Elite Career Prep Platforms for Harvard Students | 2024

Take a look through our top picks for career preparation sites. Each of these can help undergraduates and recent graduates navigate the job and internship search process to have a successful and fulfilling professional experience.

Quant Blueprint



A Review of How Quant Blueprint Helps Students Fast-Track Their Quantitative Finance Career

Quantitative trading and research roles are some of the most coveted positions in the finance industry today, offering lucrative compensation and the opportunity to work at top hedge funds and high-frequency trading (HFT) firms.

However, landing a quant role is highly competitive. Designed to make the recruiting process easier, Quant Blueprint is a comprehensive bootcamp created by a verified team of senior quants (with experience at leading HFT firms and hedge funds). While the bootcamp itself has a competitive application process, it is especially a good fit for

A) STEM students aiming for internships and

B) full-time professionals who are in technical roles

The bootcamp is designed specifically to get folks through the door and help them excel during the interview process. Below, we’ll be providing a review of the program and our thoughts.

What Makes Quant Blueprint Different?

Quant Blueprint is the only program that is designed by a team of verified quants with experience at leading HFT firms and Hedge Funds. Unlike traditional academic programs (like a Master's in Financial Engineering, or a technical undergrad), Quant Blueprint emphasizes practical skills that recruiters and hiring-managers care about. It’s worth noting that while Quant Blueprint is a much smaller financial commitment compared to a masters program, it’s still not cheap and requires significant effort. However, for students with the financial means and time, the mentorship can be very valuable for landing a quant job, according to past students.

Quant Blueprint develops the math aptitude and statistical reasoning that interviews test and hiring teams screen for. The program offers personalized 1-on-1 mentorship to help you craft a standout resume and connect directly with recruiters. Students work through comprehensive quant projects, gain access to over 80 in-depth lectures, and explore a weekly-updated database of 500+ real quant interview questions.

Past students mention that the one-on-one support they received from their mentors was instrumental in their success. You’ll work directly with experienced quants to revise your resume and refine your interview skills. Whether it's your resume, interview answers, or technical questions, you'll have unlimited back-and-forth communication with mentors who know quant recruiting in-and-out. This type of individualized attention ensures that every participant is fully prepared for the specific challenges of quant interviews, which often revolve around probability, expected value, risk management, and coding.

Personalized Projects, Resume Reviews, and Access to Recruiters

The program starts off by having students work on thorough quant projects (that are designed to simulate the kind of work that you’ll do on the job), trading competitions, data challenges, and personalized resume reviews with the team.

Through one-on-one sessions, mentors work with students on tailoring their existing experiences and adding relevant projects so that their resume screens well for what recruiters and hiring-managers look for. From there, the program teaches students how to get directly in touch with recruiters and hiring managers, vastly improving their chances of landing interviews. Past students and professionals mentioned that they received significantly more interviews after going through this process.

Intensive Interview Preparation

From our surveys, another primary reason many candidates struggle to land quant roles is the difficulty of the interview process. Quant interviews are known for their complexity, often involving brainteasers, statistics intuition, probability puzzles, and coding challenges that test both your analytical thinking and technical abilities. Quant Blueprint is designed to prepare students for these exact scenarios. The programs’ lectures, and interview question bank cover the most common types of quant interview questions, breaking down each problem step-by-step so you can develop a strong understanding of the underlying concepts.

Students have lifetime access to a repository of thorough lectures, firm-specific mentorship, 500+ interview questions, and detailed solutions ensuring they have ample material to practice and hone their skills. By repeatedly solving real-world interview questions, participants build the muscle memory necessary to approach any challenge with confidence. Whether it’s a probability problem, an expected-value question, or a coding assessment, you’ll know exactly how to tackle each question.

