Background: strong GPA/average GRE, econ/bus major at a liberal arts school, caucasian male, background in strategy and marketing for a medium-sized manufacturer.
Results: Accepted: HBS, Kellogg, Tuck Rejected: GSB

The short version: Liza kept me purposeful, focused, and sane in this process, and she pushed me to get to my own personal “why” for business school as well as the storyline for the business school apps themselves. Having Liza as support throughout the process didn’t mean that applying was a breeze, but rather that I felt a sense of confidence, reassurance, and coaching that I know changed the course of my business school future. Perhaps most importantly to me, I didn’t want a school to accept a packaged version of myself that wasn’t accurate / honest. When my applications were submitted, I felt confident that this was my story in my voice - and that mattered to me. Liza took the time to make that possible. She is one of those people that has a unique gift for storytelling and editing which she combines with a strong work ethic and faithful commitment to the client. She does not cheat with her craft - I never felt like I was simply another drop in the bucket to her. If you’re going to spend the dollars, go with Liza.

The long version:
Introduction: I first spoke with Liza a year before I started working with her for a free, 30-minute info session. From that moment I saw her ability to listen well and respond with very helpful commentary. I knew then that if I was going to use a consultant, it would be her.
The start of the process: Liza and I talked through how many schools I would work with her, what I was looking for, and next steps. Liza responded to any feelings of uncertainty with thoughtfulness and confidence and helped me see a path through the year ahead.
The experience inventory: I poured my heart and soul into the kickoff document that Liza uses, and when we had our first phone call, I was shocked by Liza’s intricate knowledge of a 25+ page document about my life. She not only had many follow-up questions, but also had a plan of where to start. Impact: My storyline for the schools picked up on my subtle nuances of my life and personality.
Essay writing: Liza does not give up and does not settle for what she feels will not be effective. No joke: I wrote 3 versions of an essay that Liza kept pushing back on. She finally got me back on the phone, and pushed me to really answer the simple question the school was asking. I then trusted Liza with some pretty personal details of my life - and Liza engaged thoughtfully and then helped me begin writing from there (and I trust her explicitly). I would not have had the confidence and finesse to include the level of reflection and thoughtfulness that ultimately filled my essays: that’s the magic of Liza. Ultimately, I was able to relay my experiences and dreams in a simple manner that sounded like it was me telling the story in written form. Highly effective.
Also, she never missed a deadline across easily 50+ emails going back and forth. Know this: the two day turnaround means a two day turnaround with Liza during the week - just remember to plan your work out for yourself to utilize her most effectively!
Letter of Recommendation prep: Liza’s specialized process I believe really helped make my letters competitive (my managers do not write MBA LoRs frequently, and I think her guidance was critical in bringing these up to par).. And I will note: I never saw my LoRs personally, and I never wrote on behalf of my letter writers - the process is an ethical one.
Application review: Liza poured over every single word of every single piece of my application. No stone was left unturned. Even after months since we had first reviewed my life story, she would reference something from my original inventory that I’d forgotten to mention. I was starting to get tired in the application process a bit but Liza helped me stay engaged here and remained high energy.
Interview prep: Liza was brilliant here - in no way did I feel that my responses were mico-managed / overly prepped. Instead, Liza helped me to approach my own narrative with the schools in mind but without fundamentally changing my own way of answering the question. She called me out when I started to sound “fake” or like I was trying too hard - and she helped me return to a place of authenticity. I will also say, Liza referred me to one of her Gatehouse Admissions colleagues, Brooke Wheelan, for a second interview for HBS, and I’m very thankful for that interview as well.
Overall: Liza has a positivity that is infectious, and several times I just emailed her with a personal status check of how I was feeling in the process. Every time her perspective was invaluable and motivating. I am excited for this journey, and I feel more comfortable in my own personal “why” for spending the next two year in an MBA due to Liza. Go with Liza!

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Background: Caucasian male with accounting degree with central US state school with work experience in IB and PE. GMAT: 730
Result: HBS admittance and acceptance. Admission at CBS and dings at Wharton and Booth.

Liza provided me with invaluable guidance throughout the entire process, but, most importantly, she pushed me to discuss sensitive things in my essays (particularly HBS, which is much more open-ended) that I would have NEVER done without her encouragement. She was hyper engaged and frequently followed up to make sure I was on track to meet deadlines. Liza seemed like she was constantly thinking about my story/essays and would frequently come up with value-added ideas even after I would have considered the essay done.

These thing undoubtedly made the difference in my application: she helped me stand out from a huge pool of applicants that have similar stats and backgrounds (probably many of you reading this). Highly recommend working with Liza. I'd also encourage you to start working with her early, as I did, so you can fully leverage her expertise.

