Marcus Dahllöf

Working with Marcus was the best decision I made in my MBA application journey. Thanks to his guidance, I was admitted to the 2Y MBA program at Kellogg, my top-choice school, where I’ll be starting this summer.

I come from a consulting background with five years of experience in LATAM. I graduated among the top 5% of my class in Mechanical Engineering in Brazil and scored 326 on the GRE. I applied to six top MBA programs and received interview invites from Booth, Kellogg, Tuck, Fuqua, and Darden.

Marcus was essential at every stage of the process. From our first conversation, he took the time to understand my goals and adapted his approach to reflect my Brazilian background and personal story. He helped me articulate my experiences in a way that felt natural and authentic, transforming my ideas into a cohesive narrative that aligned with both my career ambitions and personal values.

We went through more than 10 essay iterations per school. Marcus reviewed each version in detail, always pushing me to go deeper, be clearer, and stay true to my voice. His feedback was thoughtful and precise, often catching nuances I would have overlooked. Beyond the essays, he helped me with every aspect of the application, including resume reviews, short answers, and interview prep. His mock interviews were especially helpful, giving me the guidance, confidence, and clarity I needed to perform at my best.

Working with Marcus didn’t just improve the quality of my applications; it transformed how I saw my own story. He challenged me, supported me, and never let me settle for “good enough.” I will always recommend him to anyone starting their MBA journey, knowing that he was a key factor in my success in gaining admission to my top-choice school.

Marcus was incredible to work with and an absolutely essential part of my application success.

I graduated from a top 20 undergrad with a 3.1 GPA and earned a 760 GMAT. Work experience in finance and tech. I applied to Booth, Columbia, Sloan, and Wharton.

For each school I was applying to, Marcus provided a comprehensive list of deliverables I would have to complete, which was extremely helpful for me in getting organized.

I cannot say enough about how much Marcus helped me on the essays. He provided detailed feedback on every aspect from topic selection, narrative structure, what examples to use, and even cutting out words to reach word count. He reviewed 5+ drafts for many of the essays, and the final products were night and day from when I started. Being able to bounce ideas and drafts off of Marcus was a lifesaver, especially for the open-ended prompts like Booth’s “Tell us something about who you are.” As the deadlines approached, Marcus went above and beyond in giving me lots of meaningful same-day essay feedback.

Marcus also gave me great prep for interviews by doing a full-length mock interview for each school for which I received an interview. Additionally, Gatehouse has lots of in-house interview prep material that was very helpful.

When I got waitlisted at Booth, Marcus gave me incredibly helpful advice on what I could do to stand out. He reviewed my supplemental materials and video and brought to my attention Booth’s “Shape the Class” endorsement letters, which are sort of an open secret but which I may have missed altogether without him.

On a personal level, Marcus has an effective style that balances support with tough feedback. He did not hesitate to (wisely) tell me I needed to entirely scrap some essay drafts, but also gave me confidence boosts through our interview prep. I was initially a tiny bit hesitant about the time zones with Marcus being in Sweden, but it actually worked great because he could review stuff while I was asleep, and he was flexible in finding time for calls. His background in entrepreneurship also helped me frame my own entrepreneurial goals in my application.

I ended up getting interviews at Booth, Columbia, and Wharton. I got accepted at Columbia, with a $50k merit scholarship, as well as Booth. I ultimately chose Booth for fit reasons.

There is no way I would have gotten accepted at two M7 schools (one with scholarship) without Marcus’s support. I cannot recommend him highly enough.

I am thrilled to be attending Wharton next year and attribute my success to Marcus and the Gatehouse team. I came to them with a condensed timeline, a non-traditional background (investor relations hoping to transition to entrepreneurship) and Marcus helped me create a compelling story across my varying experiences. My GPA (3.9) was strong but my GMAT was slightly below the average of my target schools. With Marcus’s hands-on support in editing and reviewing my essays and resume, I was admitted to a handful of programs with scholarships. Notably, given my condensed timeline, Marcus spent much time helping me on weekends and provided thorough and efficient feedback in each step of the process. I also want to highlight that Gatehouse has incredible resources for preparing applicants for interviews and truly helps you throughout the entire process of applying. I give my highest recommendation!

I will be heading to London Business School this summer, and Marcus was an invaluable partner in getting me there.

I came in with I had a fairly strong background (3 years WE in Corp Strategy & Operations at a FinTech, 3.9 GPA at T25 undergrad, 334 GRE (170V, 164Q)), but I needed help differentiating myself as a white male looking to make an industry change into clean energy. Marcus helped me build out a holistic and compelling story, helping me find through lines across my education and professional career that not only shaped my essays, but also my post-MBA career outlook. He also had an attention to detail that helped me perfect the parts of the app that are super important but easy to overlook (resume, short answers, etc.).

LBS was always my top choice school (though I have never spent extended time living or working internationally), and Marcus’s experience working and living in Europe provided guidance that was difficult to find at other US-based consultancies.