Background:

I’m posting under a new id to keep my real identity under wraps and will work with the moderator to verify my information.

This post will be lengthy since I know when I started this journey, I wanted lots and lots of details and liked the lengthy posts.

I work as an IT consultant and thought I had a pretty good work experience and personal life story. However, I have an average GMAT score and I didn’t climb Everest during a stop-over to my summer hobby of saving starving children in Africa. In other words, didn’t think I had a special story to tell to get me into a top ten school.

However, after doing my own research and attending info sessions, I felt encouraged enough to go all out and give it a good fight. As a result, I was armed with tons of questions when I interviewed the admin consultants. Amerasia was the last on my list to call, and I almost didn’t do it since I had felt so strongly about my previous meeting with another company. Adam’s incisive questions and perspective on my goals were so unique that I knew I wanted more of such insights for the rest of my application process. What I also really appreciated was his low key attitude in not pushing for a sale, and he would’ve been fine if I took his ideas and went off with another consultant. He recognized that it’s just not about ideas, but about finding a person who matches your personality to work with you in the weeks/months ahead on the application.

Working Style:

Adam’s primary mode of interaction with me was via email, so you have to be comfortable about the idea that you will not be having regular phone meetings. However, he was always willing to take a call if I needed it. In some ways, the emails work much better as I have them as notes to refer back on.

Adam always kept to the schedule we agreed upon, but his laid-back demeanor helped me keep a cool head as I was debating various issues (strategy on retaking GMAT, which story to tell for my essays, etc) while facing pressure of deadlines.

Also, I had a ton of questions throughout the process, but Adam was always patient and thorough in answering them. Sometimes even re-answering as I would say, “I know we already talked about this but now I have a different angle, would you still think…”

All in all, I felt I received the support I needed and was actively cheered on throughout the process.


Application:

During my initial conversations with Adam, we discussed my three target school in terms of both fit for my goals and what are my realistic chances. His insights were valuable to me in that he knew the school cultures so that he confirmed that I made good choices for schools that can help me achieve my goals. Also, Adam helped me navigate through my perceived pros and cons for the schools in the lucky event that I got multiple acceptances.

Regarding chances for an admit, Adam was always upfront and never gave me false promises (besides, I wouldn’t have believed him!). Given that Adam has worked with many candidates, it’s great to hear what I thought was a mundane background was actually unique. I don’t think Adam was giving me BS either since we were pretty candid about GMAT score or other areas that can be dinged.

Resume: This was an added bonus for me since I thought I had a strong resume, but Adam’s critique really brought it up another notch.

Interview: Adam brought in an outside expert to run the prep interview with me which really helped shake out some nerves as well as get another perspective on how I tell my story. A mock interview with Adam would not have been the same since I had a comfortable relationship with him by then, and having to talk to a total stranger was closer to the real deal.

Essays:

Working with Adam on the essays was great since it’s been a long time since I had written something for school, and didn’t realize how much business jargon and banalities crept into my writing. Since Adam was knowledgeable about the school culture of the programs I was interested in, he was also able to help me tailor the side of my personality and goals that would best appeal to each school. I still was being true to myself, but Adam helped me put my best foot forward.

While working on the essays, Adam typically responds within the day for questions, and within a few days for essay edits. I always got responses earlier than what I expected when I was facing deadlines and tried to crunch in more changes. In fact, Adam dug changes out of me even when I started getting sick of writing essays (doing several of them in a row will really get to you after a while!!). He also helped me turnover ideas when I was stuck… one method we used is for me to send key points for the essay so I won’t waste time writing the whole thing and have to do major revisions.

When I look back at what I started with, and then compare the drafts with the final versions, I’m amazed at the difference!

Results:

Got in two Top 5 schools and dinged in a Top 3 school (GMAT was the culprit, but I believe Adam’s help gave me a fighting chance).

In summary, only you can decide whether to work with an admin consultant and who to go with. You have to be honest with yourself about your chances and then do your homework in asking all the right questions during the free consultation. For me, it was a good experience in more ways than one, and I’m glad I went with Adam and Amerasia. I may question at what my outcome would’ve been had I done it alone, but I don’t question that having Adam there made the journey much easier in dealing with the stress and uncertainty, and the experience more enriching in terms of insights about myself and my goals.

One final thought: I knew I had decent chances, but I wanted to improve the odds in my favor. Besides, last thing I wanted to do was to look back and regret that I didn’t do everything possible to make my dream come true.

Best wishes with your application!

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Adam's insider expertise on the MBA admissions and application process was invaluable and timely. Out of all the admission advisory companies out there, I ultimately decided to go with Amerasia and Adam because he made me feel the most comfortable. Never did I once feel forced or pressured into signing up for his services. At the same time, he was helpful and realistic with what he could help me with. Our initial consultation forced me to rethink my strategy (I had a sub 650 GMAT score), and he advised me to retake the test, and thank goodness I did. Lets just say I retook the test and received a score between 650-700.

Adam's strength is in the brainstorming process, where he'll help you draw upon your experiences and background to craft the most compelling and cohesive stories. Without Adam's help, my essays would not have flowed as seamlessly and presented me as holistically as they did.

I appreciate Adam for his insightful feedback from the very beginning to the very end, he was positive, professional and knowledgeable about how best to assist me. More than anything, he was patient with fielding my million questions and he always made an effort to turnaround my questions and essays in a timely manner. His feedback was spot-on, and he even helped me prepare and gave me the confidence I needed to go into my interviews and perform well.

What I appreciated most about Adam is his customized, catered and personal approach. When you're working with Adam, you'll certainly feel taken care of, as opposed to the one-size fits all approach of many of the larger companies out there.

In the end, I was accepted into a top-5 program, Northwestern-Kellogg with a sub-700 GMAT score!

I had an excellent experience working with Adam and would certainly recommend him without reservations.

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Adam Hoff is the honest, objective, critical thinker that I needed to aid me in the application process. You probably need him, too.

STRENGTHS

1. Without Adam, I would have made the mistake of relying on people who are a) to close to me and already know my story or b) admissions consultants who, in trying to help their candidate, become too close to the applicant and their story.

In both cases, the adviser cannot evaluate the application objectively; they are drawing from the picture that they have constructed over hours of phone calls or years of working with you, not just what is on the paper. There is an inverse relationship between familiarity and objectivity, and that’s a big problem when admissions can only go off of what’s on paper.

I commend Adam for keeping such rigorous protocol on objective editing and application support. I feel that is rare and overlooked.

2. Without Adam, it could easily have taken me double the amount of time it did to complete my three applications. This is coming from a person who once believed the essays would be the “easy” part.

However, I quickly realized how difficult it can be to select the right story, select the right tone, and organize the essay in a way that makes sense. Balancing passion with objective business skills, for example, was just one challenge that Adam quickly advised me on. I found myself committing the same mistakes from essay to essay, actually. Adam was critical in helping me find the right approach.

3. Without Adam, I probably would have been a lot more stressed (and I like to remain pretty laid back). The application process is stressful enough as it is, so it really is helpful to feel as though you have a partner in the process that has been there, done that, and knows the application process cold. He is excellent at synthesizing information and capturing the most important points of stories that I couldn’t seem to break into compelling sound bites.

4. Without Adam, I would not have had the opportunity to have a mock interview with a well-qualified third-party who, for the sake of objectivity was completely unfamiliar with my story, and gave insightful, critical, and honest feedback. I felt extremely confident and comfortable for my first, real B-school interview.

Additional: Of course, Amerasia has a mastery of the "basic must-haves:" editing, proof-reading, school-specific guidance, etc.

WEAKNESSES

Amerasia is not the cheapest complete school admissions consulting package on the market. The program is not "cheap" when compared to some of the lowest priced consultants, but the value and ROI is well worth it. I spoke with admissions consultants from three different companies before deciding on Amerasia. It did not make sense for me to pay half the cost for what I perceived as half the service and someone reading from a Sales script. While not everyone can get admitted, if you do, the price is obviously well worth it. I don't see the MBA application process as a time to leave anything on the table.