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Background: Mix of traditional (banking) and nontraditional (governmental) professional experience, male, average test score with lower than ideal GPA
Accepted: Harvard, Kellogg, McCombs
Liza was recommended to me by a friend and we started working together several months before R1 deadlines. I am extremely grateful to have been able to work with Liza and was thoroughly pleased with her expertise, advice, responsiveness, and professionalism. She is the perfect blend of coach, friend, and therapist and exactly who you want by your side if you are willing to put in the work. Liza pushed me early on in the process to dig deep into my personal history and experience so that she could have a holistic view of me as a person, and she pointed out the aspects of my experiences that were worth writing about. She absolutely fine-tuned the story of my candidacy, and was there every step of the way through multitudes of essay revisions, application question help, interview prep, and even video application questions. She even pushed me to take an extra online course to demonstrate my commitment to my grades. I cannot recommend her highly enough, and I don't want to think about where I would have been in this process without her guidance.

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Having Liza as my consultant was HUGE for me. By way of background, I am a male applicant with a less traditional career path, Liza helped me utilize my story in an effective way. She helped me identify my strengths as a candidate and provided amazing feedback that I would not have had without her as my consultant. The MBA application can be daunting but it helps tremendously to have someone like Liza who knows all the ins and out of the process and can provide great recommendations regardless of the question. I know without a doubt that Liza’s work helped me get into the school of my dreams. I simply could not have done it without her.

I looked at other consultants but couldn’t really find one that ‘clicked.’ After doing the introductory call, I knew immediately that Liza was the person I needed to make my candidacy the most competitive. This was the best decision I could have made!

Liza is always available; has tremendous knowledge of all the schools and the process in general; is a joy to work with; and most of all is dedicated completely to making sure your application is the best possible. I cannot recommend enough!

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Background: Female, International, bulge bracket banking, Megafund PE
Accepted: Wharton, Harvard (Admitted)

To say Liza was pivotal throughout my business school application process would be a disservice. No review, personal testimony or reference would do Liza or her work justice. I could not have asked for a better support system, friend and consultant.

A few highlights from my experience:

1) Selection Process:
Liza came to me recommended by an acquaintance and is very well known in the New York community. I was diligent and interviewed 8 different consultants but followed my gut and selected Liza as I felt she could not only be supportive but keep me accountable.

2) Working Style:
Liza is supportive, engaging and firm. She approaches the application process in an organized fashion and as stringent as the schedule sounds - it is TRULY going to produce the best work product and showcase the best you. At first, the turnaround times and general timelines felt challenging with my schedule (I typically did most work on the weekends) but I adjusted to a cadence in which I was consistently working on one document while Liza reviewed another. Trust me - it works with any schedule!

3) Timelines:
Liza is dependable and consistent. She never ONCE missed a deadline and the quality of work product was consistent. Trust me when I say this is rare, I watched my partner go through the process with a consultant missing both of these qualities and it makes a stressful time, that much more challenging.

4) Essay Feedback:
Liza's essay support is phenomenal; she pushes you to SHOW the reader what you did, as opposed to tell them. This sounds basic but incredibly hard to do by yourself. This alone is worth every investment.

5) Other:
Liza has perfected her craft. Her strategy, advice and feedback can be helpful to ANY working style. I was disorganized, last minute and have limited experience writing essays, however Liza's ability to help you put your best foot forward, regardless of your background or experience is unbeatable.

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Background: Male, URM, Ivy undergrad (Finance Major), 6 years work experience (3 yrs banking, 3 yrs corporate development), 7XX GMAT and undergrad GPA in ballpark of MBA medians for the schools I applied to
Applied and admitted to: Stanford GSB, HBS, and Wharton

Liza came highly recommended by various friends who had used her services, and by the end of our initial consultation, it was clear why: she listens, asks the tough questions, is incredibly thoughtful, and is patient and supportive. I did not feel rushed during the consultation and Liza even followed up afterward with a debrief email that provided additional feedback on my overall candidacy (incl. areas that I could strengthen) as well as various resources that I could reference. Given how much introspection the MBA process requires, Liza’s approach makes her incredibly effective at helping applicants find / craft their story and gain admission to the most selective business schools.

Since I was a bit price conscious, I only worked with Liza on my GSB application. However, given how detailed the GSB application is, I was able to leverage the same content for my other 2 applications. Liza did a fantastic job of helping me connect the dots between elements of my past, who I am now, and what I aspire to do in the future. She was able to give me very honest, specific feedback and pressure test statements that I made about my motivations. Quite candidly, it was initially a frustrating process — my first essay drafts were missing the mark and Liza pushed me to dig deeper and really tease out how the various things I’ve done are linked to a set of specific motivations. Beyond just helping me submit a top notch application, this process of introspection and self-discovery has given me greater clarity of who I am and what I want to do going forward. People spend their whole lives trying to answer this question and discover themselves, so I really appreciated partnering with Liza to work through this.

