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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Hi All,

Here is a snippet of how I ended up working for Paul and boy..I am glad that I chose amerasia!!

Little bit of BG info. I am 30 yr/F/ Undergrad decent university from India, (EE)Masters - decent university US (3.2 GPA,EE). 1350 GRE

My desire to do a MBA started back in 2006 when I accidentally found myself browsing through pages of HBS!! But back then my personal situation did not allow me to pursue my goal. Fast forward 5 years ; after working for a top semiconductor company and a heavy manufacturing industry I decided that now might be time - It's now or never.

It's easier said than done as I had no clue as to how and where to start the whole process. I know where I stood among an extremely competing crowd and hence decided to use some professional help. All I wanted was to apply to two schools Ross and Kellogg's PTMBA .

Needless to say there are tons of professional consultants and fortunately I found this forum to be extremely helpful. I selected about 6 or 7 of them and talked to all of them.
About half of them (whom by the way are very prominent consultants) rejected my case since they thought that I did not stand a chance.
The last call I made was to amerasia. I spoke to adam and he mentioned that for my case Paul would be a better person to talk to. So ended up sending my case to Paul.

This was during sep 2011 which is a busy time for the applicants and the consultants. But Paul got back to me the very next day by email and scheduled with me for an hour of free consultation.
Needless to say all I had was my old resume since I had no clue as to how to modify the resume or do a rough draft of the essays.

He was up to the mark from the start , gave me a clear strategy how we are going to put our case to the school (I did have some unique background and exp), how to make my resume more appealing ; basically how we are going to end up getting admitted to!!!

He is someone who is blunt (not rude!) when it comes to the business. I completely trusted him in my case. We ended up doing 5 or 6 edits for each essay until we both were convinced that the essays exactly conveyed what I wanted to tell the adcom. He is some one who could extrapolate your thoughts to words and he is good at it!!!

He is very flexible in his schedule and if I needed him he made time in his schedule to talk to me - on the same day!!Also he is very experienced in working with international candidates - This helped me a lot during the process.

Did I mention that my 2 school package cost me about 50% less than what other consultants quoted me.

Finally I ended up getting into both the schools (One of them even offered me a scholarship!!). I owe a big thanks to Paul and amerasia. If anyone needs more information please feel free to PM me and I will be glad to share my thoughts with you.

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First off a bit about me. I am from India and work in the Semiconductor High Technology area in the Silicon Valley. I am 34 years old.

I took the GMAT twice in 2011 scoring 610 and 640 respectively. The second exam was in late September. Since the application deadlines were right around the corner, I was torn between retaking the exam to improve my score and continuing with the application. After about two weeks of deliberation, I decided to continue with the application.

Given my lower score and interest in California schools, I decided to go with an admission consultant. After speaking to a couple of consultants, including a local consultant, I was not really convinced much.

Then, I read a lot about Amerasia consulting on the GMATclub threads. I was impressed with Paul Lanzillotti's depth and experience and the ease and geniality with which he addressed people's questions. Also, it appeared that Paul didn't look down upon low GMAT scores. I got in touch with Amerasia about their two school package. Adam got in touch
with me and provided some initial guidance on what to expect. He was very clear upfront that given my lower GMAT score and interest in some top schools, my chances were at best 50-50!

I was then put in touch with Drew. Drew was professional from the word "go"! He setup a 30-minute call to understand what were my expectations and what to expect out of working with him. He followed this up with a very good questionnaire to get a better sense of my background, personality, and what were the best aspects about myself to showcase.

We decided that I'll use my two school package for UC Berkeley Haas and UCLA Anderson.

Then Drew wrote up a really unique strategy memo that outlined what was unique about each school and how to take a crack at their essays. For the first memo, he clearly outlined

the protocols for us working together, including response times and document exchange plans. I think this was very good since it setup a solid foundation for our working relationship and kept things professional. My schedule was another challenge since I had a two week vacation planned in December.

Then we got into the guts of writing essays. I came up with an initial set of essays and Drew went to work magically transforming the way the words were presented without making any change in the meaning I wanted to convey. In a sense he made my essays richer. Within 3-4 revisions, I could see how it was totally amazing compared to where we started.

Then came a small challenge of meeting the word count/page size limits. Again Drew snipped words intelligently without any noticeable impact on the quality of the essays. One of the big areas of focus for Drew was to turn the attention from everyone else in my essays to me. This was especially present in essays about my family.

Most important to notice in this effort was how we was appreciative of every essay version while being constructive in his suggestions for corrections. He always got back with his feedback on time.

Completing work on one school made things easier for the second school. However, Drew didn't take his feet off the gas pedal even once. He stuck to doing the same quality of work and sticking to the same schedule. Eventhough he was working with other applicants, he always made me feel that I was his only applicant!!

