Data

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Blog Posts

February 17, 2015
2014-2015 Application and Applicant Data

The following is a breakdown of ABA 2015 applicants and applications based on data received through 2/06/15 and the percent change from last year. RegionApplicantsApplications#Pct Chg#Pct Chg[Far West]()4,804-5.1%37,277-8.2% [Great Lakes]()3,815-5.8%30,289-9.7%[Midsouth]()3,616-5.8%39,786-9.0%[Midwest]() 1,005-4.7%6,207-5.4%[Mountain West]()1,689-0.6%6,396-1.7%[New England]()1,351 -9.1%18,221-7.4%[Northeast]()4,905-4.2%37,115-8.4%[Northwest]()852-6.1%3,964 -13.3%[South Central]()2,939-4.0%12,32

January 27, 2015
LSAT Changes in the Past 5 Years at the Top 75 Law Schools

How have law schools' LSAT medians shifted between 2010 and 2014?

January 7, 2015
Law School Admissions Data: The First of 2015!

The following is a breakdown of ABA 2015 applicants and applications by region (based on data received through 1/02/15) and the percent change from last year: RegionApplicantsApplications#Pct Chg#Pct Chg[Far West]()2,310-12.1%17,815-11.8% [Great Lakes]()2,393-8.2%18,016-11.9%[Midsouth]()2,221-6.6%23,704-11.4% [Midwest]()602-4.7%3,552-5.9%[Mountain West]()863-3.1%3,018-5.8%[New England]() 806-12.4%10,380-11.8%[Northeast]()2,963-10.4%21,972-10.6%[Northwest]()485-14.0% 2,109-20.2%[South Central]()

December 5, 2014
First Look at the 2014-2015 Application Cycle!

A breakdown of ABA 2015 applicants and applications by region and the percent change from last year.

December 5, 2014
Full 2014-2015 Applicant and Application Projections

Based on the 12/5 data release, which at this time last year accounted for 23% of the full pool, some industrious law school applicants have projected year-end totals and shared them with us.

October 30, 2014
Applicant Data and Law School Outcomes

This is, I believe, the first multivariate analysis of applicant data with law school outcomes. In other words, things law school admissions committees look at versus how well someone does in law school. I don’t believe the full paper is published yet, and disclaimer they are still running regressions (probably based on editor questions and feedback from whatever journal it will be published in). But we get the abstract with permission and I love this.

September 30, 2014
Final 2013/'14 Data. Coming soon, the first 2014/'15 Data

This is with 100% reporting, ABA Fall 2014 Applicant and Application Counts The following is a breakdown of ABA 2014 applicants and applications by region and the percent change from last year: RegionApplicantsApplications#Pct Chg#Pct Chg[Far West ]()7,177-7.0%54,433-5.5% [Great Lakes ]()6,792-10.5%50,102-13.3%[Midsouth ]()6,493-8.0%65,648-9.7% [Midwest ]()1,831-8.5%11,1231.6%[Mountain West ]()2,736-10.0%10,832-8.0%[New England ]()2,504-8.2%28,722-8.1%[Northeast ]()8,687-3.2%62,076-4.1%[Northwe

July 29, 2014
Decreases in Applications for all Law Schools, 2008-2013

A list of law schools ranked by their declines in applicants between 2008 and 2013.

Podcasts

August 29, 2023
What to Expect in the 2023-24 Law School Admissions Cycle (+ Q&A) with Mike Spivey & Anna Hicks-Jaco

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike has a conversation with Spivey Consulting's COO Anna Hicks-Jaco about what to expect during the upcoming cycle, her perspective as both a recent Dean of Admissions and relatively recent applicant, and advice for applicants getting ready to apply.

Mike and Anna mention several resources and past podcasts in this episode:

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

October 11, 2023
What's Wrong with the LSAT? + What is JD-Next? with Craig Boise & Dan Rodriguez

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, two experienced and respected law school Deans—Craig Boise, Dean of Syracuse University College of Law, and Daniel Rodriguez, former Dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law—discuss the history, the present, and the future of law school admissions and legal education. Their conversation covers a range of topics, including problems with the LSAT, the recent test-optional proposal to the ABA, the impacts that the U.S. News law school rankings have had on legal education (and their thoughts on the new methodology changes), and a new pathway to law school admissions, JD-Next.

You can find basic information on JD-Next, as well as a list of schools that have been granted variances to accept JD-Next in lieu of another admissions test (LSAT or GRE), here.

Craig Boise is the Dean of Syracuse University College of Law, where he is currently completing his final year in that role, after which he will be working with colleges, universities, and law schools as a part of Spivey Consulting Group. He is a Member of the Council of the ABA Section on Legal Education, previously served on the ABA’s Standards Review Committee and the Steering Committee of the AALS’s Deans’ Forum, and served as Dean of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He holds a JD from the University of Chicago Law School and an LLM in Tax from NYU School of Law.

Daniel Rodriguez is a current professor and former Dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He served as President of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 2014 and served as Dean of the University of San Diego School of Law from 1998 to 2005. He holds a JD from Harvard Law School.

September 11, 2023
How Important is Work Experience in Law School Admissions?

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike discusses a question we receive often (especially lately, in light of the most recent U.S. News law school ranking methodology changes that significantly emphasized job outcomes over admissions metrics)—just how important is work experience in the law school application process?

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

October 17, 2023
Mike Spivey's Top 5 All-Time Admissions Advice

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike gives his top 5 pieces of advice from his 20+ years working in law school admissions.

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

December 6, 2023
Handling Expectations & the LSAT with ‘Loophole’ Author Ellen Cassidy

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike interviews Ellen Cassidy, author of the acclaimed Loophole in LSAT Logical Reasoning and founder of Elemental Prep, on LSAT strategies, handling expectations (both from others and self-imposed), trends in law school applicants/LSAT-takers over time, and more. Ellen, as an LSAT expert and former applicant who was admitted to Harvard Law but turned them down thrice, has a great many nuggets of wisdom to share about confidence, bad advice, mentorship, destiny, and imaginary ceilings. Listen below.

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

November 11, 2023
The Slowest Cycle Ever

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike discusses the reasons that this law school admissions cycle will be the slowest one ever (or at least within our admissions careers)—and, perhaps more importantly, what you should do about it if you're a current applicant.

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