CONCLUSION

Adam believed in my candidacy, understood my relatively non-traditional, non-linear path relatively quickly, and provided me with assistance that was invaluable.

From my experience, you can't go wrong with Adam.

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As I'm writing this review on the last days before I start my MBA at the business school of my dreams, I can't help but smile when I remember all the steps that brought me here. When I talked to Adam for the first time, I had just finished my first GMAT, I didn't have the grade I had hoped for and was starting to lower my expectations on my list of programs. "Maybe", "I guess you can try" were some of the answers I got from other admissions consultants I talked to.

But with Adam it was different. First of all, on our first free consultation he had clearly done his homework. He knew my CV, and he knew A LOT about the school, its values and its admissions process. That impressed me right from the start. Then he started telling me these great ideas of how we could highlight the strong points on my story and how to transform the weaker points (and I had quite a few) into a good story. And at the end of the consultation he said something that resulted in my final decision, and that was in my mind through the whole admissions process: "Claudia your profile is stronger that you think".

It's not that Adam didn't have a realistic view of what my odds were, what I felt from this statement was that Adam strongly believed that with my story I was a great fit for this school. After that, I improved my GMAT and we started working on the application.
Working on the essays with Adam was great. With his help, I was able to make my voice heard and to create a compelling story about me and future goals. I am very proud of my essays in general, and there is one in particular that I feel describes me perfectly.
In terms of working method, I chose to work on all the essays at the same time, if I focused on only one essay I would get stuck. Also, I ask a lot of questions. All the time. So for every comment Adam made on my essays, I would ask another question. And Adam was the most patient person in the world, answering everything, explaining how we could improve things, how the admissions office would look at each of the options.

When I was selected to the interview stage of the process, Adam arranged a mock interview with another consultant. I was very, very nervous during the mock interview, but her insights were really helpful, we worked on my weaker answers, we developed better ways to say what I wanted to say and going to the real interviews all my nerves were gone. I connected with the interviewers, I was relaxed and I said everything that needed to be said.

In conclusion, if you're looking for a consultant who is willing to go the extra mile for you, talk to Amerasia. You can talk to other consultants too, but if in the end you gut feeling tells you that Amerasia is the right choice, go with it. I did, and right now I'm packing and getting ready to start my MBA at the school of my dreams.

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This is a review for Adam from Amerasia. I consulted with Adam for a complete package for one school, and then worked with him ad-hoc on some essays for other schools.

From the beginning Adam was very knowledgeable about the culture of each school. During the consultation, he gave me tips and insight into schools that I had not known or considered. I also consulted with 5 or so other admissions consulting companies but Amerasia was the most personal experience. Other companies made me feel badly about my qualifications, while Adam addressed my candidacy with more finesse and kindness. He had a more diplomatic and positive attitude.

Adam was incredibly useful in helping me put together my essays and resume for the one school. He not only edited the essays but helped with the content, idea creation, and helped me when I was stuck with the basic problem of what my long-term goals should be. When helping me craft my essays, when I was stuck on a particular question, Adam provided examples that he drafted from scratch that helped me to address the questions. This showed me how much effort and time he was putting in towards helping me achieve the very best essays.

Adam had such a pleasant disposition. He completely motivated me and helped me to get into the zone to attack the applications & essays. He was great to talk to...he simply just had style. I was admitted into one of my top two choices.

I whole-heartedly endorse Adam from Amerasia as the best MBA admissions consultant around.

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Everyone here seems to love Amerasia for reasons I agree with, but what stuck out to me the most was not only did Adam from Amerasia help me hone/completely form my goals - but afterwards, he continuously kept my goals in mind and would send me articles relating to what I wanted to do. This level of dedication was so impressive to me as I knew I was on his mind.

