Leland+ Content Library

Supplemental Essays and Law School Admissions: Which Ones Should You Write?

When it comes to law school admissions, supplemental essays can make or break your application—but how do you know which ones are worth writing? In this workshop, Liz C.—a law school admissions expert with nearly a decade of experience, including eight years at the University of Houston Law Center—will break down the most common supplemental essays and how to approach them strategically. ​Drawing on her experience reading thousands of applications, Liz will share insider advice on optional essays, diversity statements, and addenda—helping you decide when to write, what to include, and how to make each piece count. Whether you’re applying to T-14 programs or regional schools, you’ll leave this session knowing how to tailor your essays to stand out authentically.

ClearAdmit x Leland: Nail Your MBA Interviews

​The MBA interview is one of the most important steps in the admissions process—your chance to move beyond the application and show schools who you really are. In this session, expert coaches Faisal K. (Admissions @ Chicago Booth), Charlotte W. (Stanford GSB), and Abdi S. (Harvard Business School) explain what top programs are evaluating, how to approach common interview formats, and strategies to highlight your unique story with confidence and clarity. ​We’ll also cover proven techniques to structure your answers, demonstrate leadership and impact, and avoid the common mistakes that hold applicants back. Whether you’re preparing for your very first interview or fine-tuning your final rounds, this session will give you the insights and preparation tools you need to stand out.

Word Problem tricks for the GRE [8/13/2026] (Recording)

After this session, you will know how to break down GRE word problems faster and with fewer errors. We will cover how to identify the hidden variable in rate and work problems, how to set up equations from dense word problems without losing track of what is being asked, and how to avoid the common misreads that cost test-takers points on problems they actually understand. Attending live means you can bring a specific problem type you keep getting wrong and hear how to think through it in real time, which a recording cannot replicate. The coach works with GRE students regularly and will share the patterns that separate high scorers from those who plateau, giving you a window into how an expert actually reads these problems.

Find Your Superpower: Win in the Fast-Changing PM World

​The product management world is evolving faster than ever—and the best PMs know how to adapt, stand out, and lead with their unique strengths. In this workshop, Sunny S.—a Product Manager at Atlassian who has coached 100+ professionals into roles at top tech companies—will share how to identify and leverage your personal “superpower” to thrive in today’s competitive PM landscape. ​Drawing from years of experience in tech and product hiring, Sunny will walk you through how to position yourself for growth, sharpen your storytelling in interviews, and build a long-term career that plays to your strengths. Whether you’re breaking into product management or aiming to level up in your current role, this session will help you find your edge—and own it.

Avoiding Hard Algebra [6/17/2026] (Recording)

Many GMAT quant questions look harder than they actually are, and top scorers often solve them without heavy algebra at all. This session is for test takers who want faster, more efficient ways to approach quantitative problems under time pressure. You’ll learn how to recognize opportunities to simplify questions, apply strategic shortcuts, and avoid the slow calculations that commonly trap candidates on test day. Join live to work through problems in real time and see how a 790 scorer approaches the GMAT efficiently. The speaker is an experienced GMAT coach who regularly helps students improve both speed and accuracy on the quant section. They’ll share the patterns they see across high scorers and the kinds of strategies typically covered in focused 1:1 prep sessions.

You Are Sitting on Your Next Big Project Right Now. Find It With AI [7/7/2026] (Recording)

Your next big idea may already be hiding in the data, workflows, and problems you interact with every day. This session is for anyone who wants to use AI to uncover high-potential opportunities and turn overlooked insights into meaningful projects. You’ll learn how to use AI systems to identify patterns, surface valuable problems worth solving, and validate ideas faster than traditional approaches. Join live to hear from an expert in AI systems and explore how powerful AI workflows can help you think bigger and execute smarter. The speaker will share practical frameworks for spotting opportunities, refining ideas, and using AI as a thought partner throughout the discovery process. Expect actionable insights and fresh perspectives you can immediately apply to your own work.

AI Safety 101: What Every Builder Needs to Know [8/11/2026] (Recording)

After this session, you'll be able to identify the safety risks that matter most when building AI-powered products and explain how to design around them with intention. We'll cover how to evaluate model outputs for harmful behavior, how to think about alignment at the application layer, and how to document safety decisions in ways that hold up to scrutiny. These are the frameworks practitioners actually use when shipping AI responsibly. Attending live means you can ask how these principles apply to what you're building right now, and hear how the coach thinks through real cases in real time. This coach works directly in the AI safety space and brings the kind of judgment that only comes from making these decisions on live products.

