29,142Leland Reviews

She is very prepared, and smart in iterative improvement on the pre-work/presentation. There is often too much to squeeze in time allotted, and some waiting while Claude does its work

I'm glad I was able to finally attend Angela's class. She's very knowledgeable and great at explaining insights.

Angela is super knowledgeable and engaging during her sessions. I can't wait to implement her teachings.

He is experienced with resume writing and review and he will help you with yours

Context: worked with Ben on 2 M7 (Kellogg and HBS didn’t get admitted) but got admitted to another M7 (MIT) on my own. I’ve also used Leland with different coaches which helped me get more perspective. Strengths: - Ben comes across as an extremely charismatic and intelligent individual — he really is. I think he’s already accomplished phenomenal things and will continue to do so. His story is quite unique and he shares it very well. - He revamped my resume using my content but with his formatting/style, which was very crisp. - Essays: this is his biggest individual strength. He helped a ton with feedback on my writing. He encouraged me to use my own voice and genuinely share my story. - Final review: Ben went through my Kellogg and HBS applications before submission, which I appreciated as a final set of eyes. Concerns: - Recommendations: he reviewed them and gave me feedback. However, one of the letters he said was the worst one written (which I agreed with). In that situation, I asked for more direct editing/writing support, and he responded: “So I can't really ‘craft’ or ‘edit’ LORs, but I've given you some pointers anyway since I know you're in a bit of a spot here — you're technically not really even supposed to even play a part in any of this, but I can give you guidance and help thinking through the right examples or catch a grammar error here and there — so that's the truly legal / ethical limitations of my feedback on this piece.” - Application strategy: outside of essays, I think there should be more thoughtfulness around the overall strategy of the application — i.e. how different components come together beyond just the essays (short answers, career goals, positioning, etc.). This could also include smaller but important guidance points like attending admissions events, interview preparation/attire for HBS, school selection strategy in the first place, etc. The process is very ambiguous until you’ve gone through it, so I now have a lot of knowledge I would’ve loved to have earlier on. - Interview mock: having now done 5-6 additional mocks, I saw how other coaches approached it. Comparatively, I didn’t find Ben’s mock especially helpful or confidence-building for me. I felt he was not very prepared (which I understand to some extent given he already knew my profile, but comparatively it still didn’t feel appropriate in my opinion). His feedback also wasn’t particularly actionable. - Time / cost ratio: across HBS and Kellogg, there were 6 essays total. I did approximately 3-4 drafts per essay, for around ~24 drafts overall. Even assuming each took an hour to review (which feels generous), plus resume editing (~2 hours), the mock interview (45 minutes), and the initial essay session (1.5 hours), it comes to roughly 30 hours total. Maybe that’s all I needed, but the cost for 2 schools and ~30 hours of work felt exorbitant to me. I recognize he was available if I asked for more support, so maybe this is partially a case of me simply not needing more of his time, but it still felt quite expensive. We only met live 3 times total: the 15-minute intro, the 1.5-hour essay workshop, and the mock interview. Everything else was over email, and never on weekends. - Leland+ was actually a very helpful resource center. Ironically, I didn’t expect it to provide as much value as it did. Ben’s recommendation packet, Kellogg essay guidance, and HBS guidance were all prerecorded videos posted on Leland+. I ended up using several resources from there, which somewhat defeated the purpose of having a customized coach. I understand the need to standardize or reuse processes, but at times it felt like I had paid primarily for access to materials and examples from other applicants Ben had worked with. All that said, some of this is also on me for maybe not asking enough questions upfront about what I needed or expected. As I mentioned though, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Working with several additional coaches showed me the value of having multiple people involved (almost like a consulting team), versus the more dedicated one-on-one support I had initially envisioned with an individual coach.

Working with Jörn during the interview preparation phase gave me the clarity I needed to confidently articulate my value and stand out in a competitive process. His coaching helped me understand exactly how to position myself for the roles I was targeting, which made a real difference in how I showed up in every conversation. I ended up receiving two job offers and I attribute that outcome directly to the work we did together.

Geri is hands down the best!! Coming from an untraditional background, I was a bit intimidated on how to best translate my experience into a cogent narrative for business school applications. Geri has an unmatched ability of providing specific and tailored feedback that set me up to not only plan, but truly master my narrative and tie my experiences together. She is extraordinarily kind and has an unmatched enthusiasm for helping build the best applications possible. I am very fortunate to have worked with Geri and have no doubt you will too if you choose to work with her!

Habib is incredibly kind but also sharp and critical, providing significant and insightful feedback that makes a real difference for my MD application. We started with a comprehensive 1-hour introductory call to discuss everything overall and work on my personal statement. I will absolutely be working with him again to review my application and school list before submission. I cannot recommend Habib enough - thank you, and I look forward to working together again!

Shannon was a stellar partner to have on my Law school admissions journey. She was timely in her responses, and focused on helping me shine. She was great in giving specific feedback while still allowing my voice to come through, and gave great in depth responses to my questions. She is familiar with the ethos of many different top law programs and will help you tailor your materials accordingly! I highly recommend working with her.

Good points made that helped to understand more of how to relay you personally.