Data

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Blog Posts

December 15, 2018
Breaking Down the 2018 Law School Data

LSAT median changes for the fall 2018 entering class: No Change 1 point increase 2 point increase 3+ point increase

December 5, 2018
This Will Be a Slow Cycle, a Flat Cycle, and a Less Competitive Cycle Than Last Year

All cycles are different – for those that have been following us for a while you will recall the term "counter-cycle" for example – but last year, the 2017/2018 cycle, was truly an outlier. We have well over 100+ years of law school admissions experience on our team, and we have never seen a year with such little waitlist movement. It caught most schools off guard too, but the simple fact of the matter is that if the schools above you are not admitting people off the waitlist, then you aren't ei

November 2, 2018
First Look at 2018-2019 Cycle Data

LSAC has publicly released applicant data for the first time this early in the cycle — in past years, data has been distributed only to a small group and only beginning in December or so. Below, we have posted a breakdown of this data as of November 1, 2018 (compared to last year's data as of November 2, 2017). So far, overall applicants are up 17.6%, and applications are up 14.6% as compared to last year — before you let this stress you out too much, however, we were anticipating [https://blo

October 31, 2018
LSAT Median Changes and Final Data from 2017/2018

Since the data began coming out in late summer/early fall, we have been collecting the LSAT and GPA statistics of the 2018 entering classes of every ABA-approved law school, primarily on Reddit here [https://www.reddit.com/r/lawschooladmissions/comments/978z9u/link_to_new_medians] (and feel free to comment on that post if you have any new data we can add to the full spreadsheet [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/157-bOhUHh5eVc/edit#gid=1117512034] of 25th/75th percentiles and medians). Ple

August 9, 2018
Class of 2021 Entry Statistics and Changes

The incoming class' GPA/LSAT stats and look at how they changed from last year.

August 2, 2018
Final 2017/2018 Cycle Data as of 8/1/2018

This is the final cycle data as of August 1, 2018. Applicants are up 8.1%, and applications are up 8.7% compared to last year's data as of August 2, 2017. Detailed data below. Highest LSAT# Applicants% Change YTD< 1404,3481.9%140-1445,9421.1%145-1499,775 2.3%150-15411,5984.3%155-15910,5406.6%160-1648,28314.7%165-1695,12327.2%170-174 2,38213.4%175-18068959.9%% Change in applications# SchoolsIncrease of 100% or more1Increase of 50% to 99%2Increase of 40% to 49%2Increase of 30% to 39%4 Increase o

June 27, 2018
2017/2018 Cycle Data as of 6/26/18

This is the new cycle data as of June 26, 2018. Applicants are up 8.1%, and applications are up 8.9% compared to last year's data as of June 27, 2017. Detailed data below. Highest LSAT# Applicants% Change YTD< 1403,971-2.0%140-1445,483-0.1%145-1498,962 4.2%150-15410,9476.6%155-15910,1486.9%160-1648,11715.9%165-1695,04229.0%170-174 2,35716.9%175-18068369.9%% Change in applications# SchoolsIncrease of 100% or more1Increase of 50% to 99%1Increase of 40% to 49%4Increase of 30% to 39%5 Increase of

May 21, 2018
Law School Admissions Help

2017-2018 cycle data + a capacity update.

Podcasts

August 12, 2024
How PARENTS Can Best Support Law School Applicants

In this special episode of Status Check with Spivey directed toward parents of law school applicants, Anna Hicks-Jaco and two Spivey consultants—Danielle Early, former Harvard Law Associate Director of Admissions, and Shannon Davis, former Assistant Dean for Admissions and Communications at Lewis & Clark Law—discuss how parents can best support their children through the application process. They walk through differences between the law school and the college admissions processes, how much parental involvement law school admissions offices expect, common mistakes parents can make that may end up hindering rather than helping, and some of the ways that parents can be most helpful and supportive to their applicants.

You can read Shannon and Danielle's full bios here.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠.

July 29, 2024
Addiction & Recovery in College with Author Mitch Leff

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike has a conversation with Mitch Leff, author of My Addiction, My Superpower, about his experiences overcoming addiction at a young age, the lessons he learned, and how others can use his insights to improve themselves. As attorneys suffer significantly higher rates of substance abuse and depression relative to the wider public, Mitch's insights are highly relevant to anyone who is a part of (or considering joining) the legal profession.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠.

March 3, 2025
Five Categories of Law School Admissions Interview Questions & How to Answer Them

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco is joined by Karen Buttenbaum, one of Spivey's most experienced consultants and a former Director of Admissions at Harvard Law School, to talk about law school admissions interviews. They discuss a strategy for thinking about and preparing for interviews by categorizing the potential questions you could receive into five groups (plus a bonus sixth category at the end!).

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.

August 26, 2024
Experience/Perspective Essays (Diversity Statements): Deep Dive with Former Law School Admissions Officers

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco speaks with three Spivey consultants—Tom Robinson, former Harvard Law Director of Admissions; Sir Williams, former Wisconsin Law Director of Admissions; and Anne Dutia, former Michigan Law Assistant Director of Admissions—about the relatively new category of law school admissions essays that we're calling "experience/perspective essays" or "E/P essays," many of which are variations on the essays previously known as "diversity statements." They walk through the specifics of what these essays can look like (going through several example prompts), how to approach those different prompts, common mistakes applicants make with these statements, traits of outstanding E/P essays, and more.

This episode is part of an ongoing deep dive series on the main components of the law school application. You can listen to our episode on personal statements here and our episode on resumes here.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠.

September 9, 2024
The Differences Between College & Law School, with “How I Lawyer” Host Jonah Perlin

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike interviews How I Lawyer podcast host Jonah Perlin on some of the many differences between college and law school, from cold calls to being graded on a curve to the nature of attending a professional school and more.

Links to other resources:

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠.

September 23, 2024
Making Your Law School List: Advice & Resources for Deciding Where to Apply

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Spivey Consulting President Anna Hicks-Jaco has a conversation with three Spivey Consultants and former law school admissions officers—Sam Kwak (Stanford Law, Northwestern Law, Indiana University Law), Paula Gluzman (UCLA Law, UW Law), and Joe Pollak (Michigan Law)—a group that has collectively spent over 20 years advising law school applicants one-on-one as consultants. In that time, they have assisted hundreds of law school applicants in creating strategic school lists, the topic of today's episode.

How do you estimate your chances of admission to determine reach, target, and "safety" schools? How many schools should you apply to? How many schools do most applicants apply to (and how is the oft-cited average number of applications per applicant somewhat misleading here)? Where can you find the best and most up-to-date information about law schools when doing your research? We cover all of the above and more.

This episode is a companion to our recent blog post on this topic, How to Create Your Law School List. Here are a few other resources we mentioned in this episode:

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠.