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Rankings Analysis & Predictive Modeling

Spivey Consulting Group takes a holistic approach to our work with universities. Put simply, rankings movement that does not correlate with the high-quality work and real institutional improvements is never sustainable. We work with schools to ensure that their hard and innovative work is recognized in the rankings.

Many law schools and universities fundamentally misunderstand rankings. They believe that the metrics that go into them are either out of their control or can only be unethically manipulated or gamed. Neither is true. Through data analysis and organizational assessment, institutional and departmental operations can be upgraded and improved — resulting in gains both in quality and rankings metrics.

To assist you in this work, we have developed the best predictive model of the U.S. News & World Report rankings available. U.S. News does not publish what goes into each of the categories that make up its rankings, so it is impossible to know their exact methods for certain metrics or to replicate with perfect accuracy. However, our model produces a close fit, with an adjusted R-squared of 99.96%. We have spent years observing U.S. News, refining our approach through trial and error, and working on rankings analysis for law schools, undergraduate programs, and other graduate programs, and the result is a deep, nuanced, data-centric understanding of overall rankings and each of the metrics that go into them.

Recognizing that universities, colleges, and graduate schools have diverse objectives, Spivey Consulting does not seek to emphasize rankings to the exclusion of everything else. Instead, our goal is to help our clients strengthen their institutional stature by improving their administration and operations, and implementing strategic initiatives that are feasible and have significant impact.


We were told that Spivey Consulting is by far the best in the industry, and because of their reputation, fair pricing, and recommendations from the previous schools they had worked with, our contract was approved by both the law school and central university within 24 hours.

Dean of a law school

Interested in working with us?

We would be happy to prepare a full proposal detailing the work we could do with your college, university, or law school. Whether that starts with a formal RFP or a simple phone call to discuss your needs, we would love to hear from you.

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