Admissions

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Blog Posts

January 9, 2015
Applicant questions answered, "will high LSAT scores be MORE or LESS valuable this cycle"

“Mike and Karen, as the number of takers continues to drop, won’t it become MORE acceptable to drop a median point in favor of maintaining GPA? Won’t this make high scores LESS valuable? For example, if Harvard or Yale’s median is going to drop to 172, doesn’t a 173 become LESS valuable, not more? If the median drops a point, suddenly, the pool of at/above median expands, right? So, in theory, I should be rooting for medians to stay the same?” This is something we spend a good deal of time loo

November 21, 2014
Timeline and Tips for the Best Possible Law School Application

A guide to the timing of applying to law school, from undergrad on.

August 6, 2014
Debunking The 1-Page Law School Resume Myth

Let’s put an end to a false piece of advice that we recently saw on the internet.

June 9, 2014
Timeline for Law School Applications

Admissions timeline for June through December of the fall you plan to apply to law school.

May 17, 2014
The Top 10 Law School Personal Statement Mistakes

Learn the mistakes to avoid in your personal statement.

May 16, 2014
The 3 Essential Features of a Great Personal Statement

Remember that exhausting exercise you had to go through applying to college? It’s about to get worse.

March 28, 2014
Rank Me! Please?

Thoughts on law schools ranking their waitlisted applicants.

February 7, 2014
Timing, Timing, and Timing

The waiting has begun.

November 22, 2013
103 Pages of Free Law School Admissions Advice

The following is the collective advice we (Karen and I) have given on top-law-schools, without the external noise, bad jokes (mostly from Mike), etc. It is organized categorically, not by date posted. Enjoy! http://www.mediafire.com/view/ng3p9aw0dbbcc28/SpiveyQA.pdf

Podcasts

November 23, 2020
Introduction to Law School Admissions for Under-Represented Minority (URM) Applicants

Today's podcast is from our consultant Sir Williams, former Director of Admissions at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he led the successful implementation of UW’s first pre-law diversity pipeline summer program. In this podcast, Sir gives a broad introduction to law school admissions for under-represented minority (URM) applicants — what "counts" as URM for admissions, why it matters, and some special considerations URM applicants might want to flag.

A few links mentioned in the podcast:

You can listen below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

Please note that our reservation list for next cycle (2021-2022) is now open.

December 22, 2020
Holiday Law School Admissions AMA with Mike Spivey

In this podcast, Mike Spivey takes questions from Reddit!

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

Happy holidays from all of us at Spivey Consulting Group!

  • 0:00 – Introduction
  • 1:30 – Character & Fitness
  • 4:43 – Scholarship vs. debt load in choosing a law school
  • 8:08 – What to do if you make a mistake/typo in your law school application
  • 12:37 – How much will LSAT medians move this cycle
  • 14:09 – uGPA's importance this cycle
  • 16:02 – How will splitters do this cycle
  • 16:33 – Competitiveness of particular schools/bands
  • 18:02 – In-person vs. remote law school next year and effects on deferrals/WL movement this summer
  • 18:55 – How high LSAT-Flex scores will be seen in future cycles
  • 20:00 – Non-traditional applicants this cycle
  • 21:12 – Part-time programs this cycle
  • 21:45 – What is Georgetown up to?
December 8, 2020
Staying Calm in the Law School Admissions Process

In this newest episode of our podcast, Mike Spivey talks about how to stay calm in the law school admissions process.

You can listen below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

  • 0:24 — outline
  • 1:42 — good news for this cycle
  • 4:43 — biological reasons for stress and how to manage it
  • 11:07 — long-term optimism
December 15, 2020
Law School “Yield Protection”: What It Is & Steps to Take to Prevent It

In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses the phenomenon in law school admissions known as "yield protection," and explains steps you can take to prevent being waitlisted as a result of it.

You can listen to this podcast below, or via SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

As promised in the podcast, here are some resources for how to choose which law school to attend:

January 4, 2021
Commonly Misunderstood—But Important—Parts of the Law School Application Process

In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses some of the most commonly held misconceptions about the law school admissions process, and how understanding them can help you get admitted.

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

  • 0:30 – admissions is inherently comparative
  • 4:21 – admissions officers want to get to know you
  • 7:12 – how do law schools make money?
  • 11:03 – being a savvy applicant (regarding advice from law school admissions offices)
February 8, 2021
Anything is Possible

For today's podcast, a little something different — some advice on resiliency in the face of watching others succeed in the ways you'd like to be succeeding.

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