Drew Hoff Reviews

I worked with Drew on five different schools, from developing my resume to preparing materials to give my recommenders to crafting and refining my essays. Throughout the entire process, Drew was responsive to my questions and always turned around edits within the pre-established timeframe. The process was never stressful and allowed me to complete my applications much more quickly than I would have been able to do on my own. Moreover, I think my applications turned out to be much stronger than had I tackled them independently (while I had strong stats from my undergrad, GMAT, and extracirriculars, my consulting experience was not necessarily traditional). Specifically, Drew helped me come up with a strong idea and vision for each essay based on the attributes and qualities that the particular school would be looking for. Once a topic was formulated, we would go through as many iterations as needed to make the essay as polished as possible. We did interview prep for each school, with Drew also bringing in external expertise to help with certain schools to allow me to have multiple opportunities to practice and be prepared.

In general, the overall process felt very streamlined and made me feel at ease during the applications cycle. I was accepted to four of the five schools I applied to, including HBS, Tuck, Wharton, and Kellogg (with a 50 - 75% scholarship at the latter three schools). I could not be happier with how things turned out and I would recommend Amerasia and Drew to anyone considering using an admissions consultant!

Read More

I highly recommend Drew from Amerasia to anyone willing to apply to top b-schools.

A few words about my background – I was 33 when I decided to apply to b-schools and scored 660 on GMAT.

First of all, I was hesitating if I needed any help from admission consultants at all. However after doing some research and reading stories of people who used this kind of help, I decided to send my resume to Amerasia and ask for their feedback.

After receiving an encouraging feedback from Amerasia we scheduled a call with Drew. I had a list of schools in my mind and decided to discuss them with Drew. I was greatly surprised how much knowledge Drew had about DNA of each school. Instantly, I was convinced I hit the right address. With Drew’s insight we put together a final list of 5 top b-schools that would be good fit for me and started to work on my application.

Even though Drew strongly encouraged me to improve my GMAT I decided to leave it as it was (660) and focus on my essays. I knew there was quite a challenge in front of us, but as an older candidate I was hoping to build my advantage around my past experience rather than my GMAT.

As we started to work on a first set of essays I realized how taught and long this process will be and I was surely glad I had Drew helping me. After my initial draft I sent to Drew we had about 10 iterations (!) before I had my final version ready. I must say, Drew is absolutely excellent in organizing the story and structuring essays. At the same time he knows precisely how to bold your strengths in the story. When I showed my final drafts to some friends of mine (MBA alumni) they had no comments and jointly admitted – excellent work!

I submitted my applications to top European business schools (LBS, INSEAD, Cambridge, IESE) and Stanford. I got admitted to three European schools and had an interview at Stanford (thanks to excellent essays I believe).

Considering my pretty low GMAT score I believe I put the bar pretty high for myself and Drew. However, I think we did an excellent work together and I must admit that Drew’s help was invaluable in the whole process. I’m positive that I would have not got all these doors open without Drew’s help. I highly recommend Drew as an enthusiastic supporter who will smoothly and successfully direct you through the whole process of application to your dream b-school!

Read More

With Amerasia's help, I was accepted into Kellogg, Booth, and Columbia. And Kellogg offered me a scholarship that will cover a large portion of my tuition costs. For perspective, I'm a consultant for a Big 4 accounting firm with a 760 GMAT. I don't think I would have been nearly as successful if I had gone with another consulting service.

Before selecting Amerasia, I interviewed three other consulting firms, and Amerasia was a head above the rest. Unlike the larger consulting companies, my initial consultation was with my actual consultant (Drew), which reassured me that I wasn't going to be assigned to some other random consultant. I can't speak for every one of their consultants, but Drew was very down to earth, and he was quick to reply to any of my questions that I thew his way during the application process.

Another aspect of Amerasia that set them apart was the level of focus and dedication that they gave me throughout the entire process. Drew helped me at every stage of the application process and spent a significant time with me to make sure that I had the right strategy and that my essays were as polished as they could be (which often took 7-8 rounds of edits). I don't feel like I would have received this same level of attention from a larger consulting firm.

Additionally, Drew and the rest of Amerasia seemed to really be on the pulse of each school, so that I could tailor my essays and stories appropriately for each one. Going into this process, I thought I would be able to write one or two really good essays and then copy them for every school. But after working with Drew, I learned how important it is to hone in on each school's philosophy.

