Amerasia Admission Consultant Reviews

Reviews from company website
19 positive reviews

Reviews from company website

You can’t really argue with results. I went into the process with a dream school and that’s the school I’m attending.
April 06, 2013

I also decided to use an admissions consultant. I spent over a month research different firms. Ultimately, I used Paul Lanzillotti at Amerasia. I did a couple of pre-emails and pre-calls, specifically with Dan Bauer at MBA Exchange and Aimee Pearlman at MBA Mission. My pre-call with Paul was great – I was looking for a more boutique experience where I felt that I would be more of a focus for the consultant that I might be a larger firm. In a lot of ways I felt that I was a borderline candidate that could really benefit from the help and direction of a boutique admissions consulting firm. My bought the four school program with Paul. My results:

Tuck: Admit
Columbia: Admit
Yale: Waitlist
MIT: Ding

You can’t really argue with results. I went into the process with a dream school and that’s the school I’m attending. Paul was very realistic with me during the process. Going in, he thought there were schools I should get into (I did) and a reach school that was my number one that he wasn’t so sure about (and I got it). If anything, I would use this as a example of the fact that Paul won’t blow smoke up your ass. When you’re shopping around for a consultant and he tells you sure, with his help, you can get into HBS and Wharton, sounds good. Paul didn’t. He took a realistic approach to my strengths and weakness and helped me frame a story that put me in the best light. Paul is excellent at figuring out what your best story is and how to tell it to admissions committees.

On a side note, one of the most valuable parts of my package with Paul was the interview prep. I interviewed at three schools and with each his prep was instrumental. We did two – three mock interviews before each interview. I went into each interview with a great sense of the story I wanted to tell the schools. Not only that, but for each school he helped me tailor it to that individual school based on his knowledge of what that school looks for.

I applied to 4 schools and have been invited to interview at all and so far, accepted at Tuck.
April 06, 2013

Let’s face it – US business schools, especially the elite ones that you and I aspire to be a part of, have some extremely stringent acceptance criteria with an almost blackbox-like process to boot.

Before admissions consultants became mainstream (mainly thanks to the penetration of the Internet), applying to business schools was a lonely, nerve-wracking activity – especially if you were from an over-represented demographic like India or China. Nerve-wracking because you had no idea of what constituted a good or bad response to an essay question, or how to go about structuring it; Lonely because at the most, you had a couple of friends who had even heard about the schools you were applying to, and even then, they wouldn’t have enough in-depth knowledge to help you write compelling essays.

I began researching MBA programs in 2005. At the time, the only ‘consultants’ I had were Montauk (‘How To Get Into The Top MBA Programs’) and Strunk Jr and White (‘The Element Of Style’). By 2011, when I began the application process, I decided that in addition to my due diligence (attending events, chatting with alumni, professors, etc) I could use the expertise and perspective of a non-Indian who was on the pulse of the admissions process – someone who could look at my essays from the perspective of the admissions committee and help me paint a clear picture of myself. And thus began my hunt for the ‘Best’ admissions consultant.

After two months of initial consults with 10 different admissions consulting firms – Clear Admit, The MBA Exchange, Accepted.com,Stacy Blackman Consulting, Forster-Thomas, MBA Crystal Ball, MBAApply, VeritasPrep, MBAMission, and Amerasia – I finally decided to work with Paul Lanzillotti at Amerasia. Don’t get me wrong – I didn’t pick Paul because he painted the rosiest picture during the initial consults; he didn’t. I picked him because we connected, and we connected well. My reasoning was simple – I need to not only be comfortable sharing details of my personal and professional life with my consultant, I needed someone who would push me, probe further for details, and not pull any punches when critiquing my essays. I saw all this in Paul, and over the course of our engagement, my gut instinct was proven right.

This is not to say that Paul and I didn’t disagree on anything – in fact, we frequently disagreed. But therein lay the beauty; every disagreement would result in us coming up with something far better than what we started with. We had different perspectives, and kept hammering at each sentence in each essay till we were both satisfied with it. Sometimes, simply flipping the order of sentences in a paragraph would work miracles. Sometimes, we’d scratch everything and head back to the drawing board. Some essays were born ready (took a couple of edits to finish) whereas others had to be sculpted and refined multiple times (more than 8 edits).

Paul’s knowledge of various schools is extensive; more importantly, he has a skill for converting life experiences into strong essays – and this is where I knew I was getting my money’s worth. There were experiences that I did not think much about, but were potential essay responses in his perspective – today, some of those have actually made their way into my essays for multiple schools.

