Admissions

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Blog Posts

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?

May 13, 2022
What Should You Do During Your Undergrad Summers if You Want to Go to Law School?

Often college students will approach us to ask what they should be doing with their summers if they’re interested in attending law school. If you’re currently in college and want to know how to make the best use of your summers in preparation for attending law school, think about the following.

May 5, 2022
ABA Strategic Review Committee Recommends Elimination of Standardized Test Requirement

Yesterday, the ABA publicly released an April 25 memo recommending the elimination of the standardized test requirement for admission to law school.

March 22, 2022
Five Things to Consider Before Transferring Law Schools

If you are seriously considering transferring, or are a pre-1L and disappointed with your admission results and think you might transfer after your 1L year, then take a few minutes to review this. I hope it will help you decide what to do!

March 3, 2022
Should you reapply to law school?

Reapplying isn’t right for everyone. Here are some observations about successful reapplicants that may help you decide if it’s the right path for you.

January 28, 2022
We get rejected, too.

As we head into the thick of decision season, law school admissions offices are beginning to send out the inevitable rejection waves. Rejection hurts, but it is also a fundamental human experience, and we all feel its effects sometimes.

January 10, 2022
When Is It Appropriate to Start Scholarship Negotiations?

Since you are all going to be lawyers soon, let me start by saying something you’ll be saying for the rest of your lives: it depends. But, that isn’t very helpful...

January 8, 2022
How to Cold Email: A Template

We wanted to provide a template for how to cold email someone, especially when there is an "ask" involved. You don't see many of these online, so here is one exchange below.

Podcasts

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.

January 19, 2021
Reddit AMA: Why haven't I gotten a decision yet? Is January too late to apply? + the worst PS we've ever seen

In this podcast, Mike answers a few questions from Reddit.

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

January 16, 2021
Interviews with Law School Applicants About the Admissions Process

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!

January 26, 2021
LOCIs & Law School Fit When You Can't Visit + International Applicant Considerations This Cycle

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.

  • International JD admissions considerations this cycle: 0:52
  • Getting to know a school's culture when you can't visit: 4:32
  • How to write a LOCI when you can't visit: 7:32
February 4, 2021
Why Some Law School Applicants Underperform Their Numbers

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

  • 0:46 - Will more people underperform this cycle? (2020-2021)
  • 1:41 - Defining "Underperform"

Factors that can lead to underperforming your numbers

  • 4:44 - Character & Fitness Issues (but maybe not in the way you think)
  • 6:44 - Yield Protection
  • 8:17 - Overcommunicating
  • 10:40 - Sloppiness

Answering Questions from Reddit

  • 13:05 - "Is it the essay or lack of an added essay (DS) that throws off an entire application?"
  • 14:44 - "Is having a non legal job in Biglaw going in a boost as schools will see you connections that may help boost the schools standing?"
  • 15:26 - "How disadvantaged are KJDs in the admissions process?"
  • 16:59 - "Do GRE applicants more often underperform their numbers? With the high LSAT saturation, will this negatively affect GRE applicants?"
  • 17:54 - "Considering how some services quantify the 'URM Boost' in applications (7Sage predictor and LSData URM LSAT/GPA differential, for example), what specifically causes URMs to underperform their stats?"
  • 19:41 - "I’ve been rejected by UMich with a 3.mid and 17high, does this count as underperforming my numbers? If so, is this indicative of how the rest of my cycle with the T14 will go?"
  • 20:02 - "Any data / longitudinal studies on engineers?"
  • 20:42 - "I’m sure this will vary by schools, but in your experience as someone who made decisions on files, if a candidate is at/above both of a school’s target medians AND has demonstrated genuine interest, how much can those two factors carry them if the rest of the app is average? Will the answer to this question be different this year because of the availability of good stats?"
  • 21:28 - "Would you say if there are multiple LSAT scores without a consistent increase in score (i.e. there was a score drop before the ultimate high score) then that person is likely to underperform? Especially asking for T6/T14? Would your answer change if the final score was a 175+?"

Conclusion

  • 23:48 - Takeaways & Predictions for the Rest of the Cycle