Advice

columnscolumns

Blog Posts

March 15, 2016
Guest Blog from a Wait List Success Story

Were you waitlisted at one of your top choice law schools? Was it one of your reach schools? If so, congratulations! This is wonderful news. Most borderline candidates view being waitlisted as neutral or even bad news—which is absolutely the wrong way to think about it! If you’re patient and continue to follow up with the school, you could reap enormous rewards just a few months later. I learned this from my experience applying to law schools years ago as a low GPA high LSAT splitter. In this po

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.

Podcasts

April 14, 2025
Following a Law School Applicant Through the 2024-2025 Cycle (Part 3, Decisions & Wrap-Up)

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, we have our third and final interview with "John" (not his real name; u/Muvanji on Reddit), who we've followed throughout his law school admissions cycle for 2024-2025. John discusses his final decision on where to attend, his process of requesting scholarship reconsideration, his decision not to pursue waitlists, admitted students days, what he's looking forward to in law school, and his thoughts and reflections on the law school admissions process now that it's over.

Prior episodes with John:

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode below.

May 19, 2025
Dean Z of Michigan Law on Admissions Advice and AI—The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike Spivey and Anna Hicks-Jaco have a conversation with Sarah Zearfoss (also known as "Dean Z"), who has long led the admissions office at the University of Michigan Law School as Senior Assistant Dean and who hosts the admissions podcast A2Z with Dean Z.

The group discusses using generative AI to write your essays vs. to research admissions advice (including asking ChatGPT a few admissions questions and critiquing its answers), the prospect of law schools using AI to evaluate applications, grade inflation (and how admissions officers saw it before open access to generative AI vs. now), application timing (and how early applications correlate to stronger admit rates without necessarily causing them), and more. Plus, Dean Z introduces a new question being added to Michigan Law's application this upcoming 2025-2026 cycle.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode below.

May 5, 2025
Waitlist Predictions for the 2024-2025 Law School Admissions Cycle

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike discusses the various factors that are at play for this cycle's waitlist season, his predictions for how it will go, and his advice for waitlisted applicants. For more on waitlist strategy, check out our Waitlist Deep Dive podcast episode!

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode below.