Admissions

5 Scholarship Negotiation Necessities

As deposit deadlines are nearing, scholarship negotiation season is in full swing. While some law schools are playing hardball (do check back with them after their first deposit deadline), others are playing quite nicely if you have something they want (particularly if it’s an LSAT above last year’s median). We are getting many questions about the most effective means of negotiating — namely, “what else can I do besides present them with another school’s scholarship offer?” We are also hearing h

Top 100 Law School Applicant Feeder Schools

Spivey Consulting in USNWR on a successful Harvard Law resume

Hi Mr. Spivey, I wanted to thank your for your review of my resume in yesterday’s U.S. News & World Report article on law school resumes [http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2017-02-02/a-law-school-resume-that-made-the-cut] . Surely, my success is due in-part to your willingness to support prospective applicants via your guidance on the Top Law Schools forums. I do not believe I would have applied to Harvard without the encouragement I felt from readin

An Exceptional Personal Statement

Another example [http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/homerun-law-school-personal-statement/] of an applicant who was admitted to their dream school and stood out with a wonderfully sincere and powerful Personal Statement. We will keep sharing exceptional examples of how to do the process -- these matter so much. -- Mike I sat, pondering both the murky nature of the grey slush on the floor and my own murky future as my university applications sat on an admission officer’s desk somewhere. Then I t

How Long Does it Take for Law School Applications to be Read?

This is an important post, notably because there are a few critical misconceptions out there about how files are read — and thus when they should be completed. But first, a semantic. Note I could have said "how short does it take..." in the title. Or, "how PAINFULLY" long?" The fact of the matter is the process is highly variable, depending mostly on you, but also on the school you apply to, when you apply, and a slough of other factors (competitor school read-rates, scholarship considerations,

Choosing a Personal Statement Topic

“But I don’t have a WOW factor.” It is that time of year when applicants realize the LSAT may not be the hardest part of the law school admissions process after all. For many, it will be writing the personal statement. This difficulty often stems from one of two sentiments: the perceived lack of a “wow factor” altogether or the perceived lack of a “wow factor” that is unique. Two of the most common questions we hear from law school applicants are: “But there’s nothing unique about me; I grew up

Podcast: "When is it early/When is it late?" in the admissions cycle

Danielle Early and Mike Spivey speak for 30 minutes on application submission timing. And a bit more below from Michigan Law Dean of Admissions Sarah Zearfoss. Here is Dean Z.: "Totally agree that before Thanksgiving is “early” in any school’s universe. All law school admissions officers are hitting the bricks from mid-September to mid-November; some offices are structured in a way that allows them to make some decisions despite the travel schedule, but the number of offers are a mere pittance

When the Top 50 Law Schools Start Accepting Applications

*Please note, schools can change these dates, it is possible when we called to ask them that they gave us the dates applications open rather than are accepted (although we were very careful to clearly articulate when can you submit), etc. But this should be highly accurate to the extent we can control it. Please also note, just because they accept by a certain date doesn't mean they start reading on that date. FAR FROM IT, in most cases. These are good to know but September and October are cons

Super Awesome Homerun A+ Law School Personal Statements

Added July 24th Not many applicants have such an incredibly gripping experience to convey, but everyone has their own emotionally important event. Put the reader IN your story, just like this client of ours did. -Mike The door slammed shut and now, it was just me, three other guys, and one dead man in the room. None of us -- that is, the four of us who were alive -- had ever washed a dead body before, but the phone call I received the day before would soon change that. A congregant from my mos

A Personal Statement Thought & Testimonial

We get a good deal of unsolicited testimonials, and every so rarely we throw one up on our website to share :) Here's one below, especially noting the Personal Statement part. Nine out of every ten personal statements follows a typical pattern that is based on bad advice that has persisted online -- and does nothing for the application. Believe it or not, the target audience of your PS is YOU, not an unnamed admissions committee that doesn't even exist (applications are not reviewed by committe