Leland+ Content Library

Admissions Insights Part 4: Ex-AdCom AMA - Getting into Top MFE & STEM Master's [7/27/2026] (Recording)

Are you quant enough to get into a top MFE program? This is the final part of my Admissions Insider Series, where I share my perspective as a former AdCom member of Carnegie Mellon University's MSCF program (the #3 financial engineering master's in the US). I'll also share what I've learned coaching clients who have gotten into quant finance & STEM programs at Stanford, Columbia, UChicago, Cornell, Duke, NYU, Yale, and other schools. Spaces are limited, so be sure to RSVP and secure your spot today!

Part 4: Maintain Your Network

Are you tired of applying to 100 jobs and not hearing back? Maybe you’re nervous about reaching out to other people and talking about yourself. Perhaps you’ve heard about networking from a lot of people, but you’re skeptical about the way it can actually work for you. As a career coach, I have distilled the targeted networking approach of finding jobs into a five-step process, each of which I will guide you through. Every three weeks, we will address another piece of the puzzle through an interactive workshop. In Part 1, we reflected on what exactly you want out of your next job and why, and learned how to tell your story in an elevator pitch and rehearse it so you are comfortable sharing your story with others in as little as one minute. In Part 2, we discussed how to start by finding 5-10 organizations that you want to work at, now that you know what you want to do next. We talked about how to figure out what opportunities actually exist for you in the market, using both online (LinkedIn, virtual communities) and in-person (networking and industry events) methods. In Part 3, we used your existing networks to find people who do the work you want to be doing and ask them for coffee chats so you can learn more about them, harnessing your curiosity and concerns to learn about what they’re doing, their workplaces, and how you can break into this organization or field. Our focus was on figuring out if a good fit exists and also creating a good connection and relationship with that person, not asking for a referral. In Part 4: Maintain Your Network, we will: - Review the results of creating new connections, and revisit your target organizations and network building process. - Learn to stay active on LinkedIn, through email, and industry events, and be patient with yourself and trust the process. Part 5: Use Your Network to Apply (July 31) By the end of the process, you will be fully prepared to use the targeted networking approach to find a job, and more importantly, you will be closer to a chosen job and career that helps you live a purposeful, fulfilling life. Each workshop will include exercises that we will work through together, and I will answer questions. While you can attend any workshop as a one-off, it can be very powerful to attend the entire five-workshop sequence. If you want more personalized support as you go through the job search process, sign up for 1-on-1 coaching sessions with me! This workshop is appropriate for: - Students and early-career professionals who are not sure how to get started with the internship or full-time job search - Mid-career professionals who are looking to pivot into another industry or find a job after a career gap - Anyone who wants to become more adept at networking and use it strategically

From Analysis to Answer: How to Build a Confident Case Recommendation

Case frameworks and exhibit reads get most of the attention in consulting prep. The synthesis almost never does. Knowing the answer isn't enough. Being able to drive toward a clear, confident recommendation under time pressure, with ambiguous data, is a skill, and most candidates haven't practiced it deliberately. As a former BCG interviewer, I've watched strong cases fall apart at the end and mediocre ones recover because of a sharp synthesis. This session is focused on one thing: how to close. What Interviewers Are Evaluating at the End of a Case: The synthesis is the moment where everything you've done comes together — or doesn't. -Why synthesis is harder than it looks and why interviewers weight it as heavily as they do -The difference between summarizing what you found and actually making a recommendation -What "structured" means in the context of a synthesis A Framework for Building Your Recommendation: How to land on a clear answer even when the data isn't clean. -What to lead with and what to leave out when you're synthesizing under time pressure -How to structure a recommendation so it sounds decisive without overstating certainty -How to handle it when you're genuinely unsure what the answer is, and what interviewers are looking for in that moment Live Walkthrough: A full synthesis applied to a real case, from the data on the table to the final recommendation, including a side-by-side of what a strong synthesis sounds like vs. a weak one.

Slides for Fit Is Not a Freebie: How Firms Actually Evaluate Your Behavioral Interviews

Most candidates spend 90% of their prep time on cases and assume fit will take care of itself. It doesn't. Fit is evaluated with the same rigor as the case at every MBB firm, and the interviewers asking behavioral questions are trained to score them. As a former BCG interviewer, I've sat on both sides of that table, and the gap between what candidates think they're being evaluated on and what's actually happening is significant. This session covers what firms are actually looking for and how to build a fit preparation strategy that works. How Fit Is Actually Scored at MBB: This isn't a casual conversation, it's a structured evaluation with specific criteria. -Why fit isn't just about whether your interviewer likes you, but it's a scored component with defined qualities -The qualities that interviewers are looking for in every fit story, regardless of firm Telling Fit Stories That Actually Work: The format most candidates use produces weak answers. -Why STAR produces flat, unmemorable answers and what to do instead -How to structure a leadership, impact, or conflict story so it actually lands -What makes a fit story memorable vs. one that interviewers forget before the next candidate walks in Building Your Story Bank Before Recruiting Season: Having one good story is not enough. -How many stories you actually need and how to choose which experiences to use -Why most candidates recycle the same stories across question types and how to avoid it -How to adapt a single experience to multiple fit questions without it sounding rehearsed Live Example: A strong fit answer, broken down for what makes it work, and the common version of the same story that doesn't.

