Paul Lanzilotti Reviews

I was admitted to my dream schools, and I do believe Paul played a big part in helping me get these results.

Here's why I would always choose to work with Paul:
-He knows what every school wants and will make sure you present accordingly in your applications
-After just 1 hour of consultation, he had already built a strong thesis and angle for my applications
-I learnt a lot more about myself after the process and after sessions of brainstorming with him, probably cos he has experiences bringing the best out of every candidate
-Strong writing skills, which will be very important for your essay / application
-Finally, and most importantly, he always delivers and strives for excellence. no matter what your work / essays look like initially or even days leading to the deadline. He always makes sure the final product submitted is top notch.

My advice when you work with Paul: Trust the man, trust the process. He has many clients and might take time to get back to you, but he always delivers and he knows what he's doing.

Read More

My experience with Paul was great. He was not only an admissions consultant but also became a friend during the process. My results were great. I got into HBS and Kellogg.

I am from India and I had spoken with 10 consultants to evaluate from. Almost all of them viewed my GMAT score as not good enough (730(Q50, V40)) and asked me to give GMAT again or asked me to not even try for HBS. Disheartened by this, I took a break from the process to rethink my priorities. I even took another GMAT test and scored a disappointing 710.

I decided to apply with 730 and spoke with one last consultant - Paul. Paul mentioned on the call that HBS doesn't care about the GMAT and I shouldn't worry about it at all. He also crafted a mini-story around my profile and blew my mind with his creativity and articulation. He was the only consultant who was actually interested in my story. I chose Paul in a heartbeat. I also spoke to my seniors from college and work who had worked with Paul in the previous years and were now at HBS/Wharton. All of them were happy with their experience with Paul.

Paul and I worked together on 4 schools - HBS, Wharton, INSEAD and Kellogg. I got interview invites from all except INSEAD. Below is the breakdown of my experience with Paul stage by stage of the application process:

Stage 1: Discovering your story and drafting the HBS essay. Paul and I spoke in-depth about my childhood, college and job experiences. He took a shot at drafting the first version of the story and together over the next 2 months we iterated over 30 versions of the HBS essay. Paul worked on the HBS tirelessly. He knew exactly what the school wanted and how can we deliver that in the essay. This instinct of his has been accumulated by going through the process for years. We crafted a very personal story. Seeing the final output of the HBS essay was heartening. I even compared it to my other friends who were applying in the year. Their story was not as personal and it showed a lack of understanding of what the school really is looking for. All in all, stage 1 was great!

Stage 2: Using the HBS essay and my story to draft other essays of Wharton, INSEAD, and Kellogg. This was not a hard part. We took about a month to do this. By this time I had understood Paul's style and we were able to get things done in time and move fast. We also finished working on other parts of the application (LOR, mini questions, goals, etc)

Stage 3: Polishing all the material and finally submitting it. Paul really helped me in calming my nerves and taking all the material to the finishing stage. He was very diligent at this step and made sure we did not leave any stone unturned. This was the most crucial stage. I was extremely happy with all my applications. There was depth in what we wrote and I believe all schools got to know me very well.

Stage 4: Shortlists and preparing for the interviews. I had interview calls from HBS, Wharton, and Kellogg. Paul helped me do an extensive interview prep. I was well prepared for all my interviews and a lot of questions that Paul asked appeared in the interviews. Paul also made sure that I focus on the aspects I was lagging in. He also helped me draft a very good reflection of the HBS interview, which the school asks post the interview.

Stage 5: Results: Results were in. I will never forget the day I got into HBS. I couldn't believe the results. That feeling was extraordinary. The next day Kellogg also said yes, putting the icing on the cake.

I would highly recommend working with Paul.

Read More

I worked with Paul Lanzilotti, who communicated with me normally over Slack and also frequently over the phone. The primary sources of help came from essay editing as well as tailoring for each school.

