Because of my work with Amerasia, in R1 I was admitted to Stanford GSB, Wharton (with a $100k scholarship), Kellogg, and Columbia as a white guy with a 3.25 non-quant GPA. This would not have been possible without their world-class team.

Before picking Amerasia, I did intro calls with 10+ other admissions consulting companies, and asked for thoughts from friends who had done the process before. I was sold on Amerasia after our initial phonecall, and from eager recommendations from other friends about the quality of Amerasia's services.

So, why should you pick Amerasia to help you get great results like I did?

1. They have decades of experience and deep relationships with all of the top business schools. Each year, the Amerasia founders write an updated, extremely detailed memo on each school, discussing their various essay prompts, cultural differences, and recommended strategies. These memos even go into the depth of discussing personnel changes at an individual school's admissions team, and how that could impact how you approach the essays. For example, if a new dean of admissions is promoted and they decide to switch us the essay topics that year, the Amerasia team will already know WHY they made that move, and help you write towards the school's underlying desires. For example, maybe the school introduces a new essay asking you, "Tell us about a time you had to work with a diverse set of people to accomplish a task." The Amerasia team will have spoken to the admissions folks at that school and they will know that the purpose of this new essay was to test an applicant's background regarding ethnic diversity, adversity in the face of new environments, and grit to solve tough tasks.

2. Their consultants only work with a small number of clients at a time (as opposed to other bigger consultancy companies, who take more of a volume-led approach)

3. Their consultants take extraordinary amounts of time to get to know your personal background, story, and aspirations. I cannot emphasize this part enough. My consultant, Drew, spent many many hours listening to me rant about my life, and never complained. He was structured, efficient, and knew the right questions to ask. I felt that this was a very important part of our relationship, because when it came time to write my essays, he was able to recommend anecdotes and examples I had told him from my life as ideas for creative direction on essays.

4. Their response time is very fast, cordial, and on time. Drew responded to my texts and emails within 24 hours, even on weekends, and never missed deadlines. I have heard horror stories of the exact opposite from other admissions consultant companies, where they will ghost clients for 3-5 days at a time right around important deadlines (again, because those consultants probably have twice the number of clients to deal with)

5. They help you craft your story throughout the entire application, not just in the essays. Drew spent lots of time reviewing my resume, short answer responses, career and job explanations, and other mundane parts of the application process. His help there really made the package more cohesive and helped my application shine.

In summary, I cannot recommend Amerasia enough. They have completely changed my life by helping me get into my dream business school. I wish you the best of luck!

Full stats: 29, straight white male, T20 private US school, 3.25 GPA undergrad business major, 750 GMAT (47Q, 46V), career in marketing.

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I got introduced to Amerasia via a GMAT Club webinar. What intrigued me about Amerasia was the approach of aligning your individual attributes to a school’s DNA. But, the real home run came when I got introduced to Drew at Amerasia.

I remember my introduction call with Drew. At first, I was confused about why we needed an hour as I had done a couple of these intro calls with other consultants and none required an hour. Jumping in, Drew took a different direction by being incredibly inquisitive about me and my goals. In the second half of our call, I got hooked. Drew took everything I had shared with him and provided feedback on my strengths and weaknesses for Booth, Kellogg, and Georgetown. This gave me confidence that Drew was attentive, cared, and knowledgeable. I signed up on the spot.

With two months out til the 3rd Round deadlines, Drew and I started work on the introspective component of my MBA application. Then came my first strategy guide, WOW! The analysis of the school and with each essay broken down; I was easily able to identify potential stories. Drew took those stories, added details from the introspective exercises, and helped me to craft and draw out the most impactful pieces that ultimately led to my acceptance to all three schools.

Overall, the best parts of Drew are that he really does care and he absolutely owns his craft. Drew took my bluntness and dull use of words and added warmth and color without minimizing the significance of my achievements. There is no way that I would have submitted my MBA applications with confidence if it wasn’t for Drew. I wholeheartedly recommend Drew to anyone who wants to feel confident when submitting their MBA application/s.

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Amerasia, and specifically Drew Hoff, came highly recommended from a friend who worked with him a couple of years before. After doing an initial consultation with Drew, I was very impressed, not only with his experience helping clients through the MBA admissions process, but of his knowledge of the DNA of each program and how they differ from one another. Before I began working on the applications, Drew worked with me to iron out why I wanted to pursue an MBA and what my short and long term goals were. These exercises helped me formulate a story that I could tell in my admissions essays.

