Hear from industry-leading experts in admissions, legal education, mental health, and the practice of law.

In this podcast episode, Mike interviews the long-time Associate Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid at University of Chicago Law School, Ann Perry. Mike and Ann discuss admissions across multiple dimensions, including how admissions has changed over the past 20 years, typos in applications, when you should submit your applications (and what counts as "late"), how admissions offices set target medians, character and fitness, admissions pet peeves, and more.

You can listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

In this podcast, Mike interviews Clint Schumacher — author, podcaster, and former biglaw hiring partner — on resilience in the legal profession, imposter syndrome in law school, what hiring partners look for in applicants, and more.

Clint spent the first part of his legal career at Locke Lord, where he went on to be a hiring partner, then transitioned to Dawson & Sodd, a boutique firm with a focus on eminent domain. In addition to his legal practice, Clint hosts a podcast, The Eminent Domain Podcast, and recently published a book about resilience and overcoming adversity, Second Wind.

You can listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

In this podcast, Mike provides a brief recap of the historic last cycle (2020–2021) as well as the short version of our best predictions for what's to come this cycle (2021–2022). If you'd like a longer and more in-depth discussion of these topics, please listen to our full podcast on these topics, "Recapping the 2020-2021 Law School Admissions Cycle & Predicting the Upcoming Cycle" (featuring Spivey Consulting's data wonk Justin Kane and PowerScore CEO Dave Killoran).

You can listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

In this episode of the Status Check with Spivey, Mike has the opportunity to have a conversation with Lauryn Williams, four-time Olympic athlete and financial advisor with a specialty in student loans. In addition to discussing Lauryn's life and experiences as an Olympian, they also talk about the differences between taking out student loans for undergrad vs. for law school, income-driven repayment plans, public service loan forgiveness (PSLF), how to save for retirement while paying off your student loans (and the perhaps surprising tax benefits of doing so), and more.

As an Olympic sprinter and later bobsledder, Lauryn earned the accolade of being the only American woman to have won medals in both the summer and the winter Olympics. Today, she is a financial advisor, student loan expert, author, and podcaster specializing in improving financial literacy in young people and athletes. Lauryn's book, The Oval Office, is out now, and also be sure to check out the Student Loan Planner podcast and the podcast Lauryn hosts, Worth Listening.

You can listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

Mike also references the legal field's bimodal starting salary distribution in this podcast. See below (via NALP):

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting COO Anna Hicks goes over the basics of law school admissions for those who are at the beginning of their application process and don't know much about how it works yet.

You can listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

This episode is meant to provide context and a basis on which you can expand your research — here are some further resources you may want to check out next, many of which were mentioned in the podcast!

Basic Law School Information & Rankings

• List of ABA-approved law schools
• ABA-Required 509 Disclosures (please also note employment outcome and bar passage disclosures on the left hand menu)
• My Rank by Spivey (customized rankings based on your personal priorities)
• U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings
• How to Use the U.S. News Rankings to Choose a Law School (YouTube video)
• Above the Law Rankings

Personal Statements

• How to Choose a Law School Personal Statement Topic (YouTube video)
• Sample personal statements from applicants who punched above their numbers

Diversity Statements

• Should you submit a Diversity Statement for Law School? (blog post)
• Examples of Successful Diversity Statements
• Introduction to Law School Admissions for Under-Represented Minority (URM) Applicants (podcast)

Other Application Components

• The Curious Reality of Letters of Recommendation (blog post)
• How to Set Your Letter of Recommendation Writer Up for Success (blog post)
• 9 Biggest Resume Mistakes (YouTube video)
• Explaining Why You’re Applying to Their Law School (The "Why X" Essay) (blog post)
• Introduction to Law School Character & Fitness (YouTube video)

After You Submit Your Applications

• The 10 Essentials for a Great Law School Skype Interview (blog post)
• Every piece of Spivey Consulting Law School Waitlist Advice (blog post with links to other blogs, videos, and podcasts)
• Top 5 Scholarship Negotiation Tips (YouTube video)

Other Concepts Discussed in this Podcast

• Do "Softs" Matter in the Law School Admissions Process? (podcast on the non-numbers aspects of your application)
• Applying Straight from College vs. Getting Work Experience (YouTube video)
• Bad Law School Admissions Advice (How to Identify & Avoid It) (podcast)

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting COO Anna Hicks asks Mike some admissions questions from Reddit, covering large-scale changes to law school admissions due to the pandemic, reapplication strategies, how law schools look at "KJDs," whether or not you should explain why you want to go to law school in your personal statement, how to write Why X statements when you can't visit a law school and don't know anyone who attended, and more.