Bootcamp Application Process

Due to high demand, Quant Blueprint is not available to all students. In order to apply, students can schedule a call to speak with a quant. Decisions are generally made within 24 hours. You can learn more about the program at their website: www.QuantBlueprint.com

Boosting Your Early Career Success with Resumeble: A Tailored Approach to Professional Resume Writing

Resumeble

In today's competitive job market, standing out is no easy task—especially for those at the start of their careers or applying for internships. Resumeble, a resume writing service, offers a comprehensive solution to help candidates tailor their resumes and maximize their chances of success. Whether you're targeting your first job, a coveted internship, or seeking a new direction, Resumeble ensures your resume is professionally crafted to capture attention. In fact, 98.4% of their clients report landing interviews within 30 days of getting their resume refined by our service.

Resumeble distinguishes itself from other services by offering personalized, one-on-one consultations with expert resume writers specializing in more than 80 industries. Unlike generic, AI-generated resumes that often lack nuance, Resumeble’s writers work directly with you to understand your unique strengths, skills, and experiences. For those just starting out or transitioning into a new field, this kind of personalized attention is invaluable in highlighting both hard and soft skills effectively.

A Step-by-Step Process to Fast-Track Your Career

Resumeble’s process is straightforward and efficient. After being matched with an industry-specific writer, candidates undergo a one-on-one collaboration, where every aspect of their skills and achievements is translated into a compelling narrative. Within just four working days, you receive your first draft, and from there, revisions are made until the final product is aligned with your career goals.

This process is designed not only to deliver a polished resume but also to help early-career professionals better understand how to frame their accomplishments - a skill that proves useful in interviews and future career growth. Having served over 16,000 clients, Resumeble has mastered the art of turning ordinary job application documents into polished and impactful career narratives.

A Proven Blueprint for Success

For anyone looking to break into a new industry, land a sought-after internship, or start their professional journey on the right foot, Resumeble offers a highly customized and proven solution. With a dedicated team of industry experts, ATS-optimized resumes, and guarantees that ensure success, Resumeble can be an invaluable tool for building a strong foundation in your early career. 91% of Resumeble’s clients receive at least one job offer within three months of having their resume professionally revamped.

Investing in a professional resume service like Resumeble could be the step you need to secure that dream job or internship. With industry expertise and personalized attention, Resumeble helps turn potential into real-world opportunities!

For more information, visit Resumeble.

AlgoMonster

AlgoMonster

Breaking into big tech, including the coveted "Magnificent Seven" and securing a job in Silicon Valley, is a dream for many. For instance, Google receives over 3 million applications annually, with an acceptance rate of less than 1%. The greatest hurdle to landing these jobs is passing the rigorous coding and system design interviews. It's more challenging than standardized tests like the GRE, as it requires writing correct code under tight time constraints, solving complex problems, and communicating effectively with the interviewer. The pressure of the interview only intensifies the challenge.

Most candidates resort to a common but inefficient method of preparation: "the grind," where they practice hundreds of problems without a clear strategy. This approach can be overwhelming and demotivating. At AlgoMonster, we've streamlined the process for you. Created by ex-Google engineers and competitive programmers, we’ve distilled the most important coding concepts into identifiable "patterns." Our platform uses cutting-edge AI-powered tools and a highly optimized curriculum to help you quickly master these patterns, so you can be interview-ready in weeks, not months. With over a million users to date, we’ve helped countless candidates secure positions at top-tier tech companies.

Beyond coding interviews, system design questions are becoming increasingly common in technical assessments. These questions challenge candidates to design real-world, scalable systems—an area that is typically learned through work experience rather than traditional education. Excelling in system design demonstrates advanced technical abilities and provides a competitive edge. At System Design School, we bring this expertise to you. Our comprehensive course, supported by AI tools, equips you with the skills to design scalable systems, ace system design interviews, and stand out from the competition.

AlgoMonster

5 Resume tips for college students & young professionals

Kick Resume

5 Resume tips for college students & young professionals

Kickresume has already helped more than 6 million people create their resumes and land their dream jobs.

You can try Kickresume yourself with a 60-day premium subscription for free. Simply create your account using the link above. Valid until 31/12/2024.

Now, let's go over 5 resume tips curated for students and young professionals.