For each application, Drew created a customized strategy guide which dug deep into each school’s admissions components, and what exactly they were looking for in their candidates’ essays. The guides broke down each essay and helped me formulate a strategy specific to my resume and story, down to the paragraph. Equally as valuable was Drew’s help editing my essays. His feedback was thoughtful, creative, honest and direct. It was clear that he put considerable time into editing each, and was willing to go through as many rounds of edits as it took to tell the best version of my story. His essay feedback is the real deal. Drew did the same with my resume, which he helped me convert from a tech-focused to a business-focused version.

Drew also helped me prepare for my admissions interviews. Again, the focus was always on the DNA of each school - interviewers from different programs may ask the same question, but are sometimes looking for completely different answers. He even conducted mock interviews.

With Drew’s help, I was offered admission to Columbia Business School and Yale School of Management. I highly recommend him to anyone eying admission to top MBA programs.

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Amerasia, specifically Drew, was referred to me by a friend who used him during his MBA application process and Drew guided him to acceptance at Kellogg. I reached out to Drew 3 weeks before MBA deadlines for 2021 admissions cycle. I had completed my GMAT the day before reaching out to Drew and had not began any of my applications or obtaining recommendations. I remember asking Drew if there was enough time to thoroughly complete my applications, and without hesitation, Drew said absolutely.

We had our introduction meeting and then instantly began working on the essays. One of my favorite aspects of Drew’s approach to the essays and overall application process is the structured and regimented approach he takes. He sends detailed memos for each school, digging in to the history, core values, and specific DNA of each school and what their admissions committee is looking for. These memos provide a fantastic starting place for the essays, and alleviates the majority of the guess work and stress, which was extremely beneficial given my tight timeline.

Not only was Drew one of the nicest guys to work with, he was one of the most responsive. From emails, to phone calls, Drew was ALWAYS available and willing to help with whatever I needed. Even though we are located on different ends of the country, he kept the time difference in mind and made sure that everything was convenient for my time zone (even if that meant a 6am phone call for him!).

As a Georgia resident, and with 6 years of work experience in both Insurance and Entrepreneurship (Healthcare services laboratory startup), I applied for three schools with him: Emory, Stanford and UVA Darden. With a GMAT score of 680 and a GPA of 3.71, Stanford and Darden were my reach schools. I was accepted to Emory (where I applied in Round 3 and was my number one choice). Interview invitations have not been sent out for the other schools, so I am still waiting to hear from them. His essay critiques and application guidance was paramount to my acceptance into Emory, and hopefully Stanford and Darden as well.

Using this firm and linking up with Drew was the best decision I have ever made. The overall experience could not have been better and I would not be attending my dream school without his assistance.

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I was admitted to my dream schools, and I do believe Paul played a big part in helping me get these results.

Here's why I would always choose to work with Paul:
-He knows what every school wants and will make sure you present accordingly in your applications
-After just 1 hour of consultation, he had already built a strong thesis and angle for my applications
-I learnt a lot more about myself after the process and after sessions of brainstorming with him, probably cos he has experiences bringing the best out of every candidate
-Strong writing skills, which will be very important for your essay / application
-Finally, and most importantly, he always delivers and strives for excellence. no matter what your work / essays look like initially or even days leading to the deadline. He always makes sure the final product submitted is top notch.

My advice when you work with Paul: Trust the man, trust the process. He has many clients and might take time to get back to you, but he always delivers and he knows what he's doing.

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My experience with Paul was great. He was not only an admissions consultant but also became a friend during the process. My results were great. I got into HBS and Kellogg.

I am from India and I had spoken with 10 consultants to evaluate from. Almost all of them viewed my GMAT score as not good enough (730(Q50, V40)) and asked me to give GMAT again or asked me to not even try for HBS. Disheartened by this, I took a break from the process to rethink my priorities. I even took another GMAT test and scored a disappointing 710.

I decided to apply with 730 and spoke with one last consultant - Paul. Paul mentioned on the call that HBS doesn't care about the GMAT and I shouldn't worry about it at all. He also crafted a mini-story around my profile and blew my mind with his creativity and articulation. He was the only consultant who was actually interested in my story. I chose Paul in a heartbeat. I also spoke to my seniors from college and work who had worked with Paul in the previous years and were now at HBS/Wharton. All of them were happy with their experience with Paul.

