This is the first review I am writing for anyone ever. That should tell you something about how much I value what Paul did for me. I got through one of HSW.
I applied with a bunch of my other friends who used many different consultants including Sandy, Stacy Blackman etc. So I have a pretty good understanding of the benchmark and I can firmly say that Paul goes out of his way to make sure that you not just get into ‘a’ but ‘the’ B-school. Here are the things I loved about him:
I highly recommend Amerasia, especially Paul. Last year, I decided very late in the game (basically <2 months before R2 deadlines) to apply to business school, and was introduced to Amerasia by a friend who also had a good experience with them.
Even though he had a number of clients and I had a very tight timeline, Paul still took me on and helped out every step of the way, from selecting schools, to editing essays, and prepping for interviews. Prior to working with Paul, I spoke to a number of other consultants, and found that the majority of them used scare tactics. They insisted that that I needed an “expert” to help put together my application, that there was no way I was going to make it alone.
Paul not only understands the nuances of each school’s application, but also knows how to work with you and your background to help you craft essays and responses that really hit the mark. To do this, he spends a lot of time getting to know you. I felt that our conversations went way beyond what other consultants would have offered. And in the end, these conversations and the relationship we built were key to honing in on my post-MBA goals, brainstorming on essay responses, and preparing for interviews. Also, in the beginning I did have some doubts about my candidacy (was I really “business school” material?). I actually gained more confidence in my candidacy through the process of working with Paul – something I didn’t expect and something that definitely made a difference when it came to interview time.
Whether you are like me and really needed help from the very beginning (full service), or are just looking for someone to provide (extremely valuable) feedback on your essays, Paul is the guy to call. It was well worth the cost and I was thrilled with the experience (and obviously, the results!).
I was impressed by Amerasia, specifically, Paul, since the first call.
I talked with some big brand consultancy but they have been very pushy to get my business or telling me I am not a competitive candidate. But Paul didn't throw any sales pitch to me during the call. Instead, he was very down-to-earth and analyzed my profile and given a couple of key points that I should work on. The call went on for an hour, all great information, and all free.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.