In other details, I applied to 5 schools in round 1 and used Adam for 4; however, by the time I got to the 5th I was just reusing stuff we'd already come up to and I'll give him the credit. While Stanford (I heard a rumor that some lady was a Stanford wiz, you guys should try to look for her if you can, I'm not sure who) and Harvard (My GPA was probably much to weak for Harvard) rejected me, I got into my first realistic choice - Kellogg! Looking back my profile and essays were cut out to be Kellogg perfect and they gave me a small scholarship to boot. I also got an interview at my backup realistic school and a full ride at my backup school!

The turn around time was fast - super fast! I was determined to get everything done before work got super busy and Adam was so good at cranking these things out over night or even five essays over the course of 2 days (he easily juggled the editing and writing of several essays at once). Not only did he crank them out though, he saved me a lot of time by being a magician with words. It would take me 200 words to describe something he could sum up in one eloquent sentence.

Perhaps, just perhaps with enough headache and work and reviews from friends I could have achieved the same goals - perhaps; however, Adam guided me through the process efficiently (weeding out much too helpful friends who had good intentions but uninformed targets) and I could not have applied to so many schools so quickly without him.

If I were you, I would start early in the process too as all admission consultants get busy closer to the deadlines. I finished early and Adam did a final review of my application and caught a bunch of typos - wahoo! He was also super flexible about answering questions outside of our 'contract' (aka helping me a bit for my 5th unpaid for school) and was in general a great person to work with! Thanks Adam and sorry this review was so long overdue!

TLDR: Hire a consultant, makes process efficient. Amerasia/Adam = a fantastic person to work with

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I worked with Adam Hoff from Amerasia on three schools (well I was planning to apply to 7 but then I got lazy) – Booth, Columbia, and Stanford – and I got into Booth (with a happy pile of $$$) and Columbia. During the whole application process, I found myself saying this to my friends all the time, "i don't know how people do it without a consultant!!!"

By that, i don't mean people can't write decent essays and put together decent resumes and get into decent schools without the help of a consultant, but having a consultant to me is like having a coach to motivate you and cheer you along - Adam is very energetic and approachable, and he has a great sense of humor which has proven to be so very important in keeping my spirit up (we all know how frustrating the application process can get). I felt comfortable asking every single stupid question that popped into my head, even for questions he could have just answered with a simple "yes" or "no" or "don't worry about it", he would still go to great lengths to explain his comments and rationale. His comments were all straightforward and candid, so while he was often very humorous about it, he would tell me directly if an idea or essay just doesn’t make sense to him – so no unhealthy coddling there at all. For each school I was given a “strategy guide”, which details what the school might focus on or care more about in their essays. Those were REALLY helpful because I would have just completely re-used essays for multiple schools if Adam hadn’t told me not to.

Adam is also an amazing writer, and that’s something I value the most. I mean while a lot of current students can tell you about what each school values, very few people have the capability to help you tell your story. Adam did a great job helping me storyboard and giving me advice on how to get my points across more efficiently.

Just fyi, i actually set up calls with 5-6 consultants and Adam was the only one who really stood out. One of the worst calls was the one i had with Jon @ Precision Essay - i work for one of the biggest consulting companies in the world and he spent 10 mins telling me how i should explain what my company does in my essays to make sure the AdCom people know what consulting is like (?!)… but anyways my experience with Adam was fantastic and I would definitely recommend him to anyone in a heartbeat.

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Working with Adam was a dream! Not only did I gain expert guidance on my applications but I also felt that I gained a friend. I highly recommend him to everyone. I’ve been admitted into both programs I applied to (International MBA schools in the “elite” cluster). :-)

I do my homework so before committing to Amerasia, I did free consultations with 8 other consultants. I liked them to varying degrees and would even say that I clicked with some. However, more than just rapport, I needed someone who was convinced of my candidacy; someone who knew he could get me in and already had a plan. Adam was all these things and more. He liked my story and he made me like it too.