Paul and I worked together on 4 schools - HBS, Wharton, INSEAD and Kellogg. I got interview invites from all except INSEAD. Below is the breakdown of my experience with Paul stage by stage of the application process:

Stage 1: Discovering your story and drafting the HBS essay. Paul and I spoke in-depth about my childhood, college and job experiences. He took a shot at drafting the first version of the story and together over the next 2 months we iterated over 30 versions of the HBS essay. Paul worked on the HBS tirelessly. He knew exactly what the school wanted and how can we deliver that in the essay. This instinct of his has been accumulated by going through the process for years. We crafted a very personal story. Seeing the final output of the HBS essay was heartening. I even compared it to my other friends who were applying in the year. Their story was not as personal and it showed a lack of understanding of what the school really is looking for. All in all, stage 1 was great!

Stage 2: Using the HBS essay and my story to draft other essays of Wharton, INSEAD, and Kellogg. This was not a hard part. We took about a month to do this. By this time I had understood Paul's style and we were able to get things done in time and move fast. We also finished working on other parts of the application (LOR, mini questions, goals, etc)

Stage 3: Polishing all the material and finally submitting it. Paul really helped me in calming my nerves and taking all the material to the finishing stage. He was very diligent at this step and made sure we did not leave any stone unturned. This was the most crucial stage. I was extremely happy with all my applications. There was depth in what we wrote and I believe all schools got to know me very well.

Stage 4: Shortlists and preparing for the interviews. I had interview calls from HBS, Wharton, and Kellogg. Paul helped me do an extensive interview prep. I was well prepared for all my interviews and a lot of questions that Paul asked appeared in the interviews. Paul also made sure that I focus on the aspects I was lagging in. He also helped me draft a very good reflection of the HBS interview, which the school asks post the interview.

Stage 5: Results: Results were in. I will never forget the day I got into HBS. I couldn't believe the results. That feeling was extraordinary. The next day Kellogg also said yes, putting the icing on the cake.

I would highly recommend working with Paul.

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When I finally overcame the seemingly insurmountable obstacle that is the GMAT, I was met with another challenge in the MBA application process: deciding on whether or not to hire a consultant. At first glance, all of the reviews here on GMAT Club are stellar and I was overwhelmed by my options. My partner & I eventually narrowed the list down to about 8 (LOL), and I scheduled free consultations with every firm.

After about a week's worth of daily free consultations, I had made up my mind on who I wanted to go with, and frankly, I thought hard about skipping out on my consultation with Amerasia (it was the last one). I am so glad I didn't.

Drew blew me away. Not only was he a great listener, but his enthusiasm was also infectious. The Amerasia approach clicked with me, and I was thoroughly impressed with how prepared Drew was for our call. I ended up saying YES on the spot and ended our call feeling good about my decision. Random side note: emotional intelligence is a big deal to me, and Drew was the only consultant I had spoken to that brought it up first (instead of me asking about it). I was sold from that point forward.

The investment in Amerasia quickly paid for itself as Drew's patience, flexibility, and attention to detail (via strategy memos) gave me the structure I craved during the stressful and ambiguous application process. His laid back attitude on the work we had to do (I never felt pressured to meet specific deadlines) kept me sane each step of the way. Drew strikes a great balance between relaxed and straightforward. I am also kind of neurotic by nature, so I appreciated Drew's patience with me when I kept blowing up his phone or emails with my random questions.

Throughout the whole process, I felt like Drew was personally invested in helping me craft my best story, and the amazing part is he was able to do it while maintaining my voice. I am extremely pleased with my results and never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd find this much success with my stats. Big thanks to Drew & Amerasia for giving me confidence, but also helping me translate it in my applications.

Stats: ORM. 3.44 GPA. 5yrs Operations in Financial Services. 690 (47Q/38V) GMAT.

Round 2 Results: WL at Kellogg (waiting on a decision) and Stern (app now withdrawn). Admit at Anderson, Marshall (w/ full-tuition scholarship), and McCombs (w/ partial scholarship)

Update as of 4/13: I was admitted off the WL (w/ partial scholarship) at Kellogg this weekend. I wouldn't have even applied to Kellogg if Drew hadn't mentioned it during our first call. Seriously, highly recommend him!