Additionally, Paul was always available on call or mail, and would respond within a few hours at the most. He was upfront about delays (if any), and made sure that I had his undivided attention when on a call.

Ultimately, we worked together for 4 schools, and I was waitlisted at 2 of them. Since two of the schools were R3, Paul honoured his R3 guarantee and helped me craft 2 R1 apps this year. Additionally, I retook the GMAT and took extra courses to boost my GPA. The result? I applied to 4 schools and have been invited to interview at all, and so far, accepted at Tuck (and looking forward to the rest).

So is Paul/Amerasia the best consultant/company?
I can’t say; that’s like asking whether HBS or Stanford is the best business school – its really down to personal choice. Yes, he was the best consultant for me. Ultimately, its your application, and your hard-earned money that will be spent on a consultant, and you need to take a well-thought out decision based on the initial consults. I did my research and chose Paul, and did not once regret it.

My experience with Paul was extremely good, and I would gladly recommend that you consider his services when scouting for an admissions consultant.

You may now return to your scheduled programming :)

Positive review about Adam and Drew from Amerasia
April 06, 2013

I have read gmatclub for a long time, but I have never registered to be an official member. I would like to thank gmatclub having providing me great tips and information about MBA process.

It is my first post, a positive review about Adam and Drew from Amerasia. Mod and Admin please contact me for a verification.

A bit about my profile. 2 years ago, when I started my dream of a top MBA, I would never believe that I could secure a position in top MBA. The reason was simple: I have a below average GPA (3.2) and GMAT (<700). My work experience is in IT and I wanted to have an MBA to switch my career to consulting. In other words, I am in one of the most competitive applicant pool. I have never seen anyone in my pool has such low profile and manages to secure a seat in top schools.

Last year, after a long time to strive for my GMAT, I realized that without a help from a good consultant, my dream would never come true. I looked for the most reliable consultant by reading all posts and feedback in this forum. In fact, I like the way Paul and Adam answered questions. I contacted Amerasia and other companies for a consultation for a round 3 service.

Surprisingly, one consultant from other company refused to work with me and told me that I had no hope unless I could secure a 700 GMAT. However, Drew Hoff from Amerasia approached me and convinced me that I had a hope if I could prepare the application properly. Honestly, I did not believe that I just thought Drew just tried to sell his service. I only applied one school that suited best to my dream. Drew helped me to create one of the best essays ever. I got an invitation for interview, however I failed. I got a feedback from the school that my goal was too difficult to achieve given my background and profile. Honestly, I was really disappointed, but I have never blamed this failure to Drew, I know it is my choice and Drew did the best to give me feedback on school selection, essay and interview.

I tried my luck again this year, and decided to work with Amerasia again. I worked with Adam this time for the same school (Amerasia will give you a free service if you fail in round 3). And I was dinged again.
Honestly, I felt no hope and really frustrated about myself rather than the service. I kept on suspecting my ability…I even thought of giving up my dream and started looking for other options.

However, I talked to myself not to give up and at least tried one more school (I do not believe in applying multiple school at a time). I contacted Adam to apply for another school. He gave me some advice in selecting a safe bet, and Ross is our choice, I think Adam suggested me Ross because he saw my passion in community work, and it matches with Ross. In fact Ross is even harder and tougher than the previous school. Unfortunately, I was super busy because of Extra Activities when I applied to Ross, I could not put 100% focus on my essays, I did some mistakes but Adam was really helpful, he always gave honest and genuine feedback. He really understood my hidden dreams, he even suggested me to rewrite my essay totally if he felt it did not match the standard. It was painful, but it was really worth. I took them back and reflected myself to rewrite essays. Adam’s approach is simple, start everything from your passion, have a plan, connect your MBA, short term and long term goal. Passion is really a key here.

I got an interview with Ross and informed Adam. His colleague helped me a mock interview. It was helpful, but I suggest that you should conduct at least 5 mock interviews before your actual one. I did it with my friends

I almost broke into tear when I got a call from admission on 14th March. I informed Adam immediately. I would like to thank him for his ethical work and feedback. Without his help, I do not believe my dream can come true.