Working with Liza on mock interviews was also incredibly helpful. During the GSB mock, we covered a number of the questions that I was ultimately asked during my actual interview. She also did a great job of imitating the cadence and atmosphere of a GSB interview. My understanding is that her HBS mocks are more fast-paced to reflect the style of HBS interviewers. This all goes to show that she knows the process and schools quite well.

Lastly, Liza is incredibly professional and brings an amazing amount of energy to every call, email, or redline you receive from her! She’s well organized, very attentive to review deadlines, and is also quite responsive. If you stick to Liza’s prescribed deadlines, you won’t be scrambling last minute to finish up your applications and you’ll feel great when you finally hit submit. Liza’s spots fill up fast so highly recommend booking her early in the process — you won’t regret it!

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I’m an international applicant from a tech background who’s engaged Liza for my HBS interview. Am happy to share that I’ve been accepted to HBS!

Liza’s not only very knowledgeable and experienced but has also been so incredibly helpful and empathetic throughout my interaction with her. The mock interview helped a lot – Liza’s honest and encouraging about my rooms for improvement. She addressed my areas of concern too, giving me tips on how to be more effective and confident in my communication.

Although technically Liza’s supposed to help me just for the interview, she’s generous enough to also entertain all my other questions in relation to my application. It really helps to have a one-to-one channel for moral support and to clarify my doubts, given my status as an international applicant who’s unfamiliar with the US system. I would highly recommend Liza to anyone who’s looking to go through the same process.

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Background: Female, Associate at Large PE firm Admitted: HBS
Liza came highly recommended to me by multiple colleagues. Despite being “late” to hire a consultant given my desire to apply round 1, Liza was prompt to respond and we spoke a few days after I reached out. Liza’s incredibly thoughtful yet matter-of-fact approach to our conversation struck me and I hired her without speaking with any other consultants!
My biggest concern as an applicant coming from a large PE firm was that a consultant would strip away the personality in my application and my voice in what ended up being a very personal essay. Liza assuaged my fears immediately – I was in awe of her ability to listen to my stories, read my essay drafts, and then provide helpful revision advice that actually helped my personality come across more clearly. She wasn’t afraid to support me putting my truest, most authentic self out there in a way that was clear, authentic, and confident (but not arrogant).
Liza is not only an excellent writer and communicator who will help you polish your writing and interviewing skills, but what really sets her apart from others in this industry is that she is a good listener and has a keen ability to get to know you quickly. I have heard horror stories of friends who have spent thousands on consultants who fail to provide a personalized experience -- mixing up their clients, taking a long time to provide feedback on materials, and when they do finally respond, giving advice that is at best generic. The business school application requires a level of introspection that many of us try to avoid as we navigate pressure-filled professional lives, and Liza is that sherpa who knows how to carefully guide you through a reflection of where you came from, why you are the way you are, and what you want out of life and out of business school. She is so thoughtful and insightful that at times I felt like I was her only client!
Finally, I really appreciated how organized and professional Liza is; she is very good about setting expectations and guidelines early on and sticking to them (as I mentioned before, I’ve heard horror stories from friends…) At the beginning of the process, she establishes a week-by-week plan of what needs to be done, and when, which is helpful as many of us juggle busy careers and personal lives.
I am thrilled to be attending Harvard Business School starting this fall and I know that I would not have this opportunity without Liza’s support and guidance. I cannot recommend her enough!

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Background: International, Female, Consultant
Admitted: HBS

Liza is the absolute best!

I started working with Liza to prepare for my interviews and she has been an amazing source of guidance and support. I was debating whether I need help with interviews and which consultant to pick but after one call with Liza, I knew that I had to work with her. She was positive and genuine and very thorough in her questions. In addition, the friend who referred me had nothing but amazing things to say about her. While I didn’t work with her as my primary consultant, I know that she would have been invaluable throughout the whole process.

She conducted a mock HBS interview and the actual interview ended up having very similar questions to what Liza asked me. She not only gave me very pointed strategic advice but perhaps more importantly gave me the confidence and reassurance I needed. She also helped me prep for behavioral/story-type questions for my other interviews. Liza showed me how to take the stories that I found uneventful and showcase them in a way that highlights my strong characteristics. She reassured me that I could show my vulnerabilities too.

Although I only worked with her on the interview part of the process, she was there for me every step of the way. She gave me encouragement before my interview and checked in with me right after. Liza clearly cares about the people she works with and is an expert in her craft. She remembers the smallest details you mention in the calls and gives advice from a very experienced point of view. I would recommend Liza in a heartbeat!

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Background: Male (no diversity). Top business undergrad. Senior Associate at PE fund. Below average GMAT. Outcome: Deferred HBS, Admitted Wharton.