While I had a good story and good stats (4.0 GPA, >730 GMAT), I received no interviews the prior year. I therefore shopped around and felt most comfortable working with Paul. After a long and rather nerve-racking process, Paul helped me present a more coherent story, tailored properly for each school. I ultimately was admitted to 4 top-10 schools, 1 with scholarship. I am very happy with my result and am overjoyed to attend my dream school in the fall.

Paul exceeded my expectations for 1 simple reason - he knew what to do, which allowed me to achieve my goal. Ultimately that's why you hire a consultant.

Read More

TLDR:
I worked with Paul from Amerasia for two-school complete package (application + interview).
I received R1 offers from both schools (Cambridge & LBS).
I recommend him to the fullest degree.

Detailed review of Paul & Amerasia:
I will breakdown my experience and provide a score for each of the criteria that I find to be important when it comes to admission consultation.

Knowledge & Expertise (5/5):
Paul is extremely knowledgeable about the MBA admission process in general, and his experience allows him to provide practical and helpful insights and guidance. He has also built up a wealth of information on application and interview. I found the materials he supplied me with to be intuitive and helpful. He allowed me to look past many of the "advice" offered on various forums by so called experts. Even though he mostly works with clients applying to US schools, I had no problem putting together solid application packages and getting through the interviews - all for European schools.

Communication (4/5):
I have to be honest here. Sometimes Paul can be a bit hard to reach. Having gone through the application process and looking back on the overall experience, this is not a big deal. It's not like he doesn't deliver on his words. However, for students admission process can be an emotional roller coaster, and at times having someone to speak to readily will greatly help with the stress. This is the only thing that I felt like Paul can improve upon. He does make it up also by spending the time with you. I've never had a single phone call where he asked to hang up first. He is willing to go over the allocated 30 minutes or an hour to address all of your questions, comments, and concerns. I very much appreciated that about Paul. In terms of style of communication, he is very honest. He will let you know directly that your work sucks. He will also let you know when you do a decent job.

Commitment & Engagement (5/5):
Paul's engagement style and his level of commitment is what got me to work with him over all the other big name consulting firms. I noticed immediately during the initial (free) consultation. Every other consultants hung up after a 30 minute conversation on the dot. Paul was different. Even for a free initial call, he spent an hour and a half talking with me. He will go over and beyond for you and he makes you feel that he, too, is truly invested in your success. It will obviously vary depending on people (and personalities), but him and I built a pretty strong relationship (considering the fact that we've never seen each others' faces and all of the communications were via email and phone calls) with him. This provided me with a sense of security that I really needed to overcome the stresses of application journey. He truly made me feel like he was looking after my best interest, and never once made me feel like our engagements were transactional. If you want someone in your corner during your MBA application journey, Paul is your man.

Value (5/5):
Value is personal and relative, so I will keep it pretty brief. His pricing is pretty much better than anything in the market. Not only that, as mentioned before, Paul is more committed and knowledgeable than other consultants I have talked to & received service (I used another company last year, but wasn't very happy with what I got) from.

Read More

I had a fantastic experience working with Paul from Amerasia on my MBA applications, and am very pleased with the results (admitted into two out of 5 schools applied to). I couldn’t have done this without Paul’s a) insights into the entire MBA application process, b) genuine interest in seeing me succeed, and c) ability to help me tell my authentic “story” in the most compelling way possible.

I interviewed mbaMission, Stacy Blackman Consulting, and Amerasia in deciding which consultant to work with. When I spoke with mbaMission and Stacy Blackman Consulting representatives, I definitely felt like a “number” and had very rushed 30 minute conversations where they tried to sell me their services. In contrast, my initial conversation with Paul from Amerasia was completely different. Paul spent over an hour speaking with me, learning about my background, motivations for applying, and future aspirations and discussed how I might go about application planning. I was not only convinced of his deep expertise of the application process but that he truly cared about going the “extra mile” to see his clients succeed. The cost of the comprehensive package was also more competitive than what the other firms offered.

Throughout the process, Paul helped me craft essays and prepare interview responses that reflected my values, goals, and what I could specifically offer and learn from each school I applied to. Paul is a great listener – after probing on a detail about my background I had mentioned in a prior conversation, that ended up forming the bedrock of my story. In addition, at times he was also like a life coach, especially when things got stressful in the process!

Given my experience working with him from the very beginning, I can say Paul is definitely an invaluable source of guidance at any stage of the process you might be working through. I had a great experience working with him and am thrilled with the outcome.

Read More

Paul helped me get into a top US program despite an average GMAT and a subpar GPA. Listen to him and you'll be better off than if you did it yourself. Trust the process and his experience. If you want to go crazy and do your own thing, don't hire a consultant, or apply to other schools by yourself. In other words, don't argue with his ideas.

Strengths
1) Empathy: Paul cares, he will talk to you when you need to and be down to earth if/when that time comes
2) Experience: his comes through when you need it to
3) Mindset: he is positive and usually collected, which makes for a better experience overall

Weaknesses
1) Time management: crunching is commonplace
2) Execution: has a hard time actually going from A to B, but to be fair, most people struggle with this (myself included)
3) Setting expectations: less excitement or lower expectations (delivery/time wise) could perhaps minimize his other weaknesses

Read More

I interviewed 4 different admissions consultants, including Stacy Blackman, Critical Square, Alice van Harten, and Paul from Amerasia. I felt that I didn’t connect at all with the Stacy Blackman consultant, and the Critical Square intake was extremely general. I was a bit torn between choosing Alice or Paul, but Paul really sold it with his 60-minute intake call (which ended up being more like 90 minutes) and a strong follow-up email. I felt really comfortable choosing him as my consultant.

The Results: In total, I applied to HBS, Stanford, Ross, Booth, Kellogg, and MIT. I ended up getting admitted to Booth and Ross, and waitlisted at Kellogg. When Booth called me, the Admissions Officer told me she had been waiting for 2 months to make the call and that they loved my application. I know I wouldn’t have gotten this response without Paul’s priceless insights into Booth and his advice on tackling that nebulous photo/essay/PPT.

Why I Hired a Consultant: I am a US applicant who lives and works overseas in a not-so-safe country for expats, and pursuing an MBA was something I was just beginning to explore when I contacted Paul. I didn't feel I could really engage my personal network from a few time zones away (easier to ask someone about business school over a cup of coffee rather than a shady internet connection). I was also unable to visit any schools. With a background in international development, I felt that I really needed an expert to help me with selecting schools, defining my strengths and weaknesses (such as my mid 600 GMAT), reworking my resume, and crafting essays that would speak to the individual Adcom audiences. Paul brought all of this to the table over the course of our engagement, and much more.

Why Paul/Amerasia: 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!).

Read More

I was impressed by Ameraisa, 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.

During the process, Paul has been very dedicated and went above and beyond than just the hour service. He is very knowledgeable and resourceful, always provided me with hard-to-find information.

With their outstanding service and competitive pricing, I would recommend Paul.

Read More

I spoke first to Paul when I was dinged from CBS. I had seen Amerasia's blog so sent them my application asking if they had any thoughts on what went wrong (I already had another company helping). Within the hour I had my application returned with hundreds of pointers and he wrote with some of the most supportive comments I had seen throughout the process. Did I mention that this was all for free?!

Paul looked through each of my applications and was so helpful - offering hints, offering to go through word-by-word, offering interesting facts that were so incredibly helpful.

When it came time for interview, I was very demanding and tried to book Paul as much as possible. He not only found time, but always went over time. On every single session. What I liked most was our discussion around the interview talking points - discussions that actually came up in my interview. After the interview, Paul continued to check up on how I was doing and send me any relevant information on my intended career area. I was admitted to HBS and I don't think I could have done it without Paul.

Did I enjoy the process? - Yes! Amerasia made it seem like a way of exploring new areas I hadn't thought of beforehand?

Were Amerasia/Paul helpful? Beyond anything. Paul went out his way to help, responding to every email, question, call, however stupid the question. I always felt reassured and, for the interview, I felt totally prepared.

Would I recommend them? 100%

Read More