In brief, I would like to summarize my feedback as follows:

1. Understand client: 5/5
Yes, both Adam and Drew really understand their client profile
2. Understand school: 5/5
Adam really understand unique characteristics of each school (we called it DNA of school)
3. Create client profile: 4/5
I rate 4 because I think this part belongs to the applicant. A consultant can give us best advice and feedback, but he can not help us to create a fake profile
4. Edit essays: 5/5
You will have the toughest reviewer. Adam or Drew are both very detail oriented. They are both great at spotting non-sense sentences. You can expect that you have to rewrite your essays at least 5 times. Comments or feedback are very straight
5. Response time: 5/5
Almost always as promised: 1-2 days with a very details feedback

I really understand that it is always tough in selecting a good consultant. I hope my review can help others to have a better idea about what Amerasia is doing.

Finally, my review is also my thank to Adam and Drew for their great help.

All the best and good luck.

Review for Adam of Amerasia
October 26, 2012

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.

I got into Sloan.
October 26, 2012

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.

Amerasia / Adam Hoff
October 26, 2012

If you’re reading this then you probably already know how daunting the business school application process can be: there’s just so much information and so many things to consider, all compounded by the fact that the decisions you make will unequivocally affect not just your career but the rest of your life! You get one shot at business school- no one has two MBAs. Even though I had already honed-in on the schools I was going to target, the weight of the decisions to be made coupled with the opportunity cost (for starters, one less year of post-MBA salary) of not having a seat in a class this fall compelled me to fork out the cash and hire an admissions consultant, Adam Hoff, through Amerasia.

I can easily say, without doubt, that hiring Adam to guide me through the application process was a great decision. I had canvassed the admissions consultants’ forums on GMATclub and was basically told by many that I wasn’t exactly a shoe-in at any of the schools I was applying to. You know the “yeah it’s possible, but you’re really going to have to put your best foot forward and hope for a little luck” response. Well, maybe I had a little luck, but by hiring Adam I was definitely able to put my best foot forward, and my results speak for themselves: I got into every school I applied to.

What gives Amerasia its edge, in my humble opinion, is their structured approach to essay writing and the way they are able to tease your story out, which is one thing that Adam was very good at. Chances are that, even if you don’t feel like it, you have a great story to tell; you have rich work and life experiences that you may not have even discovered through your own pre-MBA introspective process. This is where Adam comes in. He helps you discover the great in a seemingly-normal experience or story. Adam acted almost like an introspective coach, one that helps you discover the hidden value in your story and present it in a compelling manner.

Aside from the things I mention above, Adam was also more than willing to answer the bazillion questions I threw at him during the long course of the process. I always felt like I was an important and valued client, and even if I did annoy him by inundating him anxiety-induced questions, he never showed it!

I’m giving Adam 5/5 stars because he exceeded my expectations and played an absolutely integral role in getting me into the schools of my dreams.

Would work with Drew again!
October 26, 2012

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.

Total dedication – Highly recommended
October 26, 2012

I signed up with Amerasia just before r2 deadlines. I initially signed up for one school but added another two as I was so impressed with the service on the first one. I couldn’t find much information on Jeremy beforehand but he seemed to have the right background to help me.

What I liked about the process is that right from the start Jeremy put in the effort to get to know me so that I could emphasize my salient strengths to the adcom. I liked how we worked together to brainstorm answers to all the questions together so that I provided a strong coherant application (and not just strong answers to individual questions).

I found writing essays extremely uncomfortable and I did my best to pull myself out of my comfort zone and reveal as much as I could about myself in a way I thought would impress adcoms. Jeremy had no hesitation correcting me when I sounded naive, immature etc and was generally sensitive to nuances that would not show me in the best light. Jeremy was extremely prompt with all edits, I believe all edits were same day or next day. He even chased me up when I was slow to reply so that I would be in no danger of missing deadlines. Even through the birth of his baby he helped suggested edits from the hospital – now that is total committment.

I was interviewed at all the schools he helped me with and admitted to two. Overall I highly recommend Jeremy.

Amerasia admissions consulting review Fall 2012
October 26, 2012

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.

Paul Lanzillotti is…Awesome!!!
October 26, 2012

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.

Great Experience
October 26, 2012

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.

Amerasia Consulting Review – Extremely Helpful
October 24, 2012

Although I had initially intended to stay out of the conversation, I thought it might be helpful if I shared my experience working with Paul from Amerasia.

After taking a Manhattan GMAT course I had initially planned on signing up with MBAmission (given that they partner with MGMAT). However, after reading earlier posts on this thread I thought I might want to reach out to other consultants as well, one of which was Paul at Amerasia.