Overall, I was very pleased with my experience with Amerasia. They are structured in a way to give every one of their clients enough attention to put forth their best applications, and they have the expertise that a lot of other firms in the industry do not have. Plus they were a pleasure to work with.

Read More

It was a great experience. I would recommend Drew and Amerasia in general. I got into one of my dream school and I couldn't do without their help. Drew pushed me to get the right story out and worked with me to filter out the ones that actually makes an impact to the reader.

I would recommend the essay service to the least because they have a great team and their writing skills are impeccable.

Resume service was great too. I was very technical focused and they changed it to accomplishment heavy.

I am a GMAT Club member. I can verify if a administrator reach out to me.

Read More

I started thinking about applying to a part time MBA program in late 2012 and started reaching out to numerous MBA consultants in January 2013. I got in touch with Drew Hoff at Amerasia and he was able to give me a good assessment as well as the services Amerasia had to offer. I was immediately impressed with the fact that Amerasia takes a very detailed look into each candidate’s profile and works diligently to make the most out of each candidate’s application. This is the way I felt over the phone and it has reflected all the way into my acceptance into the school of my dreams.

I hired Drew and was put on his roster. Adam Hoff and I communicated via email and he was able to allow me to make my 1 school package payment in multiple payments and at the amounts I wanted to pay. I planned to apply for the Fall 2014 Weekend MBA program at Chicago Booth since my background is in investment management and since Booth is known very well known for finance.

I reached out to Drew in late 2013 and he started by taking an assessment of my profile and academic history as well as some questions about me. He also provided me with tips for getting my letters of recommendations. Our progress hit a snag since I did not do so well on my GMAT the first time around and needed retake. I ended up taking a break up in order to study for my retake until March 2014 when I reached out to Drew again. He was able to get me started on my essays, resume, and interview prep all at the same time. I had my interview in April which was before the May application deadline so the interview prep and mock interview came first. Drew was able to get on a call with me the day before and discuss all the answers to each question he gave me. He had VERY good insight into what the interview was going to be like, the questions which were going to be asked, and the answers that would make the best impression. I ended up doing extremely well during the interview and this made a big impact on my application.

Drew was able to work with me on my resume and essays via email. The process was very diligent, detailed, and thought out. We exchanged several versions of both documents and were able to finish right before the May deadline. Drew’s input was extremely useful and he was able to give me feedback on each version in a timely manner. This was important since I only had a month to finish both. In the end, these two pieces significantly impacted my application.

I cannot speak for other schools since I only used Amerasia for Booth but I can definitely say that Amerasia has a very good grasp on Chicago Booth and I can definitely tell that they carry this understanding and diligence with each and every top MBA program. Amerasia is loved by almost everyone and have good expertise in MBA applications. You cannot go wrong by hiring them (especially Drew Hoff). They will really take care of your application and work with you to get you into the school of your choice like they did for me.

Read More

I want to pass on a BIG 'thank you' to the Amerasia team, specifically to Drew Hoff, for the amazing, unique guidance I received throughout the application process.

I had previously applied to 5 top-20 programs and was rejected without an interview in all except one, where I was wait-listed and eventually rejected. While working with Drew, I reapplied to my dream school (top 5 school), and was accepted within a month.

Drew had a very detailed and well-planned process for me to follow. He showed me that I, in fact, had all the necessary tools to put my application together, but helped me package them in a very concise and presentable format that allowed me to re-convince the MBA program of my candidacy. He even helped me do a little soul-searching to confirm whether an MBA fits into my short and long-term goals.

Drew was also great at managing my expectations in terms of turnaround times, and requirements for each step of the way. I really cannot stress enough the importance of Drew's role in my successful application.

For benchmarking purposes, please see my stats below:

GMAT: 700
Undergraduate GPA: 5.6 from a top-50 American University
4 years of work experience with a big 4 consulting firm
above average extracurricular experience

Read More

My experience working with Drew was a great one. When I first started the MBA application process, I was a bit stressed out worrying that I wouldn’t be able to pull all the pieces together on time before the application deadline. Drew worked closely with me to streamline the application preparation process. With his guidance, I was able to gather my life stories and tell them in a well structured and clear manner. All of the advices I got from Drew (essay, CV and mock interview) were extremely valuable and really show his deep understanding about the school and program. Drew is outstanding mentor and I really appreciate his responsiveness, professionalism and kindness throughout the exhausting process.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More