I began thinking about the business school application process at the start of my second year in private equity, or about 1 year prior to applications being due (for reference I had already signed on to stay at my company for a third year). I was unsure whether to use a consultant since I consider myself to be organized and a relatively decent creative writer. I reached out to Liza directly via an introduction from a former coworker of mine who had used Liza 1 year prior (accepted to both HBS and GSB). I interviewed Liza and maybe 3-4 other consultants (all recommendations from current + former coworkers), and decided that signing up with Liza was an absolute no brainer. I’ll try to boil this down to the reasons that I think are most applicable to someone of my profile looking to sign on an MBA consultant:

1. Cost (General): I understand that for some of you reading this, signing up with a business school consultant may be financially prohibitive. But for those of you who are willing to fork up an additional few $k (on top of the c.$100-200k MBA cost), my view is that doing so is extremely worthwhile. I personally was contemplating whether the cost for a consultant was justified, but after working with Liza, I am certain that the outcome of my application was leaps and bounds better and more targeted towards a seasoned admissions committee than it would have been otherwise working on my own (again, coming from someone who got straight A’s in English / writing throughout school and who admittedly has a bit of a “writing ego” – a lot of this is not just “am I a good writer” or “do I have an interesting story”, but also “do I really know exactly what the admissions folks are looking for?” My sense is that the answer is more nuanced than you/I may think). So from a cost perspective, again, if able to afford, I view this as a no brainer drop in the bucket cost relative to the broader MBA program expense, to ensure your application is as stellar as possible. But this is a highly debated topic so I understand if there are others that may feel differently.

2. Her Track Record: before joining private equity, I previously worked for 3 years at a boutique investment bank. I probably need 3 (maybe 4) hands to count the number of my former co-workers from that bank that have used Liza for business school applications over the past several years. The reason why working with Liza has become such a rite of passage for those from my old firm is, at face value, the unarguable results she produces. I’m pretty sure that all of my former co-workers that have worked with Liza in the past ended up getting into at least one of their top choices (typically HBS, GSB or Wharton). I of course don’t want to mistake correlation vs causation here (i.e. many of these individuals were likely stellar candidates on their own accord). But given how competitive the application process has become over the past few years (I’ve witnessed many rejections of other top tier candidates), I’d be remiss not to attribute a non-immaterial portion of many of these successes to Liza’s “magic touch” during the application process.

3. Her Insight: Liza has been working as an MBA consultant for over a decade, and as a result of that has deep insight into specifically what each admissions committee is seeking for a given background. I.e. for myself – what might help me stand out as a relatively generic non-diverse male private equity candidate? I found this particularly relevant for HBS, GSB and Wharton. The two essays I’d say we spent the most time on were i) GSB’s “What matters most to you and why” and ii) “What more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for HBS?”. I started by compiling a 20-page brainstorming document that contained all my “stories” from growing up, high school, college, etc. The goal was to resurface some of my deepest most personal stories (“what makes me tick?”) that would be most helpful in presenting my candidacy to an admissions committee of a top MBA program. Liza read every page. Over the course of many months, Liza focused me on which stories were better to showcase vs others, and pulled out key motifs/themes that seemed present across each of them. (For me – the key theme we found was my underlying longing for experimenting / not being afraid to do things differently). Moving from brainstorming document (finalized call it mid-April) to final draft of HBS/GSB essays took 4-5 months of relentless reflection and substantial re-working. I am confident that the finished product is what granted me acceptance into Wharton and Deferral from HBS despite a well-below-average GMAT score for my application cohort + non-diverse background.

4. Her Energy and Enthusiasm: throughout the application process, Liza became much more than just my consultant. She became a great friend and life coach. The spring and summer I spent writing applications was admittedly pretty rough. I had to sit inside during countless sunny Saturday’s and Sunday’s to brainstorm / write essays, on top of an already demanding job. During that time, Liza helped me stay positive through her energetic and buoyant tone during each and every one of our phone calls, and embedded within each of her redlined essay comments. Liza isn’t afraid to “think out loud” on the page which I thought was immensely helpful and motivational (i.e. “I like this, but we can make it better! Something along the lines of ‘xyz’”), and always gave credit when due (“wow, what an improvement! Love this!”). She also isn’t afraid to hold your hand when you get writer’s block, and take you down a path that might possibly lead somewhere great, just to keep the ball rolling. These anecdotes may seem small / generic, but really do add up during a long and grueling application process. It’s important to select a consultant with contagious energy that will help you get through all the long hours, and that is as invested in your application success and general well-being during the process (and post-process as well) as Liza is. I have no doubt we’ll remain in touch for many years to come.

I can only speak to my background, my experiences, and the experiences of my peers. But if you are coming from an investment banking or PE background with the goal of gaining acceptance into a top MBA program, Liza is nothing short of an incredible option from a track record and personality perspective. And if you do find after your intro call with Liza that she is the right fit for you, I’d make sure to sign up with her early on in the process – her spots tend to fill up quickly.

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