Case Math Crash Course [10/8/2026] (Recording)

Case math can make even a well-structured consulting case fall apart if you can't solve the numbers quickly and accurately. This session is for aspiring consultants who want to sharpen their quantitative skills and build confidence with the math that comes up most often in case interviews. You’ll learn how to approach calculations efficiently, simplify complex problems, and avoid the arithmetic mistakes that can derail an otherwise strong case. Join live to hear from a former McKinsey Associate who knows what strong case performance looks like. The speaker will break down practical techniques for tackling case math under pressure, with strategies you can apply across a range of quantitative problems. Bring your questions and leave with a faster, more reliable approach to case math.

Numbers You Should Test in Quantitative Comparisons [8/27/2026] (Recording)

Quantitative Comparison questions can look deceptively simple, but the fastest way to solve them is often knowing which values to test and when. This session is for GRE test takers who want to solve Quantitative Comparisons faster, avoid unnecessary calculations, and recognize the patterns that make these questions easier. You'll learn which numbers are most useful to test, how to choose them strategically, and how to quickly determine whether a relationship always holds. Join live to hear from a GRE expert who scored a perfect 340. The speaker will walk through practical examples and share the testing strategies that top scorers use to eliminate answer choices and solve tricky comparisons more efficiently. Expect techniques you can immediately apply to your GRE prep.

The AI Workflow Audit: Discover Where AI Can Help You Most

Learn how to use AI to make your work faster and easier. In this hands-on session, you’ll turn ChatGPT or Claude into an audit partner that helps you map where your time goes, pinpoint repetitive or draining tasks, and uncover where AI can make your work easier. Outcomes: You’ll leave with a personalized “AI Audit Map” showing your top three opportunities to use AI for real impact, along with a practical framework and prompts to help you evaluate and redesign your workflows. No coding or automation required—just better ways to work. Learning Objectives: *Recognize the types of tasks best suited for AI support *Evaluate your own workflow to spot inefficiencies and AI opportunities *Apply a structured framework to redesign everyday processes for greater efficiency

Casing 101: Crafting a Bullet-Proof Case Interview Study Plan [7/24/2026] (Recording)

Have you been putting off learning how to (properly) case for your consulting interview? I received full-time offers from McKinsey, BCG, and Bain after teaching myself to case in just a few weeks by using a study plan that took me from feeling intimidated to genuinely excited to sit for my case interviews, confident I could unravel any case question put in front of me. In this session, I will lay out how to create a truly effective prep plan, even on a tight schedule, so that you can case smarter, not harder. In this session, I will cover: 1. Casing fundamentals: What the case interview is actually testing you for 2. Key Pitfalls in case prep: What I see candidates doing wrong and where they waste time 3. Building a casing prep schedule tailored to you: How to sequence and master each core casing skill (including how to sequence an interview prep ‘sprint’) 4. Success metrics: How to keep yourself accountable and where you should be 3 weeks / 2 weeks / 1 week ahead of your interview

MBA Submit & Speak Part 3: The Interview Questions You Cannot Predict [10/8/2026] (Recording)

You cannot know which behavioral questions you will be asked. You can still be ready. This is the final session of the MBA Submit & Speak series. Invitations are landing, and the questions that help decide many interviews are the ones no list can anticipate. Rather than memorizing answers, we build the system that lets a small set of real stories cover a very large set of possible questions. Across the three sessions, we move from the last days before you submit to the interview that follows. 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 build the preparation that unpredictable questions require: • Build a story bank of five or six real experiences, and learn how a single experience answers several different questions depending on how you frame it. • Handle the failure question and the conflict question, where most applicants either flinch or confess too much. • Answer a situational question about something you have never done, without inventing experience you do not have. • Recover when a question lands and no story comes to mind. • Ask the questions you have for your interviewer, and close the conversation on your terms. This is where interviews are won and lost. Two applicants with the same record can walk out having told completely different stories about themselves, and the disparity is almost never talent. It is preparation of a kind most applicants never do. They are not short of question lists. They are either overwhelmed by how long those lists are and unsure where to start, or working through them one by one, writing out an answer to every question. Neither approach survives contact with a real interview. This session gives you a system that does. 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. Walk in ready for anything they ask. Register now to claim your spot.

