talking with her over the phone about my essays and over Zoom when prepping for interviews was always the highlight of my week.

• As others have said, Liza is incredibly supportive, positive, and empathetic. However, this doesn’t stop her from being able to provide sharp and constructive criticism when necessary. She will always be real with you.

• Liza is a masterful editor and will not let a single sentence that it isn’t up to par go untouched. I was consistently impressed by her comments and feedback each time I got one of my drafts back.

• Liza does an excellent job of breaking down each component of the application process — resume, essays, recommendation letters, interviews, etc. — and putting you on a schedule to complete each piece of the puzzle with as little stress as possible.

• Liza is very, very reliable. She sets clear guidelines on when she’ll be able to turn around any items of your application and ruthlessly sticks to them. She’ll also gladly answer any smaller questions you have along the way.

• She will go out of her way to put you in touch with her contacts at various programs. Thanks to Liza, I was able to speak to five current students at my target schools, which helped greatly with my essays and interviews.

• Liza is truly invested in your success. Even now, as I decide which school to attend, Liza has been as helpful as ever, acting as a sounding board and assisting me with scholarship negotiations.

The MBA application process is complex and daunting. But thanks to Liza, I always felt I was on track and was ultimately admitted to schools I’m thrilled about. I can say with total confidence that the best choice I made during this long journey was choosing Liza Weale as my consultant.

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Background: 28-year old; URM male in NYC; Economics and Psychology double major from Ivy
Professional: IB + Corp Dev
Stats: GPA: 3.70; GMAT: 750

Working with Liza was absolutely a game changer for my interview. I was a re-applicant for HBS and was interviewed in round 1 and waitlisted a few years ago. When I received a round 1 interview invite this time around, I knew I needed to prep differently so I would excel. I had not previously worked with Gatehouse but was drawn to their bespoke HBS interview package. Although I was originally looking for someone who had experience in HBS admissions, after directly hearing from Liza about her extensive experience doing HBS mock interviews and quite frankly, feeling her genuine enthusiasm to help me, I was excited to move forward with her.
 
Our prep started with her providing HBS specific interview materials as well as three tutorial interview videos which were all very helpful. The following week, we had our mock interview that tracked the cadence of the real thing followed by a post-interview analysis and a deeper dive on my profile to explore areas, such as my desired career transition to VC - Liza thought I would likely get questioned on this (and she was right). Liza was gracious enough to not only go through all of my latest application materials before our session, but also take a look at my materials from the first time I applied and was waitlisted. As a reapplicant Liza helped me to think through communicating how my story and goals had evolved since last time. Prepping with Liza helped to give me the confidence in my interview to walk through my story and become comfortable with the deeper probing of responses that is typical of an HBS interview. Although the questions from my mock and the real thing were not exactly the same, the topic areas we focused on were! Furthermore, Liza’s transferable and versatile approach helped me answer the unexpected questions typical of an HBS interview.
 
I was fortunate enough to be admitted to and will be attending HBS in the fall. I truly believe the difference maker this second time around was Liza. Although I only worked with her on the HBS mock-interview package, she had an understanding of my story as if we had worked together on the whole application process, which is a testament to how heavily she invests herself into her clients. If I had to summarize Liza’s approach in a few words, they would be thorough, thoughtful and encouraging. For those who want to maximize their chances of “crushing” the HBS interview (which can be quite tricky), even if you think you are familiar with the format, I would highly recommend Liza for her expertise and support!

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I started relatively late on my MBA class of 2024 applications. In fact, Rachel took me in/started to work with me at the beginning of August and I submitted my first round 1 application at the beginning of September, and my second round 1 application mid October. Prior to working with Rachel, I had thought that I had a clear sense and rationale of why business school and potential careers that I could pursue after, but it was clear from initial drafts I shared with Rachel that those reasons were not strong, were not clear enough, and did not make me stand out. From there, I spent some time on Zoom with Rachel and we found a solid thread in my background helping out with my family business which ties nicely to why business school and which industry I would like to explore after -- and to think I wasn't going to mention any part of this experience initially (which would have been a huge mistake)!

Rachel turned my applications around and helped me get into the two schools I applied to: Wharton and CBS. To give a sense of my background, I am 3 years out of undergrad (will be 4 years out when I attend business school), I attended Stanford for undergrad and took the GRE one time testing: 162 verbal, 160 quant, 4.0 writing. I work at a quant hedge fund in Business Development and I studied Economics in college.