We got done with the essays about two weeks before the deadlines. Then Drew helped complete the applications by doing final reviews of what I wrote as answers to supplemental questions.

Within a few days of submitting my application, I got invited to interviews at both schools. Drew was immediately available to provide guidance on how to prepare for excelling on the interviews. He did a 30 minute mock interview in which he asked pretty much the standard set of questions of any MBA interview. For a couple of questions that I got stuck on giving really long answers, he helped trim the answers to be simpler without loss to the essence of the answers. For questions such as "have you applied to any other schools?", Drew suggested that I provide honest answers and the interviewer can be trusted to use this information responsibly.

Needless to say, come March, I was admitted to all the schools I had applied to. While I was very surprised at the result given my GMAT score, Drew had a HUGE role to play in my success. I can't thank him enough.

In closing, I'd very strongly recommend Drew and Amerasia consulting for an excellent job done in admission consulting. Their professionalism, integrity, genial nature, and very
well developed communication infrastructure is unparalleled.

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I was initially looking for Paul or Adam since I heard good things about them. Since they were both booked up, Adam referred me to his brother Drew. Even before I committed to the 3 school package, Drew set up a initial talk to go over what was included in the full package. His in-depth knowledge of the schools I wanted to apply to sold me on asking for his assistance to help me with my applications.

I selected the 3 school package and selected two top 10 private schools and 1 Consortium school. Drew not only helped me with essays, but also how to approach recommenders, my resume, interviews, and general application strategy. I think a lot of people believe consultants just write your essays for you, but that is totally not the case. Drew only helped me focus down on what i really wanted to do and encouraged me to write about my passions while cleaning up my grammar and overall essay strategy. We worked mainly over email and we sent revisions back and forth for my 3 schools. He definitely helped me a lot during the essay writing process and i don't think i would have been as concise and clear without his assistance.

When i started to get interviews, Drew helped me prepare over the phone and calmed me down when i was getting jittery. I ended up applying to 5 schools total, 3 of which Drew helped with. I got admits to 2 and I would definitely recommend him to others if they are looking into Amerasia.

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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 first got in touch with Amerasia at the beginning of the summer when I had decided on a preliminary list of business schools to apply to. Before calling Amerasia I spoke to a consultant at Stacy Blackman. However, the consultant I spoke to on the phone was not necessarily the consultant I would be working with during my application process. Working abroad, I was wary of going through the application process alone. At the same time, I knew I would need someone who could really understand my story and help me articulate it such that business schools would be able to understand the breadth of my experience.
The hurdles I knew I would face were an average GPA and barely two years of work experience upon matriculation. The quality of my work experience of helping start up a company abroad would need to be the focus of my application.
After talking with Paul at Amerasia Consulting for an hour during the free consultation I knew this was someone who I would be comfortable working with and someone who had experience with similar stories as mine. With several years experience in the admissions process, Paul was very clear with the entire application process during our initial phone call. I decided to enroll for the Full Engagement services just days after our phone call.
Based on my profile, we decided on 7 schools that we could work towards, and because we got an early start we were able to focus on each application individually and carefully approach each essay. Where I would have used the same essay for each school, Paul helped me understand what particular schools looked for in the “short/long term goals” essay for example. This way I found Paul’s guidance tremendously helpful as I navigated the business school application process. Initially we would talk on a weekly basis, and I never felt as though our conversations had a set time limit or that I was a burden. As deadlines approached, we would even meet twice a week depending on what was left to do.
After being offered an interview at one of my top choices, MIT Sloan, Paul was able to provide me with a lot of insight into how Sloan conducts interviews. With their ‘behavior interview’ approach, I was unfamiliar with how I would need to prepare. After a few mock interviews and reviewing my application with Paul I felt much more comfortable going into my interview.
I highly recommend Amerasia Consulting to help you through the MBA admissions process. I haven’t thought twice about the money spent, it was well worth it after being admitted to a top 10 MBA program.

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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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With a clear idea on why I want an MBA, I started applying to B-Schools on my own. I wrote a few essays and sought feedback from my friends and family. From the feedback, I realized that I am not coherently conveying my message. Also, I needed honest advice, from a reliable source, on the admission process and on the quality of my application. I eventually decided to take help from a consultant.

