Advice

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Blog Posts

February 26, 2016
Basics of Law School Scholarship Reconsideration

Requesting a scholarship increase can be a tricky process.

February 3, 2016
Generation Neurotic

Thoughts on millennials.

January 27, 2016
February LSAT: What's important now

Below is an email I just sent to a client.

January 1, 2016
12 minute video of the single most important aspect to law school admissions

Many thanks to Mike Kim of The LSAT Trainer and LSATTERS for setting this up.

October 30, 2015
Applicant Considerations in an “Up” Cycle

This cycle will be more competitive than the last for many law school applicants. Indeed, we thought this might be the case way back in March [http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/predicting-the-20152016-law-school-admissions-cycle/] and the June (up 10% for first-time test takers) and October (up 7.1 %) data coupled with conversations we have had with numerous law schools (almost all up) would seem to put an exclamation point on it. More applicants ostensibly equates to more competition (a bit on

September 3, 2015
To ED or Not to ED?

A checklist of considerations if you're considering applying to law school early decision.

July 17, 2015
The Single Biggest Administrative Mistake Law Schools Are Making

Much has been said about the training of law students.

June 23, 2015
Q&A with Michigan Law Admissions Dean Sarah Zearfoss (ongoing series updated June 24)

Is law school admissions the most numbers-oriented of the professional graduate schools?

Podcasts

June 8, 2021
Interview with Dr. Kristin Neff on How Self-Compassion Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

In this podcast, Mike Spivey has the opportunity to interview Dr. Kristin Neff, a leading researcher and advocate in the field of self-compassion, creator of the self-compassion scales, and author of two books, "Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself," and her upcoming book, "Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive," which will be released on June 15, 2021.

Mike and Dr. Neff discuss the power of self-compassion for motivation and achievement, and the research showing that, in a testing scenario, a boost to self-compassion proves a stronger motivator than a boost to self-esteem (and a far stronger motivator than self-criticism).

"There's so much pressure to achieve, to prove yourself," Dr. Neff says. "And I think people fall into the illusion of thinking, 'I need to be hard on myself, I need to drive myself so that I can get ahead in life,' where in fact, what the research shows is you're more likely to get ahead if you support yourself."

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

May 29, 2021
How Might Over-Enrollment Impact Waitlist Movement?

A very brief podcast on law schools that are over-committed on their seat deposits, and Mike's thoughts on how waitlist movement might go this summer as a result.

You can listen and subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

June 18, 2021
How to Excel Academically in Law School with Harvard 3L Amanda Bello

In this podcast, Mike and Spivey Consulting COO Anna Hicks have a discussion with a current law student, Amanda Bello, who ended her 1L year at Cornell Law in the top 10% of her class, transferred to Harvard Law, earned exceptionally strong grades at Harvard, and is now going into her second summer with the big law firm Gibson Dunn (check out our interview with Gibson Dunn partner Jeff Chapman here).

Also referenced in this podcast are three interviews we have done with renowned psychologists and wellness advocates Dr. Guy Winch (on handling rejection and waiting), Dr. Gabor Maté (on self-esteem, doubt, anxiety and addiction), and Dr. Kristin Neff (on self-compassion and self-esteem and motivation for test-taking).

You can listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

August 6, 2021
Interview with Four-Time Olympian & Student Loan Expert Lauryn Williams

In this episode of the Status Check with Spivey, Mike has the opportunity to have a conversation with Lauryn Williams, four-time Olympic athlete and financial advisor with a specialty in student loans. In addition to discussing Lauryn's life and experiences as an Olympian, they also talk about the differences between taking out student loans for undergrad vs. for law school, income-driven repayment plans, public service loan forgiveness (PSLF), how to save for retirement while paying off your student loans (and the perhaps surprising tax benefits of doing so), and more.

As an Olympic sprinter and later bobsledder, Lauryn earned the accolade of being the only American woman to have won medals in both the summer and the winter Olympics. Today, she is a financial advisor, student loan expert, author, and podcaster specializing in improving financial literacy in young people and athletes. Lauryn's book, The Oval Office, is out now, and also be sure to check out the Student Loan Planner podcast and the podcast Lauryn hosts, Worth Listening.

You can listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

Mike also references the legal field's bimodal starting salary distribution in this podcast. See below (via NALP):

July 17, 2021
Recapping the 2020-2021 Law School Admissions Cycle & Predicting the Upcoming Cycle

In this podcast, Mike Spivey is joined by PowerScore founder and CEO Dave Killoran and Spivey Consulting Business Intelligence Director Justin Kane — a wonky law school admissions/LSAT crew if there has ever been one! — to discuss takeaways from this previous 2020-2021 admissions cycle and to make predictions for the upcoming 2021-2022 cycle.

You can listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

July 23, 2021
Law School Admissions Q&A with Mike Spivey

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting COO Anna Hicks asks Mike some admissions questions from Reddit, covering large-scale changes to law school admissions due to the pandemic, reapplication strategies, how law schools look at "KJDs," whether or not you should explain why you want to go to law school in your personal statement, how to write Why X statements when you can't visit a law school and don't know anyone who attended, and more.

You can listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

We mentioned a number of other blogs, podcasts, and YouTube videos in this podcast — they are linked below: