Worth. Every. Penny.

I want to start off by saying I firmly believe that I would not have been accepted to four top 10 programs if I had not worked with Adam Hoff.

As I began this process (back in January 2013), I knew next to nothing about MBA admissions, and truly was lost as to where to even start. I was studying for the GMAT, had decided that I wanted to attend a "top 10" program (because that sounded like the right thing to do), and was pretty open to moving around, but that was where my knowledge stopped.

I am a big researcher, so I did what many people do -- I reached out to all the big admissions consulting companies. I spoke with ALL of the big players... Stacy Blackman, Admissionado, MBA Mission, Veritas Prep, Accepted.com, Clear Admit, MBA Exchange, you name it. This was a huge investment of time and energy, but this is not only a significant investment of money (no surprise that admissions consultants aren't cheap), but will have a lasting impact on the rest of my life. I will not speak to my experiences with each individual firm, but I will share that generally, I would speak to the founder / CEO who would provide general insights into MBA admissions, let me know my "chances" at some top programs, proceed to apply some broad stroke comparisons to my profile, let me know they would be passing me along to a consultant on their team (who I didn't get a chance to meet yet), and then would proceed to ask if I would like to sign the dotted line. This rubbed me the wrong way, and to be honest, I wasn't willing to take a leap of faith with this process so I kept looking. I will say, some of the people that I spoke with were great, but overall, I wasn't ready to commit.

This is where Amerasia came in -- I stumbled across the company in one of the message boards. They don't have as big of a presence (yet), but I was blown away from the first call. First of all, Adam didn't "pass me off", he spoke to me directly and had no intention of putting on a sales pitch just to have me work with someone else. We spent over an hour talking about his experiences, my background, and what I wanted out of this process -- quite simply, he got to know me, he asked about my biggest concerns, and I could tell he cared about my success. This was the last introductory call that I made and signed up for his complete school package the next day.

I was very, very early to the game and was pleasantly surprised that Adam was willing to help right from the beginning. We worked through my resume to get it sorted out before applications came out, he provided detailed (personalized) strategy guides for me and each of my schools, and when the time came, he set me up with members of his team to work on mock interviews (I liked that he had me meet with other people on his team for this component -- as they did not know me, it would be more representative of the "blind" interview that I would be going into). Also, I cannot stress how much I appreciated his 48 hour response commitment.

This entire process is stressful -- at least it was for me, and having someone like Adam in your corner is a tremendous asset. Admissions consultant aren't able to change your GMAT / GPA, change your job, or make you into someone you're not... they do NOT write your essays and they certainly don't have "a guy" who can get you in... BUT they are able to help put the best "you" on paper. Adam knew the right questions to ask me, to get the right stories, for the right essays, at the best schools.

His knowledge of the process, his understanding of the culture at each of the top 10-15 programs, and his insights from years of working in admissions helped make the difference for me. Thankfully, I was accepted to four premier programs and in the end, Adam was instrumental in helping me make the decision to attend Booth.

I would recommend him to anyone who is serious about getting into a top program, and is willing to put in the time and energy to get there. Pursuing an MBA is an expensive endeavor, but having a consultant ensures that you're putting your best foot forward. Adam was worth. every. penny.