Admissions

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Blog Posts

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.

May 17, 2022
Video: How to Choose a Law School Personal Statement Topic

Apart from your LSAT score and your undergraduate GPA, the personal statement is often the most important component of your law school application. Step one is choosing your topic—but how do you determine what the best topic is for you?

Podcasts

October 9, 2019
Traits of Law School Applicants Who Outperform Their Numbers

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting Group Founder and Partner Mike Spivey discusses commonalities between applicants who punch above their numbers. This podcast is also available on SoundCloud  and Apple Podcasts.

Also be sure to check out My Rank, our tool for comparing and ranking law schools with according to your own priorities.

November 12, 2019
Mike Spivey on the Darker Side of Self-Doxing in Law School Admissions

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting Group Founder and Partner Mike Spivey discusses what happens when a law school applicant posts something that deeply offends or insults law school admissions officers who may know who they are in real life.  

The Spivey Blog is mentioned in this podcast.  

As always, please reach out to us at info@spiveyconsulting.com for more information about working with us.  

Also check out our custom law school rankings/comparison data website, My Rank.

January 15, 2020
How to Approach and What to Take Away from Admitted Student Days/Weekends

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting Founding Partner Mike Spivey talks about why law schools have admitted student programs, what you can expect from them, what you can expect from others at the event, and how to make the most of the visit. He also answers r/LSA questions and added a separate podcast here on one of the elements that the toll and pressure of admissions can have on people and how to alleviate that.

February 8, 2020
How will the rest of the 2019/2020 Law School Admissions Cycle Play Out?

In this podcast, SCG's Mike Spivey speaks on what to expect for the rest of the cycle — including why it might greatly favor some people with strong softs this summer, thus making it a "Soft Cycle," but also why it has and will continue to be slow. Also discussed are two internal LSAC changes that will have significant impact for the rest of the admissions cycle and in future years.

Finally, the link Mike mentioned to the blog he wrote to those who are done and checking out of the admissions process – or just want a different take on things —can be found here: 10 Lessons Life Has Taught Me.

February 22, 2020
How Mike Spivey Would Apply to Law School

This is a very encompassing podcast that features the A to Z of the law school admissions process, starting with "Why am I applying" and finishing with scholarship negotiation and the three things that applicants are doing who are punching above their numbers this competitive cycle—with most everything in between covered.

Three other blogs/podcasts are mentioned during this podcast:

  • This is the brief motivational blog Mike wrote that caught that eye of deans of admissions in respect to writing about what matters to YOU, which is what often stands out to others.
  • This is the podcast on being extroverted when visiting law schools.
  • Finally, the applicant who was admitted to Vanderbilt for standing out despite being 15-17 points below the median LSAT is mentioned here.

Also discussed: My Rank, Law School Transparency, and the Above the Law Rankings.

You can listen to this podcast through the YouTube video below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

March 12, 2020