#1 Use a resume objective instead of a resume summary

Although these terms are often used interchangeably, a resume objective is not the same as a resume summary!

Resume summary highlights your past experience, skills, and achievements to show why you're a great fit for the job. It’s ideal for seasoned professionals.

Resume objective highlights your future career goals and your enthusiasm for the job in question. It’s a great choice for students and first-time job seekers.

Naturally, then, our advice is to go with a resume objective and show the employer why this internship is the perfect next step for you.

#2 Tailor the resume to each job you apply for

Applying to 5 different jobs? You'll need 5 different resumes.

But it's not actually as bad as it sounds. The key lies with keywords.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Review each individual job description and scan it for keywords that pop up often. These can really be anything–computer skills (Adobe, Figma), a certification (CPE), or education level (Master's degree).

2. Sprinkle these keywords throughout the resume. Sections like Work experience, Skills, or even the Objective provide plenty of opportunities to include keywords.

Doing so will make you appear as the perfect candidate and give you a head start before candidates who don't invest that time and energy into tailoring their CVs.

#3 Make use of your education section

Don't just include your school, degree, and graduation date. Go a step further and consider including also:

● Relevant coursework

GPA (3.5 or higher)

● Awards (Dean’s list, subject-based awards)

● Thesis (if relevant for the role)

● Scholarships

● Relevant student societies (especially if you were in the committee and played an active role)

● Studying abroad

● Internships

Also, if you're still a student (or a recent graduate), place your education section above your work experience. Especially if you have a degree from a prestigious university like Harvard.

#4 Use action verbs & quantify your achievements

Let's have a look at an example of action-oriented vs. non-action-oriented phrases:

Non-action phrase: I have been a part of the employee performance evaluation process.

Action-oriented phrase: Evaluated employee performance using available data.

Action verbs are shorter, clearer, and bring a level of confidence to your resume. These are verbs like: designed, engineered, generated, implemented, launched, led, reduced, wrote, etc.

Also, quantify your achievements. The recruiters adore seeing numbers in your resume!

It allows them to better assess your abilities; and it adds more credibility to your words at the same time.

For example, you could say something like this:

Reduced project turnaround time by 30%.

Led a team of 12 sales professionals.

#5 Get feedback on your resume with Resume Checker

Finally, you shouldn't underestimate getting your resume reviewed. This could be as simple as forcing your friends to proofread your CV, to catch any typos or other imperfections.

Alternatively, you can use Kickresume's Resume Checker which scans your resume for issues and compares it against other resumes in our database.

You'll also get a detailed resume review report and personalized tips on how to improve your CV.

Financial Modeling Education

Financial Modeling Education

The Financial Modeling Mastery Program is designed to teach real-life Financial Models for aspiring and current FP&A and Private Equity Professionals.

Broken down in a logical progression from beginner to advanced content, the Financial Modeling Mastery Program is a self-study video program that teaches students to build Three Statement Models, 13 Week Cash Flow Forecasts, and Leveraged Buyout (LBO) Models for use in real-life FP&A and Private Equity settings.

The instructor, Chris Reilly, has a background in Consulting, Corporate Finance, FP&A, Private Equity, and Entrepreneurship, and has taught over 43,000 students.

Unlike most online courses that offer illustrative, annual models based on theory, the Financial Modeling Mastery Program teaches you to build highly-detailed monthly and weekly financial models that you can implement the right way for actual jobs in FP&A and Private Equity.

For example:

Cash forecasts need to be updated weekly using actual bank data as well as AR and AP Aging reports to provide a near-real-time outlook on cash so the Operations team can make a plan.

Three Statement Models need to be updated monthly to inform key stakeholders about critical financial information such as Revenue, Gross Profit, EBITDA, Cash, and Covenant Analysis.

