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Blog Posts

May 27, 2025
Spivey Consulting Group 2025-2026 Pro Bono Program: Announcement & Application

Spivey Consulting Group fully supports equitable access and diverse representation in legal education, and in 2025, this responsibility is more important than ever. As a part of this ongoing commitment, we are excited to announce the fifth year of our annual Spivey Consulting Group Pro Bono Program.

August 1, 2024
Welcoming Mike Burns as Chief Operating Officer & Admission Consultant for Spivey Consulting Group

We are thrilled to announce that Mike Burns has joined Spivey Consulting Group as our new Chief Operating Officer and Admissions Consultant!

May 28, 2024
Pro Bono Law School Admissions Consulting Opportunity 2024-2025

Please note: we will stop accepting submissions for this program on Thursday, June 20, 2024, at 11:59 PM EST.

November 17, 2023
Upcoming Growth & Diversification at the Spivey Consulting Group

Today has a special meaning to me, and I write to outline our firm’s upcoming growth and diversification of services in 2024.

May 23, 2023
Pro Bono Law School Admissions Consulting Opportunity 2023-2024

Spivey Consulting Group fully supports equitable access and diverse representation in legal education. We are excited to announce that, as part of this ongoing commitment, Spivey Consulting Group is launching its third year of our formal Pro-Bono Consulting Program!

December 12, 2022
3 Tips for 1L Success (+ Opening Pre-L Course Registration)

We get asked a lot for advice on how to get ready for law school, so we’ve asked the Pre-L coaches on our team to share a few habits and mindsets to adopt to succeed as a 1L.

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.

September 28, 2022
Anna Hicks-Jaco of Spivey Consulting Named Interim Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management at Syracuse Law

Below is the formal announcement from Syracuse University College of Law.

August 24, 2022
Announcing Program for 1Ls -- Staying on Track: Success Coaching for 1Ls

As the new school year kicks off, we are excited to announce that the team behind our Pre-L program will be expanding the support that we provide to include managing the challenges (both academic and personal) presented during law school.

Podcasts

October 26, 2021
Dr. Anna Lembke, Author of Dopamine Nation & Featured on The Social Dilemma

Dr. Anna Lembke is a Stanford University psychiatrist, author of the New York Times best-seller Dopamine Nation, and a featured expert on the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. In this episode, Dr. Lembke discusses the effects of dopamine on our motivation and overall happiness, talks about the degree to which society today sets us up for depression and anxiety and lack of motivation, and offers a concrete (though difficult) remedy.

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

October 19, 2021
Justin Ishbia: Last WL Admit to Successful Major Donor

In 2001, Justin Ishbia was the last person Vanderbilt Law admitted off of their waitlist. He had been practice testing in the 170s and aiming for a top three law school, but when he ended up with a mid-150s LSAT score instead, he had to adjust his expectations. After visiting, Vanderbilt became his top choice, and he ended up being admitted off the waitlist in August (with his furniture already on a truck on the way to the law school he'd been planning to attend!). He worked extremely hard in law school, graduated near the top of his class, and went on to a hugely successful career in law and investing. Twenty years later, Justin Isbhia just gifted $10 million to the law school that took a chance on him. In this episode, we break down how Justin earned himself that last-minute waitlist admit, how he excelled in law school, why a disappointing LSAT score doesn't mean you have to give up your dreams, and much more.

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

October 5, 2021
Should You Do a Law School Admissions Interview?

In this podcast, Mike discusses the factors to consider when you receive an invitation to interview for a law school you've applied to.

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

December 8, 2021
Cycle Volume Update & Conjecture On Where the Cycle Might Be Heading

In this episode, Mike has a conversation with Spivey Consulting's Business Intelligence Director Justin Kane (current 2L and data genius) about where this current admissions cycle (2021-2022) stands so far in terms of applicant volume, what that means, what we predict for the rest of the cycle, and some actionable admissions advice based on what we know so far. They also touch on why our numbers are slightly different from LSAC's (and why we believe ours capture a more accurate picture for current applicants), as well as how to interpret differences between applicant numbers and application numbers, plus a few other wonky topics throughout. We hope it's helpful!

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

November 11, 2021
Will Law Schools Be Able to Maintain Their Medians This Cycle?

In this episode, Mike predicts whether law schools will be able to maintain their high medians from last year, and how we expect that to play out across the course of the cycle. He also discusses how this will impact splitters and reverse splitters.

You can find the spreadsheet Mike mentions in this podcast with schools' medians from the 2020-2021 cycle here.

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

November 16, 2021
What Makes for a Successful Law School Interview?

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike has a conversation with our consultant Karen Buttenbaum (former Director of Admissions at Harvard Law School) about how to prepare for law school admissions interviews, best practices, common pitfalls, and other advice for the interviewing process.

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

We have space for one client for our new lower-cost application coaching pilot program. Under this program, you would work one-on-one with our Application & Editing Coach Lauren Brown on crafting the written components of your application. If you feel comfortable with your overall strategy and knowledge of the application process, but want help with your personal statement and other essays from start to finish at a lower price point, this may be the program for you! If you’re interested in learning more, please email us at info@spiveyconsulting.com with the subject line “Application Coaching.”