I highly recommend Drew Hoff to everyone who is interested to get an offer from Top 10 schools. I feel very lucky to have met him through another of his client who also have only great things to say about Drew. That person also got a few Top 10 offers.

I was very late in the R2 application process and Drew was able to help me improve my essays, CV, and recommendations within a short time period of 2 weeks. During that time, I was also going through some personal issues and GMAT prep, and Drew was able to accommodate me very kindly with his time and efforts. And I got the interview invites from all 3 schools and admits to 2 schools of my choice in the Top 10. Drew was amazing to help me look into my profile and story in a very different way, which I could have never done on my own. He has an extraordinary capacity to question his students to make them think and look at things from a very refined angle. I firmly believe that I won’t be able to improve my essays without his help.

Moreover, Drew also went the extra mile to comment on my essays for other schools. He was always available for quick calls to help me to proceed with my essays and other parts of the application.

Luckily, I was able to get an offer from Haas with a scholarship through Drew’s help. I highly recommend Drew to anyone who is interested in improving their profile through a perfect CV, essays, and recommendations. 10/10 for Drew and his team.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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!

Read More

I found Amerasia on GMATClub and reached out to them 3 weeks (yup, 3 weeks) before MBA deadlines for 2019 intake. At that point, I'd just re-taken my GMAT, had not started on any of my applications, essays or recommendations. I remember asking Drew if I should just wait to apply for 2020 intake to avoid rushing through my applications. However given that I'm slightly older, he advised me to go ahead with this round.

We started working on the essays straight away. Drew had a very structured approach towards the entire process. He had detailed memos for each segment of the application, from recommendations to essays to interviews. This made it less overwhelming as it broke down the entire process into smaller and more achievable segments. I found this extremely helpful as I was working under extreme time constraint.

Drew was very responsive with emails. He was giving me feedback on my essays and applications through the Christmas and New Year's period, taking only Christmas day off. It was easy to schedule calls with Drew when I needed to discuss my applications over the phone, especially since I'm located in South East Asia.

Here's my background: I am South East Asian, studied Economics and Statistics for my undergrad, worked as an analyst for 5 years in telco industry, and had a 710 GMAT score.

I applied for 3 schools - Harvard, Stanford and Wharton. I was accepted to Harvard and Wharton and was waitlisted for Stanford. After being waitlisted to Stanford, Drew shared some detailed guidance on the waitlist process and how to improve my chances, i.e. writing additional essays.

I found the entire experience to be very pleasant. Drew was extremely supportive throughout the entire process and gave direct feedback about essays and my interview responses.

Read More

I was introduced to Adam Hoff and Amerasia through a high school classmate that worked with Adam and recommended him highly. My classmate and his wife both received Adam's help and guidance throughout their b-school application process and wound up at HBS together. After hearing rave reviews about Amerasia, I was excited to hear about their services and set up an initial consultation with Drew Hoff.

After going back and forth on whether I wanted to use an admissions consultant I ended up choosing to work with Drew and Amerasia because of the personal and dedicated approach that was shown in my hour plus consultation call; very different than any other free consultation calls I had before. Looking back at my notes from that call, Drew really opened my eyes to a successful and feasible path forward towards reaching my b-school goals due to his attention to detail and sincere advice based on the short questionnaire I had filled out beforehand.

Drew was a huge help at the start of the process as my brain had been swirling around in circles when I was trying to figure out where to begin on my own. I asked for guidance and a voice of reason throughout the application process and received it from Drew each step of the way - from vetting my final list of schools to choosing which stories to write about to preparing as best as possible for interviews.

The personalized strategy memos were really the kickstart to the hot and heavy time of my application period and they were a great help for putting pen to paper. I certainly remember being frustrated staring at a blank Word page for hours on end but Drew was there to coach me through my jumbled thoughts and help maintain my clear vision for b-school and beyond. Drew was responsive no matter how many iterations of my essays I went through and I distinctly remember the point in time where I took a step back after reading an updated version and thinking, "wow, I really have a chance at this" and "I've really learned A LOT about myself".

I cannot thank Drew and Amerasia enough for the instrumental help in the application process and I am happy to report that I was accepted at both Wharton & Kellogg when it was all said and done. (I interviewed at GSB & Haas and got dinged right off the bat at HBS). For quick reference - B.S. in Civil Engineering, 5 years in construction, 770 GMAT.

I'd strongly recommend Drew and Amerasia!

Read More

Hey all! So first off and to preface my entire review, I applied for Harvard, Stanford, Sloan, and Wharton. These are obviously very difficult schools, but I did have hope that my unique background combined with a strong consultant could pull me through. In the interest of transparency however, I just wanted to state that I was not able to secure any of the four schools, not even an interview. Take from that what you will in regards to whether or not my review is tainted, but I do believe I am not one to be so affected. At the end of the day, I have other opportunities that I can aim for, and so this does not faze me too much. I do think everyone here would appreciate knowing how my process with Drew went though, to not make the same mistakes that I made.

Alright, so into the process itself. Perhaps because of my origins as a PhD candidate, coming a bit out of left field that it ended up being hard for Drew - though the initial consultations had left me assured I would be in good hands, with someone who knew what to do with my background.

We started with a survey that I returned to Drew on the 11th of November 2018, which I suppose marks the first day of the consultation process. This was where the first red flag appeared, and perhaps I should have done something about this then. Once I completed the survey, nothing came out of it - nadda. There was no follow up discussing the results of the survey, or even later on how the results could play into my application. This is a general theme that pervades the consultation process, and I would highly recommend if you are going to go with Drew, to always be ready to remind him of deadlines and things that has been done/needs to be done.

This is because the next thing that happened, was that I sent him the first draft for my resume on the 27th of November and my first draft of the Harvard essay on the 1st of December. He took four days just to get back to me on my resume with suggestions (not really any edits), and really practically all throughout it had always been four days between when I sent him a resume draft and when I receive feedback/edits from him. I would suggest to send him drafts as early as you can, and also ensure it is as close to one page as possible because Drew will not really make edits or significant suggestions to your draft until then.

The bigger problem was the first draft of my Harvard essay, which went way past the four day (96-hour) deadline as promised by Amerasia. Allegedly Drew sent me a response that never got through. We had a bit of a discussion about this, where Drew was a bit bummed out, and I was too. I did offer to dissolve the agreement, but Drew wanted to continue, and, having not much time left, I decided to take a leap of faith and continue with Drew. To be frank, I think it is fair of me to voice such concerns to him, given that we had a later start than others, and deadlines were fast approaching.

Unfortunately it happened multiple times. Five times actually - across Harvard, Wharton, and Sloan essays, and that was enough to turn everything upside down. On one occasion, Drew allegedly forgot to send me an edit until I reminded him. On the remaining four occasions, Drew was late by 7 hours, 16 hours, 36 hours, and the worse one - 83 hours (which already accounted for 48 hours where Drew asked to take two days off over Christmas). As you can imagine, when you are coming so close to the deadline, every hour counts.

So therefore, if you go with Drew, you HAVE to chase him up. Do not be like me and wait for at least 96 hours (i.e. the deadline for return of edits based on the agreement), chase him up earlier than that. He might be overwhelmed, or for whatever other reason, but it is your application - you need to take charge.

This is because Drew does do good work - he managed to make significant modifications to my resume to squeeze in everything I wanted to write within one page, and have made good edits to my essays. However, it could have been so much better if he has had more time to go through my essays - which simply did not happen due to the constant breaches of deadlines.

I considered giving him a lower rating, but given that he does do good work when he seems like he wants to do it, I simply cannot do that. I think my rating is fair given that there were significant breaches on Amerasia's side that significantly affected my applications. So yes, if you go with Drew, you have to chase him up - whether because he is too busy, or in my case maybe not feeling like he wants to help me anymore, he does not chase up my progress or check in with me. Though in that case, that is not exactly professional, especially given that I offered him the choice of dissolving our arrangement.

Read More

Working with Drew and Amerasia was the key to my MBA admissions success. I had a below target score of 680 but had my eyes on the top programs. By working with Drew to unearth my story and find my true passions, I was able to obtain interview offers at every school I applied to, and earned a full tuition scholarship to a top 15 program.

Drew's approach is hands-on and effective. He is methodical and consistent in the way he approaches each school, essay, and process. He helps perfect your resume, fine tune your applications, and isn't afraid to tell you when something needs to be changed. I would certainly recommend his services for any candidate that is looking to stay both ahead of the curve and on top of their deadlines.

Read More