Of all my initial consultations I scheduled Paul’s last. As soon as we got on the phone Paul got down to business. What I really liked about Paul was that he dug deeper than the other consultants had. For example, my GMAT is over 750 and my GPA is in the mid 3 range with a double major at a top University. While other consultants thought this was a huge plus, I liked that Paul was honest and said that because one of my major GPA’s was a low 3 and the other was a high 3, it wasn’t going to hurt but it also wasn’t going to be a huge help. Additionally Paul and I went over my career goals “story.” He pointed out that if it was my dream to work in field X but I only had experience in filed Y it would make more sense for my story to be focused on field Y.

After signing up with Paul he set up a recurring 1 hour weekly meeting. Over the last several months Paul has helped me work through all of last year’s essay’s in preparation for this year’s applications. One thing that has really impressed me in working with Paul is his ability to pick which stories are most relevant at each school. To me, this has been extremely helpful.

Some additional thoughts on Amerasia:

1) Paul works hard – each week, in advance of our meeting, Paul will send over updated drafts of all my essays with thorough comments and ideas about restructuring. After each meeting Paul sends over the notes from our call as well as a few homework assignments.

2) Turnaround is quick – I have all of Paul’s contact information. On the one occasion I needed a 6 hour turn around I just sent him my document, texted him, and had it back three hours later.

3) Big picture – when Amerasia looks at my application they look at the entire package. All of my essays for any individual school are worked on in tandem. What I mean by that is that Paul and I have a clear picture of the story we are trying to get across in my application. We view the essays, the letters of rec, and the resume as individual pieces of a puzzle. Paul makes sure everything fits together and is consistent.

Lastly – to those of you working or considering working with a consultant: Even though I have full confidence in Paul and his services I still read articles and books on admittance strategies. It’s your application so take ownership of it. If you don’t hear back from your consultant, call them on their cell. If they don’t change their ways, fire them. It’s your future – don’t let someone else mess it up. A consultant can help improve your application but do your own homework.

I know gmatclub is now asking for a numerical score out of 5. Obviously I haven’t completed my applications but have worked with Paul for about 2 months. I’ve emailed back and forth with him nearly daily and had phone calls at least once a week if not more often. Thus far I have nothing to complain about: 5/5.

I got into Booth with scholarship.
October 24, 2012

I worked with Amerasia for Booth and Kellogg this year and I honestly feel I would’ve been lost without using some kind of consultant (I also used Precision Essay for Duke in R1). It’s not that I couldn’t have done it on my own, it’s that I’m a natural worrier and perfectionist, and without someone there to give me structure and monitor my progress, I was spinning my wheels for weeks without getting anywhere. I was so hung up about my GMAT not being good enough (58% in Quant!) that I felt helpless when it came to promoting my strengths. I spent weeks working on first drafts of essays and would scrap everything and still had nothing decent to show for it. I was running out of time and needed a kick in the butt to stop analyzing and start putting things together.

I was so impressed from the initial 1 hour call and felt he had enough school-specific knowledge to know what they were looking for. He addressed my concern over the GMAT score, and told me the only school on my list that was really strict about the quant percent being above 80 was Haas (only official ding so far, so looks like he was right) and eased my worries by saying the breakdown really doesn’t matter all that much. Regarding GMAT, all they care about is whether you can handle the academics (and your high GPA proves this) and that your total score doesn’t bring down their averages too much (and your GMAT is lower than their avg, but your GPA is higher so you’re pretty much a wash). This made so much sense and made me feel confident about applying, it really made the difference for me.

Duke w/precsion essay was a mad dash, my fault for not leaving enough time. I had plenty of time for R2 and chose to go with Amerasia for Booth. He spent about a week reviewing my profile, resume, notes from our call etc and put together a document outlying my strengths and weaknesses in each area as it relates to Booth’s core values. He read my essay drafts in detail and pointed out things that left a bit of confusion about my story and gave suggestions on what I could say to really make it powerful. With the powerpoint essay, he reviewed a few different intial ideas and gave his opinion on which was the best. Knowing he works with lots of clients and hearing him say something like “that’s a really unique approach, I’ve never seen anyone do that before” gave me confidence to run with it, because I knew it would not be like so many others (like my second idea was)

I chose to go with a smaller essay only package with Amerasia for Kellogg as well after I was impressed by their work on Booth. I did feel this one was a bit more rushed, but I didn’t make the decision to add this one until the very end. Overall very impressed and glad I went with them, I got into Booth with scholarship (something I thought impossible with a 58% Q from a quant heavy school) and used some of the same ideas in other school essays (got into Ross with the same concepts)

I highly recommend Amerasia for MBA admissions
October 24, 2012

I used Amerasia consulting for my applications to two top ten schools because while I am reasonably confident in my application, I work in a quantitative industry and wasn’t too sure I was going to express myself clearly on paper. Also, I lacked a staple of a perfect application: a decently high percentile GPA from my undergraduate institution. Finally, as we all know, business school is a life-changing decision, so I wanted to make sure my applications were top-notch, well thought out, and fully represented my strengths.