Non-US Elite MBA Pathways: IMD, SDA Bocconi & HEC Paris

This session moves beyond school rankings to give you the strategic framework for building a powerful European career. Join cross-cultural career coach Caolan Hunter (ex-On, Ogilvy) to learn how to integrate your career, education, and long-term life goals into a coherent international strategy. We will explore the specific pathways offered by three of Europe's most influential business schools: IMD, SDA Bocconi, and HEC Paris. By the end of this session, you will understand the unique strengths of these European powerhouses and leave with a strategic shortlist of MBA targets aligned with visa reality, your career goals, and your personal leadership style. Learning Objectives: What You Will Learn 1. The European MBA Power Centers: Discover how IMD, SDA Bocconi, and HEC Paris function as distinct hubs of influence and talent, each with a unique philosophy and network. 2. Decoding European Work & Visa Realities: Get a clear-eyed view of the post-MBA landscape in Switzerland, Italy, and France. We'll analyze post-study work rights, the practicalities of corporate hiring for non-EU nationals, and pathways to long-term residency in each country. 3. Strategic Career Positioning for Europe: Understand how hiring logic for top roles in Europe differs from the US. We'll explore how IMD's focus on executive leadership, Bocconi's dominance in luxury and finance, and HEC's pipeline into continental consulting and strategy can shape your career. Key Outcomes: What You Will Walk Away With 1. A New European Map: You'll see IMD, SDA Bocconi, and HEC Paris not just as top schools, but as distinct platforms for launching specific and ambitious European career trajectories. 2. Visa & Employability Clarity: You'll be able to confidently navigate the nuances of the Swiss, Italian, and French post-MBA work environments, aligning your choice with your passport and life goals. 3. A Personal Viable Pathway Map: You will leave with the tools to build a personal map connecting your background and ambitions to the right program, industry, and country. 4. Unmatched Access Insights: You'll understand why the intimate, senior cohort at IMD, the industry-specific ecosystem at Bocconi, and the elite Grande École network of HEC can provide unparalleled access that larger programs cannot replicate.

Leveraging AI for MBA Applications (while also not cheating)

How can you make the most of GenAI tools to leave no stone unturned in your MBA process? What are the right and wrong ways to be leveraging AI as you build out your applications? I'll help you lower your anxiety around this topic, and help you use AI to complement your thinking on other critical questions like: - "How do I know what programs are the best fit for me?" - "How do I even go about researching my target programs?" - "How can I use it to level up my writing? What pitfalls do I need to avoid?” - "How can I map out my timeline for applying to MBAs?" - "How can I use AI to complement my live interview prep? - "How can I be sure my AI-based research is accurate?" The idea behind this session is twofold: 1) lending you tactical tips to raise the quality of your MBA applications in a world of limited time. (2) helping you think in ways that go beyond the specific questions we cover, so that you can generate plenty questions of your own. As someone who advises people on everyday-life-AI and has also worked with a handful of startup CEOs and investors on layered, complex research requiring heavy AI use, I'll help you make the most of our latest tech without compromising the integrity of your applications. I hope you leave feeling this whole MBA project is something doable, with a few AI-powered arrows in your quiver that can simplify your life as you get there. If you’re interested in 1:1 coaching, you can always drop me a line through my Leland profile. See you soon.

What They Ask, What You Ask: A Complete Guide to MBA Behavioral Questions [9/24/2026] (Recording)

Once you're past the opener, the MBA interview becomes a conversation — and most candidates are only prepared for one direction of it. Behavioral questions are harder to predict and easier to fumble than the standard tell me about yourself / why mba / why here, and the questions you ask at the end of the interview are evaluated nearly as much as the answers you gave. As a Ross admissions interviewer, I've sat through countless interview conversations. The candidates who finish strong treat the full interview as a two-way exchange, not a performance. This session covers how to handle what comes after "tell me about yourself" — and how to close in a way that reinforces everything you just said. How MBA Behavioral Questions Are Different From What You'd Expect: These aren't job always interview questions. The framing and evaluation criteria are distinct. -What MBA programs are actually assessing in behavioral questions: self-awareness, leadership style, how you handle ambiguity -The most common behavioral questions and what interviewers are listening for beneath the surface -Why the STAR format produces flat answers — and what structure actually works better Telling Stories That Hold Up: A good behavioral answer doesn't just answer the question. It reveals something. -How to choose experiences that show what you want the interviewer to take away about you -How to be specific without over-explaining, and concise without underselling -What to do when the question doesn't map cleanly to an experience you've prepared Adcom vs. Alum Interviewers — What Changes: The interview format is the same. The dynamic isn't. -How adcom interviewers and alum interviewers are trained differently and what each is evaluating -Why alum interviewers often ask less predictable questions and how to stay grounded when they do -What each type of interviewer is most likely to flag as a concern — and how to address it before they have to ask What to Ask Your Interviewer (And Why Most Candidates Get This Wrong): The questions you ask are part of your evaluation. Most people treat them as an afterthought. -What your questions signal about your preparation, your priorities, and your fit -The difference between a strong question for an adcom interviewer and one for an alum — and why the distinction matters -Questions that land well, questions that fall flat, and what the interviewer is thinking in both cases