[Recording] How I Built an AI-Powered Grocery Expense-Splitting App [8/11/2026]

Splitting grocery bills fairly, without the back-and-forth of screenshots and mental math, is exactly the kind of everyday problem AI is now good enough to solve. In this session, you'll see how one Leland customer built an app that does just that: tracking shared purchases and automatically figuring out who owes what. No coding background required, and that's the point. The speaker will demo the app live, then break down how she actually built it: the tools she used, the choices she made along the way, and where she got stuck. If you've got a small, nagging problem in your own life, this session should leave you with a real sense of how to go build the fix yourself.

Migration Playbook: Move Your Supabase Backend with an AI Coding Agent

A practical, step-by-step guide for moving a Supabase-backed application to Google Cloud without turning the project into a full rewrite. Learn how to scope the migration, use an AI coding agent responsibly, preserve a rollback path, and validate the changes that matter most: data isolation, database integrity, and production readiness. Includes a high-level overview and companion scripts covering architecture decisions, cloud setup, database migration, authentication, storage, testing, and cutover.

Career Pivot Asset Map Worksheet

Think you're starting from zero on your career pivot? You're not. This worksheet maps the credibility, skills, and knowledge you've already built, then shows you exactly how they transfer, plus helps you name the one real gap worth closing before you apply.

Discounted Cashflow Modelling guide

Master DCF valuation with a guide built for real-world finance roles. This concise, practical resource will strengthen your technical foundations and refine your understand of the logic behind each calculation, so you can explain valuation concepts confidently in interviews.

Stop a Generic LOR Before It's Written: 3 Things to Do Now [8/4/2026] (Recording)

A strong candidate with a weak, generic letter is a common and preventable mistake. Learn exactly what to send your recommenders so their letter reinforces your narrative instead of undercutting it.

CASPer and AAMC PREview Guide

This resource provides a comprehensive overview of the CASPer and AAMC PREview exams, two of the most widely used situational judgment tests in health professions admissions. It covers the format, timing, and core competencies each exam assesses, along with sample scenarios and answer strategies, the STAR method for structuring responses, and practical strategies for managing pressure on test day. The guide closes with guidance on preparing through practice with an experienced admissions professional.

STAR Story Builder

The STAR Story Builder is a one-page worksheet that helps you turn your work experience into interview-ready impact stories. Using the STAR framework and the X-Y-Z formula, you will walk away with a clear, measurable story that answers the behavioral questions hiring managers actually ask. Built by Andrew Cause, #5 Career Expert on Leland, with 4,200+ coaching minutes and insights from years of recruiting at JPMorganChase, EY, and Fisher Investments.

Market Sizing Master Class

After this session, you will know how to structure a market sizing answer that holds up under follow-up questions, not just one that lands a reasonable number. We will cover how to choose the right estimation approach for a given prompt, how to segment a market in a way that signals business intuition, and how to recover cleanly when an interviewer pushes back on your assumptions.

Ace Schwarzman Scholars essays: A comprehensive guide for 2027 intake

Schwarzman Scholars admits roughly 3% of applicants for less than 150 seats a year. At that acceptance rate, almost every finalist has strong grades, strong recommendations, and a strong resume, so the resume stops being the differentiator. What actually separates the applicants who get an interview from the ones who don't is not what they've done. It's whether their essays make a reviewer understand, in the space of a few minutes, exactly who this person is and why they belong in that room in Beijing. That is a different skill than "writing well." It is closer to strategic self-editing: deciding which one story to tell, what it proves about you, and how to say it so specifically that no one else could have written the same sentence. This guide breaks both required essays down into a repeatable process, shows you the failure patterns I see most often as a coach, and gives you a self-audit framework you can run on your own draft before you submit.

New Feature Walkthrough: Recommend Live Programs

Learn how to recommend Live Programs to your clients to receive 30% commission.

Clean up Your Consulting Resume in 30 mins

Your resume is often your first opportunity to make an impression, and in consulting, even small changes can make a meaningful difference. This session is for candidates who want to strengthen their consulting resume and improve their chances of landing interviews. You’ll learn how to communicate impact more effectively, highlight the experiences firms care about most, and eliminate the common mistakes that weaken otherwise strong resumes.

Crafting Strong Behavioral Stories for Consulting Interviews

After this session, you will know how to structure behavioral stories that hold up under the pressure of a consulting interview, including how to frame impact without overstating your role and how to adapt the same story across different competency questions. You will also leave with a clearer sense of which story types tend to resonate with interviewers evaluating leadership, ambiguity, and teamwork.

The Best Recruiting Companion - Networking Tracker

There is no better way to tackle application cycle stress, than without this simple and fool-proof networking tracker! Navigating recruitment can be overwhelming, but managing your contacts does not have to be. Designed for ultimate efficiency, this foolproof tracker keeps everything you need to know perfectly organized and easy to access. It cuts out the unnecessary data so you can focus strictly on building relationships that matter. Download it now to streamline your process and start growing your professional network.

LSAT - How to Review Missed Logical Reasoning Questions Easy Guide

Easy, laminable guide to help walk you through missed logical reasoning questions. Check out my LSAT 101 video for a more comprehensive look at eliminating missed answer choices!

How to Structure Any Case

After this session, you'll know how to walk into any case with a clear framework for structuring your thinking from the first 30 seconds. We'll cover how to identify which structure fits a given prompt, how to avoid the most common structural mistakes I see candidates make in live interviews, and how to communicate your logic in a way that signals business intuition rather than memorized templates.

Live Case Coach Throwdown: Bain vs. McKinsey

Two of Leland's top case coaches. One case. Zero mercy. Watch a Bain alum and a McKinsey alum go head to head through a live mock case, judged in real time by former consultant interviewers who know exactly what it takes to crack a case at the highest level. Who structures better? Who drives insight faster? Who would actually get the offer?