189
Finance
Banking-Inv.
Sponsored
Cambridge-Judge
MBA
After passing my company’s internal sponsorship selection in September 2019, I spent approximately a year and a half preparing for MBA applications until I ultimately received an offer of admission from Cambridge Judge Business School in March 2021. During roughly one year starting in March 2020, I relied heavily on Mr. Round’s support across all aspects of my application preparation, including overall strategy and portfolio development, résumé preparation, essay writing, recommendation letters, and interview preparation.
Without Mr. Round’s fast and accurate feedback and his meticulous, hands-on support, I do not believe this outcome would have been possible. I asked Mr. Round to review and edit nearly all of my application materials, including essays, and the fact that I successfully passed the document screening stage at 10 of the 11 schools I applied to speaks to the high quality of his services.
Below, I would like to briefly outline the services I received.
I enrolled in Round One’s services in March 2020, about six months after passing my company’s internal selection, through a referral from a colleague who was preparing for overseas study.
After the initial web-based consultation and the start of our engagement, I received guidance roughly once per month, including various tips related to test preparation, school research, attending information sessions, and networking.
From around August 2020, based on my current test scores and target score range, I received concrete advice on building an application school portfolio, which allowed me to solidify my overall application strategy. In my case, my test preparation did not progress as smoothly as I had hoped, and I struggled to allocate sufficient time to strategy and portfolio planning. Under those circumstances, receiving a detailed portfolio proposal supported by school data was extremely helpful.
From around September 2020, I began working in earnest on my résumé and essays.
For essay counseling, I first prepared bullet-point ideas or draft text on my own and sent them to Mr. Round in advance of each essay session (approximately two hours per session). During our Skype sessions, Mr. Round carefully reviewed the drafts and we discussed their strengths and weaknesses. When the content was already reasonably strong, Mr. Round would proceed to draft and refine the essay himself, elevating it to a very high level of quality. At the same time, he also provided advice on subsequent essays and other application components.
If the content was deemed insufficient, he provided detailed guidance for redrafting. In my case, I was extremely satisfied with Mr. Round’s drafting, and I rarely felt the need to request further revisions.
Beyond the high quality of the output, Mr. Round’s services were particularly valuable during periods when I was overwhelmed with test preparation. I was very satisfied overall.
In addition to essays and résumés, university application websites include many short-answer questions—often mini-essay prompts of around 100–300 words. Mr. Round also provided timely advice and careful editing for these components.
Beginning around September 2020, I also received extensive support regarding recommendation letters, primarily focused on selecting appropriate recommenders.
I began interview preparation in earnest around December 2020. After one general interview session, I conducted one school-specific mock interview with anticipated questions prior to each actual interview.
In particular, there were many occasions when the questions asked in actual interviews closely matched those we had practiced in advance with Mr. Round, which reinforced my trust in his guidance. When one of Mr. Round’s anticipated questions was asked during my interview at Cambridge—my eventual school of admission—I felt a tremendous sense of relief.
For approximately one year, Mr. Round supported me across every aspect of my application preparation. While I was satisfied with almost all elements of the service itself, above all, Mr. Round’s bright and warm personality was an enormous emotional support. I am truly grateful.