I’m the sort of person who obsesses over things and worries about everything. Adam steadied my nerves and gave me a sense of peace and clarity that allowed me to turn in my finest work. He also filtered out the noise from the misinformation on the process and enabled me to concentrate on what really mattered.

The essays, of course, are at the heart of this matter. While Adam is willing to accept calls, he much prefers email so that we could create a trail and document our progress. I quickly saw the rationale of this and found it an incredibly efficient way to get things done. His response time is lightning fast. There was never a compromise in the quality though because each input he’d submit was well thought-out and highly beneficial.

Adam’s a huge advocate of “the right structure.” What he does is he makes an outline of how to answer the essay question. He gives guidelines as well on how much of the essay should be spent on each part in order to maximize impact. This leaves all the content up to you (just as it should be). You are able to be as creative and original as you want while using his parameters in order to ensure you are on track. If he’d ever rewrite something, it would only be to phrase it better. I was able to maintain my own voice throughout as well as bring out the best of my abilities.

As for the mock interview, he passed me on to a colleague and this worked out wonderfully because I got a fresh set of eyes on my application. I was given a bit of advice but the more important thing is that I was able to work out my jitters over the process. When I interviewed for real, I was calm, collected, and able to make the best impression possible.

Again, I cannot stress how much I enjoyed working with Adam. His belief in me got me through this difficult process and has inspired me to face whatever challenges ahead with the same belief in myself.

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Edited to add: I've been a long-time reader of this forum but didn't feel compelled to post until now. My review is legit. Feel free to PM me for more details. =)

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I think an admissions consultant is invaluable in the MBA application process. First, my background. I'm 31, with 8 years of experience in finance, female, 3.7 GPA from a public university, and 720 GMAT. I'm looking to transition out of finance and into entrepreneurship.

In round 1, I applied to Harvard, Stanford, and Chicago without a consultant. I got dinged from H/S and interviewed at Chicago.

For the interview prep, I contacted Stacy Blackman Consulting, Sandy, and Amerasia. Sandy was booked up; I spoke to a woman at Stacy Blackman and Adam at Amerasia. The woman at Stacy Blackman was nice but I didn't feel we connected. When I spoke to Adam, he gave me pointers on Booth and didn't pressure me to sign up for his services. This was really nice, 'cause I had a million things going on and couldn't make a decision anyway.

Adam's pointers on Booth were spot on. Unfortunately, due to my crazy work schedule, I didn't adequately prepare for my interview (I worked until 3 AM the night before my interview). I didn't have time to get excited about the school and went into my interview with a lackluster attitude. Needless to say, I wasn't admitted.

In round 2, I hired Adam for his essay and interview services. I applied to Wharton and Kellogg, schools that he noted were friendlier to older applicants. Here's how the essay writing process went: I turned in a first draft for Wharton, he (very nicely and bluntly) told me it had to be completely re-worked. My essays painted me as unfocused, and my reasons for transitioning from finance to entrepreneurship weren't well-supported. It took about 3-4 drafts before I got it right. My essays pre-Adam and post-Adam were dramatically different; my friends commented that my post-Adam essays drastically improved. Here's what I consider to be Adam's biggest strengths in essay prep:

- He's very good at helping you organize your story and painting you in the best light. He knows immediately when something sounds wishy-washy and will help you re-work it. He understands the strongest aspect of your application and will help you highlight this.
- He's good with essay structures and will help you break down your story into a concise, easy-to-follow narrative.
- He provides solid advice on how to attack each essay, what to avoid, what to focus on, etc.
- Lastly, Adam is great to work with. His upbeat attitude and follow-up emails helped me stay on track during the grueling process.

On Monday, I found out I was admitted to Kellogg. I also received an interview invite from Wharton, with decision still pending. My only regret during this process is not hiring Adam earlier in round 1. I am so grateful to Adam, not only for his help in essay-writing and interview prep, but also for being a cheerleader, a great motivator, and for keeping me focused when I was being pulled in so many different directions. For anyone considering a consultant, I strongly recommend Adam.

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