Leland+ for Traditional Full-Time MBA

Writing Standout MBA Application Essays

Essays are one of the most complex parts of the MBA application process. Learn best practices from three of Leland's top coaches.

Tech to MBA Panel

Learn from experts on transitioning from a tech career to an MBA.

Michigan Ross MBA Essays From an Admitted Student

Discover impactful essays that contributed to a successful application to the Michigan Ross MBA program.

Duke Fuqua Sample MBA Essays - Business Administration Background

Gain insight into the compelling essays that secured admission to Duke Fuqua's Daytime MBA program.

MBA Resume From a Financial Services Professional

A detailed resume showcasing a financial services professional's experience in marketing, analysis, and leadership.

Example: Full HBS Application

Explore a comprehensive HBS admitted application from essays, to recommenders, to a resume.

Why Wharton Essay - Career Goals & EdTech Vision

An MBA essay outlining a clear path from sales to ed-tech entrepreneurship, leveraging Wharton’s academic and community resources.

Navigating the MBA Recommendation Process

A step-by-step walkthrough on how to choose, guide, and support your MBA recommenders for strong, authentic letters.

AI vs MBA: Will Business School Still Matter in 10 Years? [8/22/2026] (Recording)

Curious about the future of business education in the age of AI? Join us for an engaging discussion on "AI vs MBA: Will Business School Still Matter in 10 Years?" where we'll explore the evolving landscape of business education and its relevance in a rapidly changing world. I'm Tomilola, your host for this session. With an MBA from Fisher College of Business and extensive experience as a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft, I've navigated the intersection of technology and business strategy. My journey includes founding TitanRConsulting, where I've empowered over 400 individuals to secure scholarships and Fortune 500 job offers, and leading strategic initiatives at Microsoft that have driven significant revenue growth. In this session, we'll delve into what employers will value most in future leaders, whether an MBA still provides a competitive advantage, skills that AI cannot replace and how applicants should position themselves today. If you're considering a traditional MBA, a part-time program, or an executive MBA, this event is tailored for you. Spaces are limited, so RSVP now to secure your spot and join the conversation on the future of business education!

Looking to apply to a MBA program? Join the Live Q+A! [8/5/2026] (Recording)

Choosing between MBA programs can be tough! Is the part time for you? Full time? Executive? Join this live Q+A, where I'll share more about my journey choosing the UCLA MBA Executive program, and how I landed a spot in the Class of 2025. Leave with tips, strategies and insight to make the best decision for yourself. This session is applicable to all looking to choose between MBA programs. Come join! Spots are limited.

Winning Essays from My HBS Admits [7/17/2026] (Recording)

Many applicants find a way to write at least one strong essay. But those who really maximize the essay-writing process develop clear narrative through-lines that connect the dots of their life, and articulate how they'll contributions to their target brand. Their two-dimensional writing brings out a three-dimensional personality. They have a “brand”. You know what they’re all about. This event will draw from example essays written by successful admits who I've personally coached, and helped land a spot at one or more top MBA programs. These essays were particularly strong in how they spoke to one another—how they created a holistic applicant who admissions committees could envision on campus. Their professional and judiciously placed personal experience offer evidence for why they’re the kind of person who will make a specific, meaningful difference in the world. During this session, we'll analyze these essays alongside you so you have a clear view into how you can apply what you've learned to your own writing, and put your best application forward for HBS.

MBA Submit & Speak Part 1: The Final Ten Days [8/27/2026] (Recording)

Ten days out from your Round 1 deadline, everything feels urgent, and much of it truly is. What you may not have is time to do it all. This session opens a new three-part series, MBA Submit & Speak. We start where you are right now, in the last stretch before Round 1 closes, and we make the decisions that are still genuinely open to you. Not another round of line edits, but the calls that change what an admissions committee receives. Across the three sessions, we move from the last days before you submit to the interviews that follow. Attend all three to go from deadline to interview with one continuous plan, or drop into the single session you need most. In this session, you will learn how to spend your final ten days: • Decide school by school which programs belong in Round 1, and which one you should move to Round 2 on purpose rather than by accident. • See why the online application form itself, the biographical, employment, education, and activities sections that feel like paperwork, is read as closely as anything you write. • Learn when an optional essay or addendum helps you, and when saying nothing is the stronger answer. • Handle a recommender who has gone quiet with days left, without damaging the relationship or the recommendation. • Rank what is worth fixing in the last seventy-two hours and give yourself permission to leave the rest alone. The hardest part of the final ten days is not effort, it is order. A dozen legitimate tasks compete for the same few evenings, and from where you are sitting they all look equally important. This session puts them in sequence, so you know what to do first, what can wait until the night before, and what to let go of entirely, and you submit an application you chose rather than one the clock chose for you. I have guided more than 100 applicants into every M7 program, across the top 20 in the U.S., and into leading international programs, including INSEAD, London Business School, IESE, Esade, Oxford, Cambridge, NUS, and more. Spend your last ten days on what actually changes the outcome. Register now to claim your spot.

Round 2 MBA Roadmap: Master Your 4-Month Strategy for Top Programs [9/19/2026] (Recording)

With Round 1 applications wrapped up, September marks the official launch of the Round 2 cycle. With January deadlines fast approaching, candidates targeting M7 and top programs have roughly 15 weeks to build a standout application. As a recent Harvard Business School graduate, I'd like to offer a tactical, step-by-step masterclass on navigating the Round 2 timeline. Drawing on my firsthand experience as an applicant, I will break down a realistic week-by-week execution plan. You will learn how to sequence test prep alongside essay drafts, brief recommenders effectively, and build compelling narratives that resonate with elite admissions committees. Leave with a concrete roadmap to carry you through to submission (without the last-minute holiday scramble) followed by a live Q&A - looking forward to meeting you!