Rachel is very timely and provides insightful comments. I didn't even think I needed a consultant initially, but each time after really taking in Rachel's feedback on my draft and ruminating on where I am going with my essays, I find that my drafts significantly improved from week to week. I admit that it was daunting to receive feedback and markups throughout my essay each time I thought I shared a perfect draft, but working with Rachel got me from a very different place from where I started to when I finally hit submit.

For those of you who are debating on whether you need a consultant, or for those of you who are choosing consultants to work with, my experience with Rachel was worth every penny.

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Background: 27-year-old, white female in NYC; English major at top non-Ivy undergrad; 5 years of work experience upon matriculation (1 at marketing agency, 4 at digital research firm); 3.96 GPA, 760 GMAT

Results: Admitted to HBS (attending, class of 2024), Booth (with $$$), Kellogg (with $$$), and Tuck (with $$$)

I first discovered Liza Weale through this very page. Now, one year and several M7 acceptances later, I’m thrilled to be returning here to contribute my own small piece to this ever-growing library of exceptional 5-star reviews for Liza, every word of which she lives up to on a daily basis.

Let me walk you through my experience working with Liza:

After reading these reviews and watching Liza’s admissions videos on YouTube, I decided to reach out for a consultation. I had started my search for consultants early—in January for Round 1 deadlines—so that I would have ample time to “shop around” with many free consultations. However, after meeting with Liza, I knew that wouldn’t be necessary. Anyone who meets Liza will immediately sense that she is incredibly intelligent, kind, and empathetic; that she has her pulse on the MBA admissions world; and that she is a pleasure to work with. I eagerly signed on as a full-service client the next day, and then began convincing my partner to do the same (which, luckily for him, he did).

From day one, Liza had a concrete, phased plan for my applications and kept me progressing according to a detailed timeline. She assessed my strengths and weaknesses as an applicant, and suggested ways to highlight and re-frame them, respectively. She helped me craft an application where every component complemented each another and, together, told a cohesive and compelling story that admissions wouldn’t be able to ignore. Importantly, she kept an eye out for all things cringe: from essay topics to intro sentences to resume bullet points, she saved me by making sure I didn’t turn in anything that could be interpreted as annoying or disingenuous or cliched.

Liza improved the content of my applications 100-fold, but she was also a boon to my mental health during the long process. Every day, she was there for me as a trusted, reliable resource. She answered the frantic questions I emailed her way, and always helped me keep things in perspective. Whether it was my unhealthy fixation on the GMAT or my freak out after my less-than-smooth Kellogg video essay performance, Liza helped quell my insecurities and worries and stay focused on what mattered: the path ahead.

From the start, I had thought about my admissions journey as a team effort, comprised of supportive friends and family, fellow peers, recommenders, mock interviewers, and a consultant. To have the best chances for success, I needed to form the strongest team possible. I believed that meant working with Liza and Gatehouse Admissions. And I was certainly right about that. Thanks to Liza’s unparalleled expertise and unwavering support—and her company’s many resources— I was admitted to my top choice program. Together, we made it happen. Liza changed the direction of my life, and I’m forever grateful to her for that.

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I worked with Rachel for about a year starting in the winter of 2020 all the way until my admission in December 2021. I applied to Stanford GSB, HBS and Wharton and have just gotten 2/3 acceptances into HBS and Wharton. I will be pursuing my MBA in the Fall of 2022 at HBS in the class of 2024.

Just to give you a sense of my background, I'm a male with about 5 years of experience including national service in Singapore (2 years). I seemed untraditional coming into the MBA application process and it was pretty scary. I had been working as an Associate in a consumer venture capital fund in Singapore (the fund was quite small - US$400M) after national service, my GRE scores were on par with the HBS / Wharton averages but well below the GSB average - I got a 163V, 163Q. I applied with a 3.67 GPA from an undergraduate business school - I graduated from NYU's Stern School of Business in 2017 with a BS in Business with concentrations in Finance and Global Business. I also did 2 years of military in Singapore as part of the Singapore Police Force from 2017-2019 and then joined venture capital from 2019-2021.

So with this rather untraditional background, I wanted to tell a strong story so connected with Rachel to start the process. She is honest, straightforward and hyper effective in extracting your story. She started me off answering a number of questions from growing up, high school, university, and work in what she called an "Experience Inventory" to get an understanding of certain stories and threads in my life and how they have impacted my choices.

