As I was cleaning out my office at Harvard Law School, I came across a list that I used to keep during file review season: my list of words.
A list of 2013-2014 law school application deadlines.
The minor factors that can make a real impact on your admissions results.
Last set of law schools' transfer policies.
More law schools' transfer policies.
Info about law schools' transfer admissions processes.
This is a simple way to differentiate yourself, yet my experience has been that only about 1% of applicants and 5% of law students do it. But 50% of professionals do. Before I reveal it, a very quick backstory is necessary. Without this understanding, I think it is hard to genuinely “get” what I am about to say. The backstory is simply that professionals are really busy, often stressed, and at times frantic. Moreover, they know all of this. Anything tedious that requires a shred of time increas
Learn why being too nice can hurt your scholarship process and how to avoid this common mistake.
In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, we have our third and final interview with "John" (not his real name; u/Muvanji on Reddit), who we've followed throughout his law school admissions cycle for 2024-2025. John discusses his final decision on where to attend, his process of requesting scholarship reconsideration, his decision not to pursue waitlists, admitted students days, what he's looking forward to in law school, and his thoughts and reflections on the law school admissions process now that it's over.
Prior episodes with John:
You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can read a full transcript of this episode below.
In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike Spivey and Anna Hicks-Jaco have a conversation with Sarah Zearfoss (also known as "Dean Z"), who has long led the admissions office at the University of Michigan Law School as Senior Assistant Dean and who hosts the admissions podcast A2Z with Dean Z.
The group discusses using generative AI to write your essays vs. to research admissions advice (including asking ChatGPT a few admissions questions and critiquing its answers), the prospect of law schools using AI to evaluate applications, grade inflation (and how admissions officers saw it before open access to generative AI vs. now), application timing (and how early applications correlate to stronger admit rates without necessarily causing them), and more. Plus, Dean Z introduces a new question being added to Michigan Law's application this upcoming 2025-2026 cycle.
You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can read a full transcript of this episode below.
In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike discusses the various factors that are at play for this cycle's waitlist season, his predictions for how it will go, and his advice for waitlisted applicants. For more on waitlist strategy, check out our Waitlist Deep Dive podcast episode!
You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can read a full transcript of this episode below.