An instructive story from Mike Spivey.
In this video, Spivey Consulting law school admissions consultants discuss the basics of the character and fitness section of the law school application, and how to assess the seriousness of your situation if you have something to report in that section.
We wanted to post the below example of a case when a separate diversity statement was not necessary because the personal statement already covered those elements.
What to expect and important information.
Please note, these are the dates that the applications become available on LSAC for applicants to peruse and begin to prepare school-specific essays, not when they can be submitted (though for many schools this is the same date). Organized by School: * Yale: September 1 * Stanford: September 15 * Harvard: September 15 * University of Chicago: September 1 * Columbia: September 1 * NYU: September 1 * UPenn: September 1 * UVA: September 1 * UC Berkeley: September 1 * U Michigan: August 1
So you’ve worked hard to prepare your materials, and it's time to submit! What's next?
The 2020-2021 admissions cycle is going to be the most challenging yet to predict, and most will understand a large part of that uncertainty.
Because of COVID-19, LSAC and law schools are creating virtual options for recruiting events.
Early in my admissions career, a former boss of mine would often use the following Niels Bohr quote when speaking of law school admissions: “prediction is difficult, especially when it involves the future.”
In this podcast, Mike Spivey talks about the LSAT-Flex, particularly is it relates to timelines and the pace of admissions this cycle. It is important to note that LSAT scores are higher at the top bandwidths right now than one would expect in any cycle. There are several hypotheses out there for why that is.
LSAC maintains that they will organically come down to natural levels. Spivey Consulting (and others we should note) believes that we won't maintain this pace of increase, just like every cycle, but that we are already past the point where they could come down to "natural" levels barring some extremely inorganic occurrence, and that until now law schools have been trying to figure this equation out. To LSAC's credit, they have provided law schools with data that we think should now speed up the pace of admitting for the cycle — although exactly when and at what pace that happens is still impossible to predict.
You can listen to this podcast below or via SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
Please note that our reservation list for next cycle (2021-2022) is now open.
In this video, Spivey Consulting Group founder Mike Spivey answers questions from r/lawschooladmissions on strategies for splitters, international students, non-traditional applicants, reapplicants, and more.
You can also listen to the interview as a podcast on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
COVID-19 isn't going anywhere in the near future, yet only 3 law schools and only 8% of universities and colleges have announced they will be entirely remote for fall 2020.
What is the most recent update, and is there a middle ground that can be reached to decrease on-campus density so that the likelihood of cluster outbreaks is significantly reduced?
Watch below, or listen on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
Spivey Consulting Partner Mike Spivey talks about the two primary things at the highest order that make applications stand out and elevate in the admissions process.
Danielle Early and Mike Spivey speak for 30 minutes on application submission timing. And a bit more below from Michigan Law Dean of Admissions Sarah Zearfoss.
Here is Dean Z.:
"Totally agree that before Thanksgiving is “early” in any school’s universe. All law school admissions officers are hitting the bricks from mid-September to mid-November; some offices are structured in a way that allows them to make some decisions despite the travel schedule, but the number of offers are a mere pittance compared to the overall number that will be made. People who don’t have their applications in when they start hearing about early September acceptances might feel dismayed, and worry that by the time they apply, nothing will be left—but that’s not even close to true. In general, I would advise people to try to get their applications in before the 1st of the year, simply because most people apply after that, creating a bottleneck. That means your outcome might be slowed down, which will be anxiety producing, but it doesn’t mean you’ll not get admitted because your application is somehow fatally “late.”
Remember, too, that some schools take a lot of care with their applications. If you want to be judged on factors apart from/in addition to your LSAT and UGPA, then try to have some patience with the fact that those holistic processes are necessarily time intensive.
It’s all good practice for being a lawyer. Judges take a lot of time about issuing their opinions, and seem not to take into account that the lawyer submitted a kick-ass brief and did a stellar oral argument."
And the podcast:
Something we encounter all too often is applicants who put so much pressure on themselves when they are taking the LSAT that it ends up being counterproductive, barring them from performing near the highest level of which they are capable. If we can help calm even one test-taker's nerves with this podcast, it will be worth it.
Something we encounter all too often is applicants who put so much pressure on themselves when they are taking the LSAT that it ends up being counterproductive, barring them from performing near the highest level of which they are capable. If we can help calm even one test-taker's nerves with this podcast, it will be worth it.
Note: You can also listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud. The blog post Mike mentions in the podcast is here.
Also check out a related blog post on "The Over-Estimated Impact of Median LSAT Change on USNWR Rankings." And our rankings/data tool for comparing law schools, My Rank.
