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This isn't a full post-mortem on the 2020-2021 application cycle, because it's not over yet. But we're at the point when we can start to get a feeling for what happened this year.
Now that the 2020-2021 LSAT (note: not admissions) cycle has finished, it's worth looking at some various metrics.
Today is coincidentally the last day before January LSAT data comes out, and the day we can see cycle volume through February 1st. We're well into the application cycle now, so let's take a brief look at how things stand.
Well, it's finally 2021, so we'll take a quick look at how applicant volume shaped up in the 2020 part of the 2020-2021 application cycle.
The ABA released the 509 required disclosures for all ABA-approved law schools today, which include a wealth of information about entering class credentials, class sizes, etc.
Three weeks ago we wrote a blog taking a look at how cycle volume was shaping up and might look for the rest of the year. This is our follow up three weeks later — and it's been an important three weeks.
We wanted to give some data-centric historical context for this application cycle and its relative competitiveness.
We’re a couple months into the 2020-2021 application cycle, and so far our increase in applicants hasn’t slowed down. If anything, it’s sped up.
Now that October 2020 LSAT registration has closed, a very brief update on how volume compares to the last couple of years.
In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco has a conversation with two Spivey consultants and former law school admissions deans—Derek Meeker, former Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid for the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Shannon Davis, former Assistant Dean for Admissions and Communications at Lewis & Clark Law School—on “Why X” essays (advice, best practices, common mistakes, misconceptions, and more). Why do law schools actually ask for these essays, and how much can they help you if done well? What are the most ideal reasons to include in a Why X essay, and what are some less-than-ideal reasons? How can you research and obtain information for a strong, differentiated Why X essay even if you don't know anyone who's attended that law school? This episode covers these topics and more.
You can find the previous episodes in our deep dive series here:
Derek and Shannon's full bios are here.
You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can read a full transcript of this episode below.
In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike has a conversation with Kyle McEntee, LSAC's Senior Director of Prelaw Engagement and the founder of Law School Transparency, centering around the newly released 2024 ABA 509 disclosures and how applicants should consider the data therein. They discuss interpreting class size changes, the ongoing rise of GPAs and grade inflation, LSAT inflation and how the highest LSAT percentiles have changed over time, the new option for law schools to obtain variances from the ABA to go test-optional (plus an explanation of what variances are and how the variance process works), the removal of the non-residents category from 509 reports and what that means for international applicants, diversity data (and how that's impacted by the non-resident recategorization), ordinal rankings (including a discussion of U.S. News and MyRank by Spivey), rising law school tuition and how law schools function financially within universities, and more—plus, what all this means for current and future applicants.
You can read our recent blog post with a breakdown of some of the new 509 data here.
You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. A full transcript of this episode is below.
In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco has a discussion with two Spivey consultants—Joe Pollak, former Associate Director of Admissions at the University of Michigan Law School, and Nathan Neely, former Director and Associate Director of Admissions at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Law and The University of Houston Law Center—all about the waitlist process. They talk about which applicants law schools waitlist and why, how law schools use their waitlists, how many people they typically put on the waitlist, the timeline of the waitlist process, what factors law schools consider when they evaluate their waitlists, strategy for getting admitted from the waitlist, common mistakes, best practice, factors that go into your chances of admission, tips for visiting a law school while you're on their waitlist, ways that the law school waitlist process has changed over the last few years, and much more.
We mentioned a few blog posts in this episode:
You can find the previous episodes in our deep dive series here:
Nathan and Joe's full bios are here.
You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can read a full transcript of this episode below.
In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike gives a brief update and pep talk for current law school applicants during the 2024-2025 admissions cycle.
Mike mentions our podcast with world-renowned psychologist Dr. Guy Winch in this episode—you can listen to the full interview here: Dr. Guy Winch on Handling Rejection (& Waiting) in the Admissions and Job Search Process
You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. A full transcript of this episode is below.
In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, we catch up with "John" (not his real name; u/Muvanji on Reddit), the applicant who we're following throughout his law school admissions cycle for 2024-2025. We talk about rejection, decisions he has (or hasn't) received, interviews he's done, typos in applications, and more. Stick around until the end for one last update on his cycle!
You can listen to our first episode with John here.
You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can read a full transcript of this episode below.
In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Spivey J.D. admissions consultants Danielle Early (former Associate Director of Admissions at Harvard Law School and military/veteran admissions specialist) and Mike Burns (former Director of Admissions & Financial Aid at Northwestern Law and Navy veteran) interview Brian Henson, a former consulting client of Danielle's, Navy Intelligence Officer, Service to School mentor, Harvard Law Armed Forces Association president, and recent HLS graduate. They discuss Brian's story of applying to law school from the middle of the ocean on an aircraft carrier and his experiences as a veteran at HLS, plus insights into admissions and legal education specifically targeted at military veterans and those on active duty.
What considerations should military applicants keep in mind that differ from non-military applicants? What is the adjustment like moving from the military to law school? What sorts of admissions resources are available for military members and veterans? What are common pieces of misinformation that military applicants may encounter, and what's the true story? They cover these topics and more, including admissions for enlisted soldiers vs. officers (29:36), getting letters of recommendation from supervisors/commanders (36:44), application timing (5:28 and 21:51), resumes (43:36), personal statements (46:08), determining your chances and making a school list (31:51), job search advice (1:03:42), and more.
You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can read a full transcript of this episode with timestamps below.