Fix Your Essay Before It's Read and Forgotten [8/18/2026] (Recording)

Most MBA essay drafts are competent and entirely forgettable. Learn what separates a safe essay from one that gets remembered by an admissions committee reading hundreds of applications a week.

Is Your MBA Application Actually Ready for Round 1? [8/27/2026] (Recording)

Round 1 deadlines for top MBA programs land are fast approaching . If you're applying this cycle, you're weeks away from submitting, and it's easy to lose perspective on whether your application is actually strong or just feels done because you're tired of looking at it. I'm a former McKinsey consultant and HBS MBA. In this session, I'll walk through what actually separates a strong Round 1 application from one that gets rejected, focusing on the parts most applicants underestimate: story, positioning, and how your essays hold together as a coherent narrative, not just a collection of good individual answers. This isn't a test prep session. It's for people who've done the work and want a clear-eyed check before they hit submit, or who are close to done and want to know what's still missing. What we'll cover: - The difference between an application that's "finished" and one that's actually ready - How to spot a weak or disjointed narrative in your own essays - Common positioning mistakes that even strong candidates make - What admissions readers are actually looking for beyond the resume line items Come with questions. If you have a draft essay or two, even better, we'll use real examples where we can.

How to Make a Big International Career Move Without Wrecking Your Momentum [7/11/2026] (Recording)

Most international moves are planned as logistical exercises of visas, postcodes, and shipping boxes. But for high-performing professionals, the real risk isn't the paperwork; it’s the loss of career momentum. Whether you are choosing between staying where you are, applying for a degree abroad, or making a direct leap into a new market, the stakes are high. In this session, we move beyond the "backpacking expat" advice. We will look at how to evaluate international opportunities through a strategic lens, ensuring your next move compounds your future rather than interrupting it. We’ll discuss the exact frameworks used with mid-career professionals and high-achieving students to choose between cities like Copenhagen, Vienna, or Sydney, and how to know when a degree is a bridge, and when it’s just expensive avoidance. By the end of this livestream, you will be able to: 1. Apply the 4-Part Decision Lens: Evaluate any move based on career upside, visa/work-right reality, ROI/financial runway, and emotional sustainability. 2. Audit Your Path: Determine whether a direct job search, a Master’s/MBA bridge, or a hybrid strategy is the most viable route for your specific career stage. 3. Identify Momentum Killers: Recognize the common mistakes (like over-researching or under-translating experience) that cause high-performers to stall during relocation. 4. Draft a Post-Move Narrative: Begin framing your move so it fits into a coherent professional story that international recruiters actually trust. Outcomes 1. A Clearer Go/No-Go Framework: A structured way to stop second-guessing your choice between staying or going. 2. A Bridge Audit: Clarity on whether that degree you're considering is actually necessary for your target market's visa and hiring rules. 3. The Translation Checklist: A list of what in your current background needs to be pruned or massaged to make sense to an employer in a different system.

Why MBA & Why Here: How to Answer the Most Important Interview Questions [9/10/2026] (Recording)

Nearly every MBA interview starts the same way. "Tell me about yourself." "Why do you want an MBA?" "Why this school?" Three questions every candidate knows are coming — and yet these are the answers interviewers remember most, because they reveal whether you actually know your own story. As a Ross admissions interviewer, I've heard every version of these answers. The ones that work aren't the most polished. They're the most specific, the most connected, and the clearest about what the candidate actually wants. This session breaks down how to answer each one in a way that holds up under follow-up. Tell Me About Yourself: This isn't an invitation to recite your resume. It's the first signal of whether you can communicate with clarity under pressure. -What interviewers are actually listening for in your self-introduction — and it's not a timeline of your career -How to build a two-minute answer that orients the interviewer, sets up your story, and makes them want to ask more -The most common version of this answer and why it doesn't work Why MBA: The oral version of this answer is different from the written one — and most candidates don't adjust. -Why reading your goals essay out loud is not an answer to this question -How to make your Why MBA feel like a natural conclusion rather than a rehearsed pitch -How to explain Why Now? in a compelling way -What interviewers are listening for that your essay already addressed (and what they're listening for that it didn't) Why This School: Most answers to this question sound like the school's own brochure. Here's how to not be that candidate. -What "Why This School" is really asking — it's a fit and preparation question as much as an enthusiasm question -How to build a specific answer that can't be copy-pasted to a different program -What interviewers think when they hear a generic "Why" answer and what it signals about your application overall Holding Up Under Follow-Up: The three-question opener is just the beginning. Here's how to prepare for what comes next. -How interviewers probe the answers you just gave and how to stay consistent -What it looks like when a candidate's story doesn't hold together — and how to make sure yours does -How to practice these answers so they sound natural rather than rehearsed

HBS Deadline Clinic: Sharpening Your Story Before You Submit [9/2/2026] (Recording)

HBS's open-ended essay format is a gift and a trap — plenty of room to say the wrong thing well. This live session is for applicants with a near-final draft who want a sharper, more distinctive final version. We'll break down how readers evaluate narrative coherence across your essay, resume, and recommendations, why "impressive" often loses to "specific," and how to catch the generic phrasing that quietly weakens strong applications. Expect a practical session aimed at adjustments that move the needle in your last few days before submission.