I spoke to a few consulting firms, and quickly found Amerasia to be by far the most helpful right off the bat. During other free consultations, I was told the usual: I have a decent profile, they can set me up with a consultant, I just need to sign and pay. Amerasia was completely different; I took 5 pages of notes during my 1 hour free consultation (with the actual consultant I would be working with), and could quickly discern that I was getting valuable, useable advice. Also, I found the fee to be reasonable, and I also liked the fact that they do not charge you for interview counseling unless you actually get the interview.

During the application process itself, my consultant was incredibly helpful. He listened to my life story, helped me pick out my biggest strengths, and really saw to it that these characteristics were well represented in my essays. He was not afraid to tell me bluntly that sometimes my first drafts wouldn’t work and that I would have to write another. I also procrastinated greatly during my month of application writing, and my consultant kept me on track by shooting me quick emails, reminding me to stay on track and get certain drafts/revisions done. I’ve heard that other consultants seemingly get swamped during busy times, but mine was thoroughly consistant and timely in terms of returning comments on essay drafts, emailing me answers to my questions, and just generally keeping me on track.

When I was invited to an interview with my top choice school, my consultant yet again saved me. Having a mock interview beforehand was more helpful than I could’ve imagined, and his knowledge of admissions practices/commonly asked questions/school-specific questions was instrumental in my preparation. When I had a strange and unique post-interview situation and had no idea what to do, the first thing I did was email my consultant, who immediately responded with helpful and correct advice.

To make a long story short, I highly recommend Amerasia Consulting for MBA admissions. The money was well worth it to be admitted to a top 10 MBA program of my dreams. If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to PM me.

Review for Amerasia and Consultant Drew Hoff
October 24, 2012

I had an amazing experience with Amerasia Consulting. I applied to 6 schools in the fall of 2011. When I began working on the applications, I was terrified about the prospect of addressing the essays prompts and worried whether any of my experiences would suffice for the top bschools. More specifically, I was concerned about bringing these stories to life.

Drew really helped me achieve what I was worried about doing. I would never have been able to write with such clarity and concision without his help. We went back and forth a number of times regarding points, length, language and tone, but he was always patient and helpful. I think I have two full threads on gmail with our conversations.

Amerasia also set me up with mock interviews and reviewed the entire application to make sure there were no issues. Overall, I am glad to recommend their services to anyone who is pursuing the top programs.

Kudos to Amerasia – Thanks to Paul
October 24, 2012

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Paul from amerasia for his consulting services. I would highly encourage the other applicants to consider them for their competitive price packages and through knowledge on schools. I talked to several consultancies like MBAmission, mbaprep , mbapply before deciding to go with Paul. I was very impressed with the way he explained the process to me as I was very new to this whole MBA admissions. Also he is very considerate person to work with – The reason I am saying this is from my personal experience ; I had couple of consultants reject my case because they did not think that I was competitive enough. But because of Paul’s guidance I was able to get into PTMBA at Ross . If you need more information ping me. Good luck to you all!

A Review for Amerasia Consulting
October 22, 2012

I’m writing this review to provide some insight (based on my opinion and experiences) about services provided by Amerasia Consulting. Last year, at about this time, I got in touch with Amerasia Consulting after seeking the opinion of fellow GMATClubbers who had written reviews about various Consulting companies. Besides, I spoke to a few other consultants also but I thought most of them were really pricey, and Amerasia offered me nothing less than what they did in their packages. Simultaneously, I read the various posts from Paul Lanzilotti and found them to be really astute.

So then, I mailed them my profile and soon Adam set up a preliminary call with me to assess the situation and to provide his suggestions. In the very first call itself, I was prepared to take extensive notes and I did so. Adam was very clear in his suggestions and he made me think in a positive manner because he pointed out the strengths + weaknesses in my profile and told me the absolute must things that I need to do to get through in the US B-Schools. Earlier, I had spoken to another consultant and I had received the advice that at my age (34) US B-Schools wouldn’t probably be a good option because they prefer younger people and thus, I would be better off trying the European B-Schools. (Please read my review till end to know why I’ve mentioned this).