From there we pulled from a number of these stories to craft our first draft. Because she is so focused on a hand full of applicants every year, she is a master at understanding your story and how to best position yourself. Through each draft she will communicate to you if the story you've pulled from your experience inventory works or doesn't and which story you should instead include to create a stronger essay. She gives super specific advice on everything from resume to essay to smaller questions on the application because she has done her homework on you and what you have accomplished.

I did feel a bit insecure about the process because of my background - I felt I was climbing an uphill battle vs. consultants or bankers from larger firms but I think what Rachel was best at is helping me gain the confidence in my story. She was my biggest champion and was always there whenever I had questions on certain parts of my essay and story.

She had a clear plan for me that we followed through our google sheet and through emails so deadlines were very clear. She was organized and helped me organize myself while balancing work, tests and essays. Interview mocking with her was very helpful as well. She helped provide guides throughout the entire process that included potential questions and how to answer them.

My wife and I are now moving to Boston. It is the absolute best case scenario given we had wanted to make the transition to the US for a while. I attribute a lot of my application success to Rachel's help. I could not have done anything without her and am so happy with the money spent. It is a daunting process and sometimes you may feel like the money you spent is not worth it because there are no guarantees. But, Rachel does her best for you 100% of the time - so regardless of the outcome, you will feel like your time spent with her is worth it.

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Background: Male, strong professional record primarily in IB and PE, GMAT: 690.
Results: Accepted to Booth and Wharton (attending Wharton Class of 2023).
Details: Liza was absolutely instrumental throughout my process. As a self-admitted procrastinator, Liza made sure that I was staying on pace and made herself flexible when deadlines were approaching. While beginning my journey, my story was a difficult one to synthesize as I temporarily left finance to help launch a non-profit. Liza helped me intertwine my professional story and personal story to achieve a very compelling narrative. She guided me through the interview process making sure I was ready to answer any question presented to me. She worked tirelessly with me throughout the process and ensured I didn't give up hope when something didn't go my way. Ultimately, she exceeded my expectations and allowed me to present myself in the best possible manner to schools. Between her leadership, cheerleading, coaching, and remaining as a trusted partner, I felt that we were a team throughout the process. I can confidently say I would not have had a chance to achieve the results without her guidance. Hiring Liza is the best move you can make in what will be a long and difficult journey and with her at your side, you will be giving yourself the best chance possible.

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I worked with Liza for over a year – through essay editing, applications, and interview prep – before being accepted to HBS. I have a IB + PE background, 730 GMAT, and attended a non-ivy undergraduate university. I don’t think I would have been admitted to business school if it weren’t for Liza. She is an incredible individual who helped inspire, support and guide me through the application process, and I would recommend her to everyone.

My journey through the application process had it all. First, I had no idea what I wanted to write about, or even remotely had an idea of my ‘story.’ I also was feeling the pressure of a Round 1 vs. Round 2 application, as I didn’t have my GMAT completed. Finally, I was questioning my own career path, which didn’t make my application process any easier. Liza stood by me through it all, always willing to jump on the phone to offer support, listen to how these extraneous problems would impact my business school applications, and guide me on the next steps to take.

I knew that I wanted someone that could help me transform my ideas (once they were developed) into an articulate, well-crafted, and concise piece of writing, and Liza did exactly that. I had spent much of the past few years reading, with very little ‘essay-style’ writing, and so I was nervous about how my essays would come together. Liza was a phenomenal help here, helping me turn what I could best classify as ‘word vomit’ into an essay that I was truly proud of.

Liza was able to help me craft my story and essays in such a seamless way because she truly spent the time to understand it. From our first call when we reviewed my ‘experience inventory,’ she asked me thoughtful and deep questions – often ones I hadn’t been asked before – that allowed us both to learn more about my motivations, decisions, and aspirations. She understood my story on a level that I’m not sure anyone else ever truly has and as a result, she helped me reveal details that – together with her exceptional writing ability – made my essays really stand out.

When it came time for interview preparation, Liza went above and beyond. Though we were only scheduled for an hour, we spent nearly two running through interview questions and honing my responses. Simply put, she puts an incredible amount of time and dedication into each of her clients.

If you’re thinking about whether you should hire a consultant, or which consultant you should hire, I can say with conviction -- the answer is Liza. I’ve spoken with over ten friends that have used consultants through the application process over the past two years, and from what I’ve gathered, none provided the experience that I had working with Liza (two of these friends also used her and agree!). Because of her, I will be attending HBS. Stop reading reviews, and reach out to Liza!