With just over 20 hours of content, the Program is long enough to be thorough, but short enough to complete timely. Specifically, students will learn:

- Income Statement forecasting
- Revenue and COGS
- Variable expense forecasting
- Fixed expense forecasting
- Headcount forecasting
- EBITDA schedules

- Balance Sheet forecasting
- Cash
- Working Capital
- Bonus and Tax Accruals
- Capital Expense & Depreciation
- Debt, Cash Flow Sweeps, and Circularity
- Equity

- Transaction Modeling
- Enterprise Value
- Sources & Uses
- Pro Forma Balance Sheet
- ROI and IRR

- Recommendations
- Print-friendly summaries
- Actional recommendations based on findings

- Excel Skills & Shortcuts
- Countless shortcut keys
- INDEX/MATCH
- SUMIFS
- SUMPRODUCT
- MIN/MAX
- …and plenty more

In addition, the Program comes with Completion Certificates as well as direct access to the instructor via email.

Lastly, the Program comes with lifetime access and a 100% moneyback guarantee that doesn’t expire, so the only risk is your time.

With over 43,000 students and an average rating of 4.9 stars, Chris’ work has been featured by Wharton Online, Wall Street Prep, LinkedIn Learning, FTI Consulting, and recognized by Business Insider and the Financial Modeling World Cup.

Taught in a down-to-earth, relatable style without the usual corporate jargon, the Financial Modeling Mastery Program gives you rigorous preparation for a real career in FP&A or Private Equity.

If you’re going to practice, you might as well practice the skills for the job you’re hoping to obtain.

Join the Financial Modeling Mastery Program and learn to build financial models required for actual jobs in FP&A and Private Equity.

7 Reasons Why Financial Modeling Is Essential for Your Career

Financial Modeling Institute



Financial modeling has become one of the most in-demand skills required by finance and accounting professionals. This is because financial models help us derive insights that are used to make critical decisions.

Let’s take a look at this important skill set for students and how developing your financial modeling knowledge can boost your career prospects.

1. Open Doors to Career Opportunities

Professionals with advanced financial modeling skills are in high demand across sectors that include banking, private equity, corporate finance and accounting. Development of this skill signals your commitment to prospective employers and positions you to get access to live deals once you are on the job.

2. Enhance Your Analytical and Technical Skills

Financial modeling sharpens your ability to analyze complex information, making it an invaluable skill for decision-making. By diving deep into data, assumptions, and projections, you'll enhance your finance and accounting skills while building technical proficiency in Excel.

3. Support Strategic Decision-Making

A well-built financial model is key to strategic planning and decision-making. Whether you’re assessing potential investments, mergers, or other business opportunities, financial modeling allows you to create detailed projections. By simulating different scenarios, such as best case, worst case, and base case, you will support your managers in assessing opportunities.

4. Facilitate Clear Communication

Financial models are powerful communication tools. They translate complex financial data into understandable insights for managers and clients. The transparency and clarity of the models you build trust and credibility which are essential for your career growth.

5. Commit to Continuous Learning and Professional Development

The field of financial modeling is dynamic, with continuous advancements in techniques and tools. Engaging in financial modeling fosters a mindset of ongoing learning. This commitment to continuous education is vital for staying competitive in a dynamic job market and contributes significantly to your professional growth.

6. Develop Your Leadership Skills

Financial modeling is one of the most important skills to foster critical thinking and promote leadership development. A strong financial modeler demonstrates the technical and communication skills that ultimately enable them to lead teams of both junior and senior professionals and communicate outputs and recommendations with poise and confidence.

7. Validate Your Skills with Accreditation

Earning a financial modeling accreditation, such as the Advanced Financial Modeler (AFM) from Financial Modeling Institute (FMI), can significantly boost your career prospects. This accreditation validates your expertise and sets you apart in a competitive job market. Employers recognize and value the rigorous standards of FMI’s accreditation.

Differentiate Yourself. Lead with Confidence. Excel with FMI.

Join the ranks of students and professionals who are leading the way in financial modeling excellence by earning the Advanced Financial Modeler (AFM) accreditation with FMI. Validate your skills, position yourself for your dream career, and prepare for the future of accounting and finance.