You can listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

We mentioned a number of other blogs, podcasts, and YouTube videos in this podcast — they are linked below:

• Podcast: Recapping the 2020-2021 Law School Admissions Cycle & Predicting the Upcoming Cycle
• Podcast: Interview with Dr. Gabor Maté, Author of "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts"
• Podcast: Dr. Guy Winch on Handling Rejection (& Waiting) in the Admissions and Job Search Process
• Podcast: Interview with Dr. Kristin Neff on How Self-Compassion Can Help You Achieve Your Goals
• Podcast: Traits of Law School Applicants Who Outperform Their Numbers
• Cycle Recap Podcast: No Rejections in the Hardest Admissions Cycle Ever
• Blog Post: All Things [Admissions] Considered
• Blog Post: Don't Dox Yourself / Podcast: Mike Spivey on the Darker Side of Self-Doxing in Law School Admissions
• Mike's All-Time Favorite Law School Personal Statement
• Personal Statement about Jazzy the Cat
• Podcast: On the Prevalence of Bad Law School Admissions Advice
• Video: How to Choose a Law School Personal Statement Topic (featuring Derek Meeker's discussion of "MWECs," or "moments when everything changed")

In this podcast, Mike Spivey is joined by PowerScore founder and CEO Dave Killoran and Spivey Consulting Business Intelligence Director Justin Kane — a wonky law school admissions/LSAT crew if there has ever been one! — to discuss takeaways from this previous 2020-2021 admissions cycle and to make predictions for the upcoming 2021-2022 cycle.

You can listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

In this podcast, Mike and Spivey Consulting COO Anna Hicks have a discussion with a current law student, Amanda Bello, who ended her 1L year at Cornell Law in the top 10% of her class, transferred to Harvard Law, earned exceptionally strong grades at Harvard, and is now going into her second summer with the big law firm Gibson Dunn (check out our interview with Gibson Dunn partner Jeff Chapman here).

Also referenced in this podcast are three interviews we have done with renowned psychologists and wellness advocates Dr. Guy Winch (on handling rejection and waiting), Dr. Gabor Maté (on self-esteem, doubt, anxiety and addiction), and Dr. Kristin Neff (on self-compassion and self-esteem and motivation for test-taking).

You can listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

In this podcast, Mike Spivey has the opportunity to interview Dr. Kristin Neff, a leading researcher and advocate in the field of self-compassion, creator of the self-compassion scales, and author of two books, "Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself," and her upcoming book, "Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive," which will be released on June 15, 2021.

Mike and Dr. Neff discuss the power of self-compassion for motivation and achievement, and the research showing that, in a testing scenario, a boost to self-compassion proves a stronger motivator than a boost to self-esteem (and a far stronger motivator than self-criticism).

"There's so much pressure to achieve, to prove yourself," Dr. Neff says. "And I think people fall into the illusion of thinking, 'I need to be hard on myself, I need to drive myself so that I can get ahead in life,' where in fact, what the research shows is you're more likely to get ahead if you support yourself."

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

A very brief podcast on law schools that are over-committed on their seat deposits, and Mike's thoughts on how waitlist movement might go this summer as a result.

You can listen and subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

In this podcast, Mike Spivey speaks with Dr. Gabor Maté, one of the world’s leading experts on physical and mental health and author of four best-selling books including "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts" and "When the Body Says No." Dr. Maté shares his thoughts and advice on self-doubt, stress, anxiety, and addiction, and offers the following insight for prospective law students (among others):

"You're going to look at all your confident classmates, and you're going to go in there with all manner of self-doubt. You're making the big mistake of comparing their outside with your inside. You have no idea what their inside is like. And believe me, you're not the only one."

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

In this episode of the Status Check podcast, Mike interviews Reddit user lightningmcboops (who for the purposes of this podcast we're calling "Megan") from the law school admissions subreddit. Megan applied with a 3.9x GPA and a 172 LSAT and received zero rejections despite applying in the most difficult law school admissions cycle we've ever seen, including straight admits from the majority of the T14, including Stanford. Mike and Megan walk through her application process and each of her application components, then discuss some takeaways and advice for future applicants.

You can listen to this podcast below, or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Google Podcasts, or RadioPublic.

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