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Blog Posts

September 3, 2019
Mike Spivey's My Rank Top 50 Law Schools

As many of you know, we have spent the past several months developing a tool for prospective law school applicants to create their own customized law school rankings.

August 27, 2019
July 2019 LSAT Cancel Considerations [results of poll] & September LSAT Registrants

We have our first data update for the September LSAT administration.

August 14, 2019
Preliminary July LSAT Numbers

LSAC hasn't released final July numbers yet, but they did give a preliminary update and we are now starting to get some real data for this upcoming cycle.

August 1, 2019
End of July Law School Application Numbers

We're near the end of the cycle, which means we've got just about 100% of our total applicant and application volume for the 2018-2019 cycle.

July 11, 2019
Very early 2019/2020 Law School Admissions Cycle (LSAT volume) Data

We have some updates on June and July LSAT volume. For obvious reasons these numbers are incredibly important in determining how competitive a cycle will be, so we watch them closely.

June 30, 2019
Application Timing

An explanation of "rolling admissions" and a look at application timing data.

June 27, 2019
Some Post June LSAT Numbers

So we do have some post-June information now that LSAC has updated their data with the scores from that test.

June 4, 2019
June and July LSATs: Updated Data

We have some updated LSAT data for all of you! You might be wondering why we've been so focused on the June and July numbers. Well, they're our first real information we have to anticipate the 2019-2020 cycle. LSAT applicants remain the dominant factor in cycle volume. To date, the 2018-2019 cycle has about 4.25% non-LSAT applicants. While this is notable growth over past cycles, and we expect that growth to continue, LSAT takers comprise the vast bulk of the applicant pool. So, without furthe

June 1, 2019
2018-2019 Cycle Volume as of June 1st

A look at applicant data for 2018-2019 as of June 1.

Podcasts

February 26, 2024
International Students: Differences in Law School Admissions + Our Best Advice

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco has a conversation with two Spivey consultants, Peter Cramer and Tom Robinson (you can read their bios here), on differences in the admissions process for international applicants, how law school admissions has changed for international students over time, and our best advice for strategically navigating the current realities of the application process.

Two of our blog posts are referenced in this episode—our sample personal statements (the essay Tom references is #5!) and a few sample letters of recommendation.

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

March 20, 2024
First-Gen Students: What We Wish We'd Known as Applicants, Law Students, & Young Lawyers

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, five Spivey consultants discuss their experiences as first-generation college students, law students, and lawyers, with a particular focus on passing along advice and knowledge that they wish they had known.

The episode includes Sir Williams, Derek Meeker, Sam Kwak, Peter Cramer, and Rob Cacace, who, among their numerous other accomplishments, have served as law school admissions officers at Stanford, UChicago, Penn, Northwestern, Georgetown, WashU, Indiana University, and the University of Wisconsin. They have also clerked for federal judges, worked for biglaw firms, led law school career services offices, created pipeline programs, taught law school classes, and published legal writing textbooks. You can read their bios here.

You can listen to the transfer applicant podcast Derek mentioned in this episode here. You can listen to the rankings podcast from Mike Spivey that Rob mentions here.

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

March 4, 2024
Why Rankings Matter to People (& Why They Should Not)

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike discusses some of the psychological and societal reasons that rankings seem to matter so much to people—then explains the reasons that they shouldn't matter as much as they do.

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

April 3, 2024
The New LSAT & The Elimination of Logic Games, with PowerScore's Dave Killoran

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco has a conversation with PowerScore Founder & CEO Dave Killoran about the removal of the Logic Games section of the LSAT, the new writing section, and what all this might mean for the future of the law school admissions.

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

April 15, 2024
Transferring Law Schools: Strategy & Process with Two Successful Applicants

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco has a conversation with Paula Gluzman—a Spivey consultant and former law school admissions officer at UCLA and UW—as well as two of her past clients who successfully transferred law schools: Katie, who transferred from a regional law school in Texas to Columbia Law School, and Melissa, who transferred from a regional school on the west coast to Harvard Law School.

The conversation covers a wide range of topics related to transfer admissions, including personal statements, letters of recommendation, 1L activities, application timing, the relevance of undergraduate GPA and LSAT in transfer admissions, and more.

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

April 29, 2024
Work Experience, Admissions Strategy, & Legal Employment: What You Need to Know

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco speaks with Pre-L consultants Rob Cacace and Jordana Confino (bios here) about the growing importance of work experience in admissions, why the impact of being a "KJD" (going "from Kindergarten through law school" without full-time work experience) has increased over time, and—importantly—how work experience (or a lack thereof) plays out during law school and in the search for legal employment.

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