Why Michelle Awuku-Tatum?
There is valuable advice on this thread on several consulting firms and their consultants. I have gone through most of the posts, spoken to several consultants, and shortlisted Amerasia, for its personalized services, and Stacy Blackman (SBC), for its structured approach. I also had very specific requirements based on my background – I wanted a consultant with corporate work experience and with international exposure. I reviewed several consultant profiles from both firms and decided to speak with Michelle (Amerasia) and another good consultant from SBC. I chose Michelle, a Kellogg alumnus, for her corporate experience as a VP at Citigroup and for her diverse international experience. After speaking to her, I was even more confident in her abilities because of her patience, experience, and composure. More importantly, I enjoyed my conversation with her - I decided to work with Michelle.
My advice to anyone who is in the process of choosing a consultant/firm – even if it is time consuming, please look for a consultant who fits with your profile/background and who is genuinely excited by your experiences.

My experience working with Michelle
Working with Michelle was a stimulating conversation because she truly is passionate about what she does. I felt motivated after every single call, and she inspired me to seek perfection. She gave me valuable feedback and unbiased advice. Her attention to detail is extraordinary, and I believe that this detail differentiates a great application from a good one. I always got back to Michelle with a ton of questions on every single aspect of the application, and she never fell short of answering all my questions patiently. I cannot emphasize the value of her experience that she brought to the table – I made confident and informed decisions because of her experience and knowledge.

What differentiates Michelle from other consultants is her faith in the candidate’s dream. I am sure she picks her clients well, and she is very ethical in choosing a limited number of clients every season. This dedication to offer her best to her clients creates an exceptionally personalized consulting experience. In my case, she truly believed in my goals, ambitions, and potential contribution to the society. She enjoyed listening to my experiences and understanding how they shaped my personality. When a consultant works at this level of detail, I am sure the candidate will present the best possible application.

Finally, I had a great time working with Michelle. She was a good friend with whom I could discuss every application question that was lingering on my mind. At the same time, she was very professional in her approach and advice. Also, I must mention her ethics: not once did she put words in my mouth or do anything that is remotely unethical. She helped me by giving a good structure and definition to the application through right questions.

Result
I have worked with Michelle on one (extremely selective) school from which I received an Interview invite. She is very helpful in preparing me for the Interview through her detailed feedback on the mock interviews. I promise to update this post with the name of the school and the result as soon as I hear from them (my interview is in a few days). I wish you guys all the very best on your applications!

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This is a review of my experience using Adam at Amerasia. It was a pleasure working with him. I give him a 5/5!

Before I go into detail about my experience working with Adam, let me explain my unique background. I have an above average GPA and GMAT score, but I lacked confidence in my candidacy for three reasons. First, I’m young. I only had two years of work experience when I submitted my applications. Second, my work experience, while entrepreneurial, is very non-traditional. And finally, I had a very rocky start to undergrad. I actually failed out of school during my freshman year, and while I was able to return after one semester, it took me five years to graduate.

For these reasons, I set up an initial consultation with Adam. Our conversation lasted 1.5 hours and I took three pages of notes. There was no sales pitch; it was just a long discussion about the application process, my profile, and my concerns. I had already been told by two admission consultants that it would be difficult to get into a top program this year given my lack of work experience. Therefore, I was very surprised when Adam told me the complete opposite. He said that if I framed my unique background correctly and adequately explained why I needed an MBA right now, I shouldn’t have any trouble getting into a top program this year. I was so impressed after this phone call that I decided to pull the trigger on a three-school package.

Working with Adam in the months that followed was a great experience. During this time we exchanged literally hundreds of e-mails and spoke on the phone probably a dozen times. No matter how small, mundane, or worry-ridden my questions were, Adam would always reply promptly with a well-thought out and sincere response. If I had a question that was too complicated for email, no problem, he was always willing to speak with me over the phone. When it came time to write my essays, Adam would first send out a custom-made, comprehensive PDF document that provided insight into the school and outlined strategies for each essay. After drafting an essay, I would send it to Adam for review. He would correct any awkward sentences and add notes to the margin that would ask thought provoking questions and suggest ways to emphasize specific aspects of my background that were most relevant to what that school valued. We would rinse and repeat this process until each essay was perfect.

In addition to providing unparalleled guidance through the general application and essay writing process, Adam was a lifesaver when it came to preparing for interviews. After my first invitation to interview, he arranged an hour-long conference call just to discuss the twists and turns of the business school interview. Then, a week before each interview, I’d schedule a mock interview and feedback session with Adam or one of his colleagues. Coming from an entrepreneurial background, I don’t have much experience being the interviewee. Therefore, these mock interviews were truly invaluable.

Ultimately, what impressed me the most about Adam was how familiar he became with my profile. While he was no doubt working with a number of other applicants this season, he never forgot even the minute aspects of my story. He really did make me feel like I was his only client. In the end, I was accepted to my top two choices (both top five schools) and I couldn’t be happier! If you are considering an admission consultant, and you don’t at least arrange an initial consultation with Adam, you are doing yourself a disservice. I absolutely feel that he was worth every penny and I would recommend him to anyone.

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