Data

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Blog Posts

December 19, 2022
New Law School Data as of December 2022 ABA 509 Disclosures

The ABA just released law schools' required 509 disclosure documents for 2022, which means that we now have the complete, final, official admissions data from the 2021-2022 admissions cycle.

November 10, 2022
2022-2023 Application Cycle Update as of November 10th

We're a couple months into the application cycle and by this point we likely have around 25% of final applicant volume. To date there is an 8.5% decline in applicants compared to 2021-2022, and a 6.2% decline in applicants compared to 2020-2021. So we are down notably from the past two cycles, be we're still up quite a bit compared to the pre-COVID years. - LSAT Applicant Volume The ABA may be considering [https:/

October 24, 2022
Law School Application Volume Data Report (Oct. 24, 2022)

As of this time last cycle, 19% of applications had been submitted. Applicants are down 10.9% from last year, and applications are down 13.9%.

October 17, 2022
Law School Application Volume Data Report (Oct. 17, 2022)

As of October 16, 2022, current-cycle law school applicants are down 11.7% relative to the number of applicants who had applied by this date last cycle. The number of applications is down 16.2% vs. last year.

October 10, 2022
Law School Application Volume Data Report (Oct. 10, 2022)

As of October 10, 2022, both law school applicant and application numbers are down significantly, though there's a big asterisk to these numbers.

October 6, 2022
All the Entering Class of 2022 Data We Have So Far

This fall, as we always do, we have been aggregating preliminary data for the new entering class: LSAT/GPA medians, class sizes, and acceptance rates. Here's the early data.

August 1, 2022
The End of the 2021-2022 Law School Admissions Cycle: Data & Takeaways

As the 2021-2022 law school admissions cycle comes to a close, we looked into the data (which is interesting!) and wanted to share our thoughts on the cycle as a whole.

May 2, 2022
2021-2022 Applicant Volume Data as of May 1 vs. 2017-2021

As of May 1, applicants are down 11.6% from last year, up 6.1% from 2019-2020, up 1.6% from 2018-2019, and up 4.1% from 2017-2018.

March 11, 2022
Brief Application Cycle Update

There has been some chatter lately about the 2021-2022 application cycle, so we thought we'd provide a brief update.

Podcasts

August 1, 2020
Admissions Q&A with Mike Spivey

In this video, Spivey Consulting Group founder Mike Spivey answers questions from r/lawschooladmissions on strategies for splitters, international students, non-traditional applicants, reapplicants, and more.

You can also listen to the interview as a podcast on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

June 27, 2020
University, College, and Law School COVID-19 Update & An Alternative Model

COVID-19 isn't going anywhere in the near future, yet only 3 law schools and only 8% of universities and colleges have announced they will be entirely remote for fall 2020.

What is the most recent update, and is there a middle ground that can be reached to decrease on-campus density so that the likelihood of cluster outbreaks is significantly reduced?

Watch below, or listen on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

June 4, 2019
What makes for successful law school admission?

Spivey Consulting Partner Mike Spivey talks about the two primary things at the highest order that make applications stand out and elevate in the admissions process.

September 8, 2016
“When is it early/When is it late?” in the admissions cycle

Danielle Early and Mike Spivey speak for 30 minutes on application submission timing. And a bit more below from Michigan Law Dean of Admissions Sarah Zearfoss.

Here is Dean Z.:

"Totally agree that before Thanksgiving is “early” in any school’s universe. All law school admissions officers are hitting the bricks from mid-September to mid-November; some offices are structured in a way that allows them to make some decisions despite the travel schedule, but the number of offers are a mere pittance compared to the overall number that will be made. People who don’t have their applications in when they start hearing about early September acceptances might feel dismayed, and worry that by the time they apply, nothing will be left—but that’s not even close to true. In general, I would advise people to try to get their applications in before the 1st of the year, simply because most people apply after that, creating a bottleneck. That means your outcome might be slowed down, which will be anxiety producing, but it doesn’t mean you’ll not get admitted because your application is somehow fatally “late.”

Remember, too, that some schools take a lot of care with their applications. If you want to be judged on factors apart from/in addition to your LSAT and UGPA, then try to have some patience with the fact that those holistic processes are necessarily time intensive.

It’s all good practice for being a lawyer. Judges take a lot of time about issuing their opinions, and seem not to take into account that the lawyer submitted a kick-ass brief and did a stellar oral argument."

And the podcast:

October 14, 2019
Calming Your LSAT Anxiety

Something we encounter all too often is applicants who put so much pressure on themselves when they are taking the LSAT that it ends up being counterproductive, barring them from performing near the highest level of which they are capable. If we can help calm even one test-taker's nerves with this podcast, it will be worth it.

Something we encounter all too often is applicants who put so much pressure on themselves when they are taking the LSAT that it ends up being counterproductive, barring them from performing near the highest level of which they are capable. If we can help calm even one test-taker's nerves with this podcast, it will be worth it.

Note: You can also listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud. The blog post Mike mentions in the podcast is here.

Also check out a related blog post on "The Over-Estimated Impact of Median LSAT Change on USNWR Rankings." And our rankings/data tool for comparing law schools, My Rank.

April 28, 2020
Universities, Colleges, and Law Schools Plan to Be Open On Campus This Fall

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting Group founder and higher education expert Mike Spivey discusses the plans universities are making to resume on-campus operations this fall, as well as challenges to those plans from the medical community.

You can listen to the podcast via the YouTube video below, or via SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.