85
Finance
Corp. VC
Sponsored
IESE
MBA
Thanks to Mr. Round, I was able to begin my studies abroad safely in the fall of 2013. I applied for counseling with Round One in November 2012. As you may already notice, this timing was far later than the standard application schedule. From around August, I had been working on my applications for about three months with another counselor, but my essays were not coming together, and I was overwhelmed by a vague sense of anxiety. In desperation, I contacted Round One to ask—almost pleading—whether they might have any availability. Fortunately, because one of Mr. Round’s clients had already secured admission in an early round, a slot opened up and I was able to step in. Looking back, I believe that applying to Round One at that moment was the single best decision I made during my entire application journey.
Starting from early December with not a single completed essay, I made an all-out push and ultimately submitted applications to nine schools by the end of February, receiving offers of admission from multiple institutions in both the U.S. and Europe. Mr. Round also encouraged me to apply to schools that initially felt like a stretch, and I was able to remain on waitlists as well, so I am currently making a final push for possible admission off the waitlist. (Even if that does not materialize, I am fully satisfied with the outcome of my applications.) With gratitude, I would like to share what I consider to be the outstanding strengths of Round One.
I was applying as one of the very first candidates under a newly established company-sponsored study-abroad program at my workplace. Naturally, there was no accumulated internal know-how, and I was forced to rely largely on my own information gathering. While it is possible to collect some information from other applicants or online sources, there are clear limits. Being able to receive reliable advice at any time—without additional fees—whenever questions arose served as a mental stabilizer throughout the application process.
I also received excellent guidance in building my application portfolio. During the initial counseling session, after I explained my planned schools and selection criteria, Mr. Round quickly put together a complete, well-balanced portfolio that accounted for deadlines and workload. I vividly remember thinking, “This is what professional work looks like.”
Of course, schedules and portfolios evolve over the course of the application process, but having a clear big-picture view—what needed to be done and by when—right from the beginning was an enormous help, especially given how tight my schedule was. In addition, information such as “this school tends to favor applicants like this” is extremely difficult to obtain. Round One has accumulated deep, experience-based insights over many years, and being able to leverage that knowledge is a major advantage.
There is no doubt that producing strong essays is the single most important element of the application process. In my view, there are two essential factors for writing essays that you can truly stand behind while receiving a counselor’s guidance.
The first is trust in your counselor. Writing business school application essays requires digging deeply into your inner self. At times, you may need to incorporate past experiences you would rather forget. The key question, then, is whether you can fully open up to your counselor—sharing your memories, values, and aspirations. I believe this is the most important criterion when choosing a counselor. Anyone who meets Mr. Round will immediately sense that he is calm, generous, and deeply empathetic. By building a relationship of trust through the essay counseling process and allowing yourself to open up fully, you can write essays that only you could write.
The second factor is confidence that everything you want to convey has truly been captured in your essays. For Japanese applicants, expressing what you want to say clearly in English within strict word limits is extremely demanding. Drawing on his many years of experience working with Japanese applicants, Mr. Round accurately read my intentions and subtext from my imperfect English, preserving what I wanted to say while refining it into polished, effective English. When essential elements—such as concrete examples or personal perspectives—were missing, he advised me on exactly what to add, allowing me to submit my essays with confidence that I was answering the prompts properly.
Finally, although I cannot directly compare him with other counselors, Mr. Round’s editing speed is truly remarkable. Without this speed, it would have been impossible to apply to nine schools starting in December.
The mock interviews and the detailed post-interview reports were incredibly helpful. For Japanese applicants, interviews may be even more challenging than essays. While interviews with Japanese alumni can still be manageable, interviews with admissions committee members are often extremely nerve-racking. I was able to approach my interviews with confidence largely thanks to Round One’s detailed interview reports. For each question, the reports clearly documented what I said, what worked well, and what needed improvement. Before my actual interviews, I reviewed these reports repeatedly, practiced visualization, and rehearsed extensively, which allowed me to perform beyond my perceived ability. Once I became more comfortable, I also used Type B training to practice answering tricky questions based on past interview trends. Because I had already failed and learned from these scenarios during training—and received concrete advice on how to respond—I was able to handle similar tricky questions effectively in real interviews.
It is impossible to fully capture all of Round One’s strengths here, but the quality and speed of their services were truly exceptional. The MBA application process is a lonely, all-out battle. I was able to survive that loneliness solely because of Round One. Moreover, I was able to bring not only my own abilities but more than that to this battle precisely because Round One was by my side. TOEFL and GMAT preparation alone requires a tremendous investment of time, and when essays, interviews, and work responsibilities are added on top, maintaining quality across everything is extremely difficult on one’s own. That I was able to raise my scores, maintain high-quality essays and interviews, and manage everything simultaneously was entirely due to Round One’s clear scheduling guidance, its ability to focus me on what mattered at each stage, and its top-tier essay counseling and interview training.
I sincerely hope that everyone who has found their way to this page will achieve success together with Round One. As a current student and future alumnus, I too hope to give back in whatever small way I can.
Thank you for all your help, Steve!!