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If you're reading this and considering hiring Liza Weale for a full-service package, stop what you're doing and put down your deposit now! Every extra day that you have with her will make a difference and my only regret is not starting my work with her sooner.

Background: Female, ivy undergrad, investing/entrepreneurship
Result: Wharton, GSB and HBS (reapplied)

I went to Liza after hearing her praises from Associates at my PE firm. After working with her on a package basis, all had gotten into HBS, their top choice school. I wasn't set on getting an MBA until a couple of months before the Round 1 deadline and knew I was in for a rough few weeks between taking (and re-taking) standardized tests and putting together applications. The GSB was my top choice school but I also planned to apply to HBS and Wharton.

Working with Liza was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stressful period. She was clear with her policies upfront and became both the project manager and cheerleader I didn't even know I needed. No question was too small (i.e. do I need to explain this career transition?) or too big (i.e. which version of this essay do you think best captures my narrative?). I was especially impressed by the way she tactfully gave feedback to my recommenders - including one who's probably never been on the receiving end of a "markup" before. With a 163 GRE (V/M), strong extracurriculars, and a unique career background, I got into Wharton but was ultimately dinged at the GSB and HBS. Liza was there to celebrate and commiserate, alike.

I decided to defer attending business school because of COVID and wanted to take another shot at the GSB. With more time, I knew I could improve my stats and essays. Liza reviewed my materials and offered specific, actionable feedback. I had consultations with a few others in this time hoping to find a new perspective or someone with a lower rate, but no one came close to Liza's thoughtfulness and tailored advice for the GSB (and HBS). Liza was clearly invested in my success and gave difficult feedback while it felt at times that others were just going through the motions. And thank goodness she did - she saved me from sounding fake, which can definitely happen when you're itching to finish. With a 750 GMAT, another year of work experience, and fresh essays, I got into the GSB and ultimately HBS (off the WL). I have Liza to wholeheartedly thank!

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My background: - BSc (Medical Sciences), 3.5 GPA - 5 years working in tech/business - GMAT: 730 Liza has a deep understanding of what b schools are looking for, and she puts in the time and energy to understand your story and craft a narrative that fits you and your target schools. She has fine-tuned a system to take you from 0 to a well-crafted set of applications. I'll be going to Berkeley Haas for their FTMBA program this fall, and I am confident it wouldn't have been possible without Liza's help. If you want to be confident you put your best foot forward with the right consultant, look no further.

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Background: Caucasian male with biomedical engineering and electrical engineering undergraduate degrees, also a master’s in engineering from a Top 10 graduate engineering program. 3.8 GPA and 700 GMAT. Work experience: 6 years working at a Fortune 500 tech company, mostly in very technical engineering roles. Applied to MIT (Sloan) and Harvard (HBS). Accepted to Harvard, round 2 admit. Liza was fantastic! For most of the MBA application process I did not hire any consultants, mostly because I didn’t think I had a chance of getting in. However, when I got an interview invitation from HBS, I hired Liza for interview prep help. At first, I was set on hiring someone who either was an HBS graduate or someone who had experience working in HBS admissions. However, after reading the amazing reviews Liza had, I decided to go with her, even though she did not go to HBS nor worked in HBS admissions. After working with her, this became irrelevant. Liza was also willing to have a free consultation / chat on the phone with me to discuss first, which other consultants weren't willing to do considering I only needed interview prep help. From the first time I chatted with her to decision day, Liza was amazing throughout the whole process. She was so knowledgeable and helpful about the HBS interview in particular. Not only did she provide very useful guidance on how to prepare for our mock interview, but our mock interview together was so similar to my actual HBS interview it was insane. No, it wasn’t exactly the same question for question, but the types of questions Liza asked me and the flow of the interview were pretty much identical. I’d even estimate that about half of the questions asked in my actual HBS interview, Liza asked me in my mock interview. Because of Liza, I will be attending HBS in the fall! This speaks to the amount of hard work and dedication she puts in to help prepare her clients for interviews, especially HBS, by reading every single word of your whole application and the essays. On top of this, Liza was always available and willing to answer any last-minute questions I had, and throughout the whole process would check up on me and cheer me on. If you’re trying to figure out who you should hire for an MBA consultant, especially for a mock interview for HBS (or really any other school), stop looking. Hire Liza!

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