What Is AI Actually Good For? A Plain-English Breakdown [6/27/2026] (Recording)

Everyone's talking about AI. But most business owners still don't know what it actually does — or why it matters for them right now. This free 45-minute session cuts through the noise and gives you a clear, honest, jargon-free breakdown of what AI can and cannot do for your business in 2026. We'll cover: • The real difference between AI hype and what's actually useful today • The 4 categories of tasks where AI delivers the fastest ROI for small businesses • Common mistakes business owners make when evaluating AI tools • A side-by-side comparison: what it costs to hire vs. what it costs to automate • How Plinko Solutions implements AI systems for businesses in as little as 3 weeks This is not a pitch. It's an education session designed to help you make a smart, informed decision about whether — and how — AI fits into your business. Perfect for: → Business owners who keep hearing about AI but don't know where to start → Managers tired of guessing which tools are worth the investment → Entrepreneurs who want a competitive edge without a massive tech budget Free. No catch. Just clarity.

How to Write Standout MBA Essays [7/6/2026] (Recording)

The strongest MBA essays don’t just answer the prompt—they make admissions readers remember the person behind the application. This session is for applicants who want to write essays that stand out in a competitive admissions landscape. You’ll learn how to develop compelling stories, communicate your goals with clarity, and avoid the common pitfalls that cause otherwise strong candidates to blend into the crowd. Join live to hear from a panel of expert MBA coaches and ask questions about your own essays and application strategy. The panelists have helped applicants gain admission to top programs and will share the patterns they see across standout essays, common mistakes, and what admissions committees are truly looking for. Expect practical guidance and insights similar to what’s covered in 1:1 admissions coaching conversations.

Dental School: Interview Overview [7/14/2026] (Recording)

After this session, you will know how to walk into a dental school interview with a clear understanding of what evaluators are actually assessing. We will cover the most common interview formats used by dental programs, how to structure answers that demonstrate clinical awareness and genuine motivation, and what separates candidates who advance from those who stall at this stage. Attending live means you can bring your specific situation, whether it is a gap in your application or uncertainty about how to discuss a low GPA, and get a direct response rather than a general one. The coach works with dental school applicants regularly and will share the patterns they see across candidates who succeed, giving you a honest look at how this process is evaluated from the inside.

PE 101 for Interviewees and Professionals: Deal Dynamics, Diligence, & Value Creation

Private equity can feel complex from the outside, but understanding deal flow, diligence, and value creation is essential—whether you're preparing for interviews or entering the industry. In this session, Saleem H., an early graduate from a non-target school who has built a career in private equity after consulting, will break down the fundamentals in a way that’s approachable and practical. Having mentored dozens of candidates into top MBA programs, MBB and Tier-2 consultancies, boutique firms, and competitive PE roles, Saleem brings hands-on experience and a passion for supporting nontraditional, first-gen, and early-career professionals. He’ll walk you through how firms evaluate deals, where analysts and associates drive the most impact, and what interviewers expect you to know about value creation from day one.

Consulting-to-MBA: Stand out as a "Traditional" Candidate

​Consultants make up one of the largest applicant pools to top MBA programs—which means standing out is more important than ever. In this panel, Leland coaches Andy P. (Top MBA coach for 20 years), Karla M. (150+ M7 Admits, prior consultant, Harvard/Booth dual degree grad), and Ben L. (300+ M7 Admits, prior consultant, GSB grad) will share how to craft an authentic, differentiated story that sets you apart from thousands of other applicants with similar backgrounds. ​You’ll learn how to translate your consulting experience into powerful application essays, recommendations, and interviews that highlight your leadership, impact, and future goals. Whether you’re a current analyst, associate, or engagement manager preparing for a future cycle, this session will give you actionable strategies to turn a “traditional” background into a standout advantage.