MIT Sloan School of Management, MBA
22 years
High-energy, motivating, caring
Private equity, consulting (former Bain & Company consultant), investment banking, operations, engineering (all types), and applicants from nontraditional pre-MBA industries
Liza once persuaded 11 of her coworkers (runners and nonrunners alike) to compete in a 196-mile Ragnar relay road race through the Catskill Mountains. They all thought it was too ambitious of an idea, but inspiring people to undertake seemingly impossible goals is one of Liza’s gifts. Although the team was physically spent by the end of the 36-hour run, everyone was exhilarated and incredibly proud of themselves and their collective win. Liza was, too.
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.
The question from applicants that makes me cringe when I hear it is “How can I differentiate myself from everyone else who is applying?” I understand where the question comes from, of course; this process is so competitive. Yet answering it most often leads you astray—because answering it requires you to focus outward (on what other people are doing), not inward (your values and what matters to you). I love helping people cut out the noise around them, shift their perspective inward, and ultimately recognize their own story. These are the steps that lead to an application that reflects what makes you truly special.
Liza listens, asks the tough questions, is incredibly thoughtful, and is patient and supportive. Liza’s approach makes her incredibly effective at helping applicants find/craft their story and gain admission to the most selective business schools. 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.
Liza was hyper engaged. She 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. Moreover, she pushed me to reveal sensitive things in my essays—things that defined parts of my life—that I would have NEVER written about without her encouragement. These things undoubtedly made the difference in my application: she helped me stand out from a huge pool of applicants that have similar stats and backgrounds (likely many of you reading this).
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