However, Adam dismissed that notion and said that every B-School seeks people who are from different background, and older applicants do bring a lot of professional insight that is essential to the proper grooming of students in the class. Simultaneously, he recommended me B-Schools that would be within reach based on my personal + professional profile; of course, I debated with him the choices and he suggested me broadly what each B-School would mean from various perspectives (besides rankings). The point is that all of this discussion definitely gave me a lot of data points and food for thoughts to plan out my MBA pursuit.

Soon thereafter, our stint began and he asked me to fill a questionnaire and that helped me in solidifying my essays and in articulating my career goals. During the phase of essay writing, he helped me in refining them further and the most impressive factor is that there was no upper limit on the number of reviews he would have done (this can become really valuable if you really want to polish and strengthen your application). The pdf documents he used to provide with essay breakups were very helpful in getting me started on my own, and by writing my essays, and by acting on his review feedbacks, I definitely was able to prepare for my interviews by default :).

I must say that though I couldn’t get through in two R1 B-Schools we had worked together, I wouldn’t attribute it solely to Adam for suggesting those names. For one thing, I’ve heard that R1 was very uneven this year and secondly, I’m WL at one place and got offer for another MBA Program in the second B-School. Needless to say, the essays I had written in the R1 were very helpful in the R2, and the way Adam had pointed out weaknesses in my essays helped me in cracking essays for the other B-Schools as well. Finally, when I started getting interview calls in my R2 packages, Adam arranged a mock interview for me with another consultant in his company (along with his own set of dos and don’ts for the interview) and that proved to be quite useful as well.

Therefore, I can easily suggest that you can always go for Amerasia Consulting as your top choice because:

1) Adam is a brilliant and sincere guy, if he selects you as a client, he’ll definitely make sure that he does everything for you to bolster your package and to bring out the best aspects of your application.

2) His Knowledge of the Admission Process and B-Schools is extraordinary. I was talking to my college seniors also who had gotten through in B-Schools previously and they said pretty much the same things about the B-Schools as Adam did, so I Would tend to think that the advice coming from Adam was of very high quality.

3) While working with him, you’ll get personal attention which is very important to keep the morale high and maintain the tempo and accuracy during the application phase. Sometimes the whole process can be really nerve wrecking and you definitely need a person who can egg you on.

Disclaimer – Because of some personal/professional reasons, I am unable to reveal the names of the B-Schools I’m in, however, I *might* disclose them in the coming days, so please do not think that my review is a “hollow” one :). I have multiple offers now and one B-School I can name where I’m in is Kelley School of Business (with Scholarship).

Last but not the least, I got dinged at European B-Schools and got through in Canada and US B-Schools (I had applied on my own to the Canada B-Schools).

I was admitted to Kellogg.
October 22, 2012

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

– 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.

Excellent service helped to get into school of my dreams
April 25, 2012

I signed up for a free 30-minute consultation with a few of the top Admissions Consulting companies around. The sessions were largely the same: You give them a summary of your profile (GMAT, GPA, Experience, Extrac.), your target schools, and then they tell you the strengths and weaknesses of your application. The first two consultancies I got in touch with (which shall remain unnamed) left me thinking I could never get into a top 10, let alone a top 20 bschool, which was very discouraging and, to be honest, I didn’t understand how they wanted to attract any business that way.

Amerasia was different. In my free consultation, Michelle immediately pointed out all the strengths in my profile for my dream school, INSEAD. She also identified the weak areas, but was reassuring in that she felt I would have enough stories from my experience to counterbalance that. I asked Michelle if she had had any experience in coaching applicants for INSEAD, but unfortunately she didn’t. I took about a week to think about it, but I was reassured by Adam, the manager, that Michelle was the right coach. Based on my first call with Michelle, I decided to sign up with her.

Michelle was a great coach from the start. She was great at explaining how to present each different story (strengths, weaknesses, achievements, failures, the reason for an MBA, etc) and pushed me hard to make sure that every story I used helped to weave my application into a very strong package. With Michelle in the East Coast and me in Asia, it was at time difficult to schedule time to discuss on the phone. But even then, I had sufficient time to discuss the direction of my essays with Michelle on the phone. She was also very diligent in turnaround time on emails and documents, usually even beating her own deadlines.

I knew I had all the stories and the perfect profile for INSEAD. But I thank Michelle for helping me in weaving all of my stories together so I could present a strong profile for my application.