It's that time of year: waitlist movement time. Many first and second deposit deadlines have passed, and schools are starting the process of finalizing their entering 2019 classes. That's good news for thousands of nervous applicants who are sitting on waitlists anxiously hoping for news. Those of you who were around in the 2017-2018 cycle remember it as a summer of disappointment. The dramatic 7.9% increase in LSAT applicants in that cycle overwhelmed many schools unprepared for such drastic
Our predictions for the 2019/2020 law school admissions cycle.
Data is based on acceptance rates for the incoming class of 2018.
Registration for the June 2019 LSAT closed yesterday.
Introduction We were asked to write about choosing between a T14 school at sticker (full tuition) versus a T20 to T30 school with merit aid. The below constitutes our best stab at that, but please keep in mind that, as always, these are arbitrary cutoff points based on one flawed rankings system and not designed for you as an individual. Point being that a school ranked 18 may be much more valuable to you for any number of reasons that a school ranked 13, etc. If you want to read or watch more
This is an applicant question, and a timely one due to the recent USNWR rankings release and upcoming seat deposit deadlines. The applicant asking the question, I believe, uses “desperate” to mean, will a school that just dropped in the rankings suffer applicant pool consequences and thus need to go deeper into their own pool to admit? I will get to that a bit later in this post (and there is available data that anyone could look up by looking at schools that have dropped in the rankings in past
Thoughts on the "Varsity Blues" scandal.
This data and analysis comes from Reddit user u/HYSLawHopeful [https://www.reddit.com/r/lawschooladmissions/comments/atn0g3/how_many_people_actually_go_to_the_t14_random/] , who graciously gave us permission to repost his great data on our blog. HYSLawHopeful sought out to answer the question of what percentage of law school applicants actually ended up at a T14 law school for the Class of 2021 (2017-2018 admissions cycle). Last year, there were 56,900 total CAS registrants. Note: * EA = En
In this podcast, Mike answers a few questions from Reddit.
You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
In this podcast, Mike Spivey interviews groups of current law school applicants about their experiences with the admissions process — what has surprised them, how they've handled the stress, what they expect for the future, and what advice they would give to someone at the beginning of the process. The participants are all volunteers from r/LawSchoolAdmissions, and only one happened to be a client of Spivey Consulting.
Here's a link to the blog post Mike mentioned in the podcast: Spivey Blog, The Malevolent Puppeteer.
You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts. Thank you for listening!
In this podcast, Mike Spivey answers more questions from Reddit. First up, he discusses differences international JD applicants might see in their admissions processes with the special considerations of this application cycle. Then, he talks about how to figure out whether a law school is the right fit for you when you can't visit in person — and, for those who haven't been admitted yet, how to write a strong letter of continued interest (LOCI) without visiting.
You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses factors that lead to some applicants "underperforming" their numbers. You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
Introduction
Factors that can lead to underperforming your numbers
Answering Questions from Reddit
Conclusion
Dr. Guy Winch is one of the world's leading psychologists and speakers. He has delivered three TED Talks with over 25 million views combined, all three of which can be seen here. He has published three books and along with best-selling author Lori Gottlieb co-hosts a relatively new but already incredibly popular podcast Dear Therapists.
In this 40-minute podcast, we speak about rejection at the macro level — "Do we aggregate rejection, and why does it sting so bad?" — and then in the admissions and first job search process specifically. Dr. Winch speaks toward research and numerous helpful interventions in both the perceived feelings of rejection and the problem issues involved in waiting on decisions.
Perhaps most notably, Dr. Winch tells a story about the first time he applied to graduate school, when he applied to 10 different programs, was denied by 9, and was "ghosted" (he literally never heard from them) by the 10th. Which makes his conversation with us not just incredibly helpful, but also relatable. We've all been rejected at something, many things — including those at the very pinnacle of their professional careers.
We mention in this podcast an episode of Dr. Peter Attia's The Drive in which Dr. Winch is interviewed — you can listen to that episode here.
You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.
In this podcast, Spivey Consulting Group's Mike Spivey and PowerScore founder Dave Killoran discuss the state of the current 2020-2021 law school admissions cycle, things to consider for applicants who may be on waitlists, and predictions about next cycle (2021-2022).
You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.