“We have loved every moment of working with Gabby. Not only does Gabby have deep first-hand knowledge of all the independent elementary and secondary schools and their admissions offices in the Los Angeles area, but she knows how to work with children to ensure that they apply to schools that best fit their unique academic interests and skill sets as well as their distinct personalities and learning styles. While an admissions process can generally be stressful, Gabby, through her innate kindness, patience, calm and upbeat disposition, and seemingly endless support, made our admissions experience joyful and our children grew to love and trust Gabby throughout the process as much as we did. As out-of-county residents with two kids needing school placement (one of which was for a non-entry point grade), Gabby had her work cut out for her. Both of our kids got accepted into several competitive independent schools at the elementary and secondary levels, including their first choices; Gabby was an essential part of making that happen. We can’t thank Gabby enough or recommend her more highly to any family needing an independent school consultant. She is fantastic!”

-Aaron and Beth Cohen

“Gabby McHale is an extraordinary educational consultant. Her expertise in child development is unparalleled, enabling her to identify the best fit of educational institutions and then identify methods for maximizing the school experience once admitted. She has utilized her expertise in a myriad of ways including helping to enhance communication with school personnel, recommending resources for additional learning opportunities, and suggesting ways to empower our teenage sons to become independent, resilient, advocates for themselves. She has been a guiding light for us, every step of the way.”

-Yasmin Cader and Kevin Frazier

“We have known Gabby for several years as both our children went to The Center for Early Education, where Gabby was the Director of Student Placement. She was very well respected and loved by the parents and students at the school. Gabby has recently started her consulting business. We first contacted her to connect her to my business partner and his wife, who were seeking help finding pre-schools for their son. Then, our ninth-grade daughter expressed interest in leaving her school. We engaged Gabby to help us find a school that was the perfect fit for her. Gabby conducted a thorough interview with my wife and daughter. Then, she set up several school visits. Gabby is very well-connected to all the top prep schools in the LA area and was able to get our applications into the school on a very tight deadline. Gabby coached us and our daughter on how best to present our application and ourselves to the schools, and we had tremendous success. Our daughter was able to attend her first choice school, and we truly believe Gabby was instrumental in helping this come to fruition.” 

-Karen and Matt Winnick 

“We entered into our agreement with Gabby unsure if we really needed an educational consultant.  (We did — and so will you).  While we met other competent and lovely consultants, Gabby was so THE ONE for us.  Highly experienced and connected thanks to her past life in admissions, in touch with what is happening in the independent school world, always scouting, always connecting — she is wonderful at her profession. But her true genius lies in her ability to connect to kids with patience, kindness, empathy and a great deal of humor.  Her optimism and inspiration, coupled with realism and honesty, helped us as parents, but it was her grace with our child that really amazed us. Gabby does not ever phone it in.  She was really in it with us every step of the way — thinking aloud, strategizing, cheerleading and solving.  Last and not at all the least, she is maniacally organized, will devote as much time as necessary, and seems to enjoy sitting with our child making him do extra work during his free time and calling up schools to troubleshoot why our password is not working. Clearly, we adore her and would recommend her to anyone.  And yes, we did get into our target schools — but a) we would have felt good about the process anyway, because we really all did the best job we could in the application process with her coaching, and b) she took the time to educate us on which schools would present great fits for our child, regardless of our preconceived notions. 10 out of 10 recommend.”

-Emmy Kondo and Danny Rosenthal

“Working with Gabby again, this time through her private practice, benefited our family in a variety of ways. Initially Gabby helped us shape a thoughtful list of schools to apply to, which we adjusted throughout the early stages of the admissions process. She then guided us to attend specific events so that we were able to determine the ideal school for our middle child. Our son worked closely with Gabby learning how to refine his applications and prepare for his interviews. She also helped him understand how to prepare for various admissions tests and respond to timed writing assessments. Ultimately our son was accepted to several schools including the school highest on our list of preferences. We appreciated the close attention we received from Gabby throughout the admissions process which yielded tremendous results. We recommend her highly and look forward to working with her again in the future.”

-Family from the Westside of Los Angeles (testimonials on request due to client privacy)

“From the moment we met Gabby, we knew she would have a profound impact in our lives.  Her positive energy and impeccable attention to detail was such a welcome reprieve from a process that can be stressful and disorienting.  One of the many wonderful things about Gabby that stood out to our family was her patience, and her management of not just our soon to be 7th grader, but us as the parents.  Her expertise and connections within the Los Angeles school landscape are unmatched, which lent itself to our endless questions, and her thoughtful answers.  There is nothing that Gabby has not dealt with or seen through her extensive experience and we felt immediately comfortable following all of her advice.  Gabby cares endlessly about her work and wants what is best for each child and family she works with.  She brought calm and peace each time we met with her and has a never-ending positive attitude in everything she does.  She confidently navigates through the process from start to finish, pairing each unique family with their unique school and seamlessly adapts and connects to every family she meets.  We absolutely love and trust Gabby and can say without a doubt that she is the best consultant around and any family would be lucky to work with her.” 

-Family from the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles

We reached out to Gabby at the recommendation of a close friend who had worked with her previously, and we are so grateful for that recommendation.  From the moment we met Gabby at the beginning of the middle school application process, we knew we were in excellent and caring hands, and we were so appreciative of her guidance, knowledge, encouragement, support, and warmth throughout the process.  Gabby helped us finalize our list of schools, and encouraged us to add a specific school that we weren’t previously considering to our list – and we are so grateful that she did, because the school ended up becoming our first choice and our children will be starting there in the fall.  Gabby quickly connected with both of our children and prepared them for their interviews and assessments with a calm and practical, stress-free approach; they truly enjoyed meeting with her, and she helped them show up for their interviews/assessments with confidence and at their best.  She was always available to us to talk through our thoughts and questions, and really helped us distill what was most important to us in choosing a school.  We had amazing results, and we are so incredibly grateful to have had Gabby’s support along the way.  

– Family from Los Feliz

“Gabby is a lifesaver. My husband and I didn’t grow up in LA, so having someone familiar with the schools and how the application system works was beneficial. She answered our questions and was always quick to respond and support us whenever we hit a bump in the road. Gabby’s help made all the difference in getting our daughter into her dream school.”

-William and Gina Petersen