Admissions

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Blog Posts

May 23, 2023
Pro Bono Law School Admissions Consulting Opportunity 2023-2024

Spivey Consulting Group fully supports equitable access and diverse representation in legal education. We are excited to announce that, as part of this ongoing commitment, Spivey Consulting Group is launching its third year of our formal Pro-Bono Consulting Program!

April 12, 2023
U.S. News Significantly Reduces the Weight of LSAT/GRE & GPA. What's Next?

A few months ago, many law schools announced they would boycott sending U.S. News direct (and non-third party audited) data, essentially forcing U.S. News to change their methodology. The rates of the admissions metrics were significantly reduced. What does this mean?

March 27, 2023
How to Ask for a Seat Deposit Deadline Extension

Learn how to ask for a seat deposit deadline extension.

March 22, 2023
How to Write a Law School Letter of Continued Interest (“LOCI”)

Submitting a LOCI is a necessary step in trying to get admitted off any waitlist—this blog will walk you through some key "dos" and "don'ts" to keep in mind while you're drafting yours.

January 11, 2023
Understanding Law School Admissions Office Titles & Hierarchies

Admissions office staff titles can be confusing. If you're trying to decipher who in an admissions office is the seniormost decision-maker, this blog likely has your answer.

October 3, 2022
Law School Admissions Bible Table of Contents

We are excited to have recently completed and submitted to publishing the upcoming PowerScore/Spivey Consulting Law School Admissions Bible, scheduled to go to press next month (November 2022)! Here's a preview of the Table of Contents.

August 22, 2022
Greek Life & Law School Admissions: Should You Include Your Sorority/Fraternity in Your Application?

We often hear from applicants who feel they should scrub their resumes and other materials of any mention of their involvement in fraternities or sororities. While some applicants in online forums seem to support this prohibition, the best approach for you individually might be more nuanced.

June 28, 2022
How to Get the Most Out of Visiting Law Schools

Like the undergraduate process, visiting law schools and interacting with their communities can be an important part of selecting the right fit school for you.

June 20, 2022
Early Thoughts on the 2022-2023 Application Cycle + 2021-2022 Recap

It's certainly too early to make predictions with any sort of certainty, but given that we now have final June LSAT numbers, and registration for the August LSAT is now closed, we now have some early indicators of what we might expect to see in the 2022-2023 law school admissions cycle.

Podcasts

January 3, 2023
Will Medians Stay As High This Law School Admissions Cycle?

In this episode, Mike gives his thoughts on whether law schools will be able to maintain their historically high LSAT/GPA medians after the 2022-2023 admissions cycle.

Spivey Consulting Availability Notes:

  • We have just begun accepting early reservations for admissions consulting for next cycle, 2023-2024! Email info@spiveyconsulting.com to get on the list and schedule a free initial consultation with one of our expert admissions consultants.
  • We are also currently taking transfer clients. If you are a 1L considering transferring to another law school and would like assistance with your application strategy, reach out today!
  • Interested? Get started.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

Note: You may notice that the numbers we cite sometimes vary slightly from the volume data that LSAC publishes. This is because LSAC reports only an applicant's ultimate high LSAT score, even if they didn't achieve that score until months or even years after the date in question. For example, if someone applied in 2021-2022 with a 160, then retook the LSAT the following fall and scored a 170 to reapply for 2022-2023, LSAC's data would include them as an applicant with a 170 even in the 2021-2022 data. To avoid this effect, we record applicant volume daily in real-time so that we can later compare to the data as it actually was on that date, rather than factoring in any new LSAT scores that were achieved after that date.

February 3, 2023
How to Crush the Second Half of the Law School Admissions Cycle

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike gives an update on 2022-2023 cycle data and discusses admissions strategies for the second half of the application cycle: waitlists and letters of continued interest, tips for asking for scholarship reconsideration, and handling the waiting/anxiety. (It may surprise you how impactful that last item can be to your outcomes!)

Mike recorded this episode before final January 2023 LSAT data was out—you can find the latest update on our Twitter, here. A few other Status Check episodes are mentioned in this podcast as well:

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

January 23, 2023
What Triggers Admit Waves?

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike talks about the different factors that precipitate waves of law school admissions decisions being released, especially late in the cycle/during waitlist season.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

April 28, 2023
“Everything”

In this short episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike talks about the widespread notion that, even beyond whatever specific and concrete challenges we each may be facing, there is an added factor of "everything" (in today's society, in life) that can sometimes feel crushing. Then he gives some advice.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, and Google Podcasts.

February 23, 2023
When Should You Reach Out to an Admissions Office, and How Should You Do It?

In this short episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike discusses a question that tends to come up frequently this time of year—“Should I contact x law school's admissions office to ask for an update since I haven't heard back yet?”—then talks generally about when it can be advantageous to reach out to admissions, why, and how you should do it.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

February 10, 2023
The Rules of Reddit

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike talks about how online law school admissions discussion can affect (or not affect) your outcomes. Are adcoms on Reddit? Will they Google you? What sorts of online conduct can turn an admit into a waitlist or deny? Mike gives his thoughts on these questions and more from 15+ years following law school message boards.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.