Amerasia Consulting Group | MBA Admissions Consultants

The TL;DR is this – Drew helped me to channel my attributes and experiences into an application that allowed me to get into 2 of the 3 M7 schools I applied to. Unlike other admissions consultants, I never felt like our relationship was transactional – he had a vested interest in learning about who I was as a person, at what school I would be a great fit, and helped me to tailor my application materials to be successful. As an international student, this process would have been impossible, had it not been for Drew’s help.

I started working with Drew once I decided I wanted to apply to Business School. I met with a number of admissions consultants – most of whom offered me a 15 minute introductory call to get to know them and what they had to offer. Drew was different – not only was our first call over an hour long, but he met with me again for another hour to answer my follow up questions and deal with my concerns.

Once we started working together, Drew offered a comprehensive, end to end approach to my application process. It wasn’t simply about editing essays – it was about helping me to choose schools that matched my profile and recruiting goals, helping me to understand the history of these schools and what’s important to them, understanding what the admissions teams are looking for in the essays. Drew helped me to strategize – to pick a school to apply to for early decision, and a couple of other schools as fall backs should I be unsuccessful.

When we began working on the essays, Drew’s attention to detail is second to none. We did FOURTEEN iterations of one of my essays – helping me to scratch deeper into my “why” behind my application, and craft essays that I was truly proud of. We repeated this process again and again for each application – making sure that my voice carried through into the essays. Drew was never afraid to push back against me – I am strong willed and confident in my ideas, but Drew made sure that we put the strength of my application first, and didn’t hesitate to tell me when one of my ideas didn’t work.

Once the essays were done, Drew helped me to prepare for the interviews. We did a number of mock interviews, reflecting on potential question types, answering techniques, manners and general watch-outs. Our approach was exhaustive.

At the end of the day, I ended up being accepted into 2 of the 3 M7 schools I applied to. Working with Drew for almost a year was a pleasure – he was my rock throughout the process and I would not have been successful without him. Not only that, but when I think of Drew’s pricing compared to other Consultants, his value is unmatched. I cannot recommend him more.

I was introduced to Amerasia and specifically Drew through my older brother. With Drew’s help, my oldest brother was accepted into Wharton and the Lauder program. Seeing as my brother had a high-quality experience and success working with Drew, I knew I would have the same. I reached out to Drew early on in the MBA application process after achieving a 700 on the GMAT in May of 2023! We had our introduction meeting and Drew emailed me a list of personality-type questions to try to understand more about me on a personal level and how we could work together to craft my story. We decided what schools were a good fit for me and then instantly began working on the essays. Drew’s approach to the essays and overall application process is a structured and organized approach, with school-specific detailed memos that dig into the core values and principles of each school and what their admissions committee is looking for. After reading through the memos, you get a real sense of how to approach and start your essays. Throughout the drafting and editing process, Drew and I worked together to refine my story. After each iteration of my essays, Drew provided useful feedback that I was able to incorporate to improve my essays. After a handful of drafts, we prepared well-rounded essays that responded to the prompts.

Aside from the essays, Drew provided assistance with updating and formatting my resume and prepared me for the interview process at each school which was very helpful.

Drew was a pleasure to work with – always kind and respectful – and he was very responsive. It was a great feeling knowing that Drew was always available and willing to help with whatever I needed. Despite living on the east coast, while Drew lives on the west coast, we were always able to make our scheduling work.

With 4.5 years of work experience in Commercial Banking, I applied to four schools with his help: Duke Fuqua (Early Decision), Virginia Darden (Early Decision), Texas McCombs (R1), and UNC Kenan-Flagler (R1). With a GMAT score of 700 and a GPA of 3.86, we concluded that Fuqua fell into the range of a high-end target/low-end reach school for me. With his help, I was accepted into both Fuqua ($30k scholarship) and Darden (no scholarship)! While both are great schools, I am excited to share that I am attending Duke Fuqua in Fall of 2024! As I decided to apply Early Decision, I wanted to be respectful to both McCombs and Kenan-Flagler and withdrew my application after I decided on Duke Fuqua.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with Drew and Amerasia – it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. The overall experience was first-class and I am now attending my dream school! If you are looking for an MBA consultant who is dedicated to his craft, provides supportive guidance throughout the entire process, and will help you submit a thorough and high-quality application to your prospective schools, then I highly recommend working with Drew and Amerasia.

Thank you, Drew!

Because of my work with Drew and his company Amerasia, in R1 I was admitted to Stanford GSB, Wharton (with a $100k scholarship), Kellogg, and Columbia as a white guy with a 3.25 non-quant GPA. This would not have been possible without Drew and his world-class team.

Before picking Drew, I did intro calls with 10+ other admissions consulting companies, and asked for thoughts from friends who had done the process before. I was sold on Drew after our initial phonecall, and from eager recommendations from other friends about the quality of Amerasia’s services.

So, why should you pick Drew & Amerasia to help you get great results like I did?

1. Drew has decades of experience and deep relationships with all of the top business schools. Each year, the Amerasia founders write an updated, extremely detailed memo on each school, discussing their various essay prompts, cultural differences, and recommended strategies. These memos even go into the depth of discussing personnel changes at an individual school’s admissions team, and how that could impact how you approach the essays. For example, if a new dean of admissions is promoted and they decide to switch us the essay topics that year, the Amerasia team will already know WHY they made that move, and help you write towards the school’s underlying desires. For example, maybe the school introduces a new essay asking you, “Tell us about a time you had to work with a diverse set of people to accomplish a task.” The Amerasia team will have spoken to the admissions folks at that school and they will know that the purpose of this new essay was to test an applicant’s background regarding ethnic diversity, adversity in the face of new environments, and grit to solve tough tasks.

2. Amerasia consultants only work with a small number of clients at a time (as opposed to other bigger consultancy companies, who take more of a volume-led approach)

3. Amerasia consultants take extraordinary amounts of time to get to know your personal background, story, and aspirations. I cannot emphasize this part enough. My consultant, Drew, spent many many hours listening to me rant about my life, and never complained. He was structured, efficient, and knew the right questions to ask. I felt that this was a very important part of our relationship, because when it came time to write my essays, he was able to recommend anecdotes and examples I had told him from my life as ideas for creative direction on essays.

4. Their response time is very fast, cordial, and on time. Drew responded to my texts and emails within 24 hours, even on weekends, and never missed deadlines. I have heard horror stories of the exact opposite from other admissions consultant companies, where they will ghost clients for 3-5 days at a time right around important deadlines (again, because those consultants probably have twice the number of clients to deal with)

5. They help you craft your story throughout the entire application, not just in the essays. Drew spent lots of time reviewing my resume, short answer responses, career and job explanations, and other mundane parts of the application process. His help there really made the package more cohesive and helped my application shine.

In summary, I cannot recommend Drew and his company Amerasia enough. They have completely changed my life by helping me get into my dream business school. I wish you the best of luck!

Full stats: 29, straight white male, T20 private US school, 3.25 GPA undergrad business major, 750 GMAT (47Q, 46V), career in marketing.

Drew is an excellent guide through the challenging MBA admissions process. He expertly demystifies what each individual school is looking for and helps craft compelling stories to tie together your application. Beyond the essays, Drew provides comprehensive support for the broader application, resume, and interviews. You cannot go wrong partnering with Drew in the MBA admissions process.

As someone who considered himself a “vanilla” applicant going in, Drew helped me standout. I applied to the 3 top MBA programs (HSW) and was admitted to 2 of the 3. I am incredibly excited to start at my top choice program in the Fall and credit this largely to Drew’s work.

I would highly recommend Adam Hoff at Amerasia. I found him to be a true partner throughout the application process, and his feedback/work is top notch. He is not only very knowledgeable about what each of the schools is looking for (or not looking for), but he is quite honest and upfront with you. He is especially helpful with the essays and will push you to make them as strong as possible. It seems like he has a real vested interest in each person he works with. He is used year after year by all the pre-MBAs that go through my private equity program, and with great results.

Let me start by saying Adam was an excellent, excellent consultant and provided strong service. However, it should be noted that Adam is not (nor should he be) in the business of hand-holding, time management, deadline checking, recommendation writing, etc. Adam has one focus and one focus only (as it should be) – nailing your story and essays. Some people really desire a consultant who will meet with you 3 times a week, hold calls, walk you through every last piece, etc…if that is what you desire, look elsewhere. If you are a self-starter with the independence and ambition to set your own schedule, communicate your needs effectively, etc. then Adam is your guy. He will always turn around comments with incredible insight in a reasonable time, but it is up to you to get it done. If you work with him, I would suggest you get things done as early as possible as his clients bombard him near deadlines, and the essays are so time and thought intensive that they take lengthy revisions to get done. My essays were fantastic because of him, and then I learned a bit more on current students, alumni, etc. for wrapping up my resume/rec samples (although he does help with those!). Would certainly recommend Adam – but any user should come in knowing what working style to expect (which Adam is transparent about from the start).

Adam made me believe in myself and my capabilities to successfully get admitted to B school at a time when many consultants were claiming that my unique background would not be well-perceived by B schools and that I should aim for lower tier schools. He helped me to truly understand how to sell myself and my story – to understand what my true strengths are and ultimately that´s how I made it into the same schools that others said I could not hope to get admitted to. Adam truly strengthened and elevated me, and I have him to thank for so much! I absolutely recommend working with Adam

Adam was fantastic to work with. He is honest, hard working, personable, and invests himself in the process and in you. It was great to have him for support and guidance through every step of the application process – from brainstorming the essays to interviews to waitlist guidance. I highly recommend Adam, especially if you are aiming for the elite schools.

The bottom line first: If you want your absolute best shot at getting into the school of your choice, you want to talk to Adam. I had introductory calls with several consultants before Adam and was immediately impressed by Adam’s energy and enthusiasm for getting me admitted. One of the things that’s impressive about Adam is that he’ll have an open conversation with you about which schools make sense for you to apply to given your resume. In other words, if he agrees to work with you for a particular school, he thinks there’s a chance you’ll be admitted and he’ll do everything possible to get you there. I can attest that the skill sets inherent to his multi-faceted background stand-out during the consultation process. He understands the unique (and common) DNA of each top university and takes the guessing game out of approaching open-ended essay prompts by providing specific strategy guidelines, goals, examples, and brainstorming feedback. Once you understand the path to take on your essays, I think Adam stands out most for his ability to turn your “statement” into a “story”. In other words, how to capture the interest of the admissions officer and pull them on to your side so that they’re rooting for your acceptance. It’s a highly customized and personal experience that I think is unique to Adam. Adam will help you iterate and revise as many times as necessary to make your essay the absolute finest it can be. He has an incredible ability to take what you’re trying to say and make it more clear, more concise, and more engaging for the admissions committee. I can’t emphasize that enough. Once you’re accepted to interview, Adam will provide interview preparation guidance as well as mock interviews with pros from the Amerasia network. Mock interviews are absolutely critical to preparing for the toughest questions and getting feedback on whether you sound as great as you think you might. (I did not at first). With Adam’s help, I enrolled at Harvard. Thanks, Adam.

I would strongly recommend that any prospective applicant considering applying to business school talk to Adam. Adam is a no non-sense consultant who invests heavily in the success of his clients. I first heard of Adam through my former roommate and immediately noticed why Adam is so special compared to other admissions consultants. Adam genuinely listened during our first call – about my story, concerns, aspirations and goals compared to other consultants who tried to put me into an admissions category. Adam’s firm is a boutique consultancy firm and will only work with you on a particular application if he thinks you have a real shot. There are no games with Adam and no pointless work. Adam was integral in helping turn my applications into a cohesive story. I immediately wanted to tackle specific essay prompts once I hired Adam, but Adam works with each client to ensure that you have thought clearly about why you are applying to business school in the first place. This critical step is an often overlooked. Adam worked with me tirelessly to make sure that I highlighted the most important parts of my story that aligned with each school’s particular DNA. Moreover, Adam (1) is brutally honest and (2) conducts most of his consulting services via e-mail. At first, I was a little concerned about this but Adam is a VERY professional and you have to trust the process. This prevents you as the applicant from trying to provide verbal color in your application to Adam over the phone. Adam therefore is able to read your essay as an admissions officer would and makes sure your story is incredibly polished before it reaches the desk of any AdCom (however, if you need to talk to Adam over the phone, he will get on the phone with you – don’t worry! I specifically recall talking to Adam on Thanksgiving morning). Without a doubt, Adam made my applications better by order of magnitudes, and I was extremely excited when I was admitted into a top 5 program, especially as a candidate from an over-subscribed background. Hire Adam – you will not regret it.

Adam was a huge factor in my successful admission to HBS. I had a fantastic experience working with Adam. He had excellent domain expertise, great insight into individual programs, and really creative ideas on how to manage my application. In addition, he was responsive, open to my thoughts and ideas, and very professional. I felt like Adam set me up to lead my application process, with him serving as my constant support. I would definitely work with him again!