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I worked with Paul Lanzilotti, who communicated with me normally over Slack and also frequently over the phone. The primary sources of help came from essay editing as well as tailoring for each school.

While I had a good story and good stats (4.0 GPA, >730 GMAT), I received no interviews the prior year. I therefore shopped around and felt most comfortable working with Paul. After a long and rather nerve-racking process, Paul helped me present a more coherent story, tailored properly for each school. I ultimately was admitted to 4 top-10 schools, 1 with scholarship. I am very happy with my result and am overjoyed to attend my dream school in the fall.

Paul exceeded my expectations for 1 simple reason - he knew what to do, which allowed me to achieve my goal. Ultimately that's why you hire a consultant.

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TLDR:
I worked with Paul from Amerasia for two-school complete package (application + interview).
I received R1 offers from both schools (Cambridge & LBS).
I recommend him to the fullest degree.

Detailed review of Paul & Amerasia:
I will breakdown my experience and provide a score for each of the criteria that I find to be important when it comes to admission consultation.

Knowledge & Expertise (5/5):
Paul is extremely knowledgeable about the MBA admission process in general, and his experience allows him to provide practical and helpful insights and guidance. He has also built up a wealth of information on application and interview. I found the materials he supplied me with to be intuitive and helpful. He allowed me to look past many of the "advice" offered on various forums by so called experts. Even though he mostly works with clients applying to US schools, I had no problem putting together solid application packages and getting through the interviews - all for European schools.

Communication (4/5):
I have to be honest here. Sometimes Paul can be a bit hard to reach. Having gone through the application process and looking back on the overall experience, this is not a big deal. It's not like he doesn't deliver on his words. However, for students admission process can be an emotional roller coaster, and at times having someone to speak to readily will greatly help with the stress. This is the only thing that I felt like Paul can improve upon. He does make it up also by spending the time with you. I've never had a single phone call where he asked to hang up first. He is willing to go over the allocated 30 minutes or an hour to address all of your questions, comments, and concerns. I very much appreciated that about Paul. In terms of style of communication, he is very honest. He will let you know directly that your work sucks. He will also let you know when you do a decent job.

Commitment & Engagement (5/5):
Paul's engagement style and his level of commitment is what got me to work with him over all the other big name consulting firms. I noticed immediately during the initial (free) consultation. Every other consultants hung up after a 30 minute conversation on the dot. Paul was different. Even for a free initial call, he spent an hour and a half talking with me. He will go over and beyond for you and he makes you feel that he, too, is truly invested in your success. It will obviously vary depending on people (and personalities), but him and I built a pretty strong relationship (considering the fact that we've never seen each others' faces and all of the communications were via email and phone calls) with him. This provided me with a sense of security that I really needed to overcome the stresses of application journey. He truly made me feel like he was looking after my best interest, and never once made me feel like our engagements were transactional. If you want someone in your corner during your MBA application journey, Paul is your man.

Value (5/5):
Value is personal and relative, so I will keep it pretty brief. His pricing is pretty much better than anything in the market. Not only that, as mentioned before, Paul is more committed and knowledgeable than other consultants I have talked to & received service (I used another company last year, but wasn't very happy with what I got) from.

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Adam is AMAZING. You will be lucky if you can work with him, as now he only works with client referrals. He truly goes above and beyond for every applicant and I cannot thank him enough!

- He is incredibly honest and direct -- if he doesn't think you have a credible shot, he will not work with you for that school. He will also be honest about the holes in your application and where the questions may arise. He is not afraid to hurt your feelings if your essay or answers need lots of help.

- His memos and strategy guides are incredible -- they give you fantastic insight into each school and each essay topic (what it means, what you should think about, what you should avoid, etc.)

- He spends the time to get to know you -- I have heard that other consultants will try to "bucket" applicants without taking the time to get to know you. He takes the opposite approach, don't care about what others might perceive your background, just be yourself!

- He knows how to tell a story -- this is super helpful when it comes to distilling your entire background into a few short paragraphs / pages or making sure the most important aspects of your life are able to shine through

- His team brings well-rounded expertise and insight -- a separate team member reviews your resume and a separate team member gives a mock interview

Best of luck with your admissions process! If you are lucky enough to work with Adam, you are in good hands.

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