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We have our first data update for the September LSAT administration.
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.
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.
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.
An explanation of "rolling admissions" and a look at application timing data.
So we do have some post-June information now that LSAC has updated their data with the scores from that test.
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
A look at applicant data for 2018-2019 as of June 1.
We have breaking and what amounts to record-setting news.
In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco introduces "John" (not his real name; u/Muvanji on Reddit), the applicant who we'll be following throughout his law school admissions cycle for 2024-2025 (a series back by popular demand!). We talk more about John, his background, his application materials, and his goals in the episode, but here are some basics about his profile:
John got his undergraduate degree outside of the U.S. and so does not have an LSAC-calculated cumulative uGPA (his performance was evaluated as "Above Average" on his CAS report). He took the LSAT once and got a 174 (we talked about his LSAT study process and test day experience in the episode). He earned a law degree in the U.K., where law school is at the undergraduate level, and is a recent graduate. He is currently looking for work and so does not yet have any full-time post-graduate work experience. He worked part-time during undergrad, did an internship with a biglaw firm, and participated in a number of law-related extracurriculars in leadership positions. His goal after earning his J.D. is to go into corporate law, and he has a special interest in antitrust law. He is originally Canadian and has experienced parts of his education there, in England, and in Kenya, which he plans to discuss in his experience/perspective essays (or "E/P essays," the category of law school admissions essay that has largely supplanted the "diversity statement"). He is African-American and has felt some pressure to discuss his race/ethnicity in his application, but he isn't sure whether or how he would like to do so. He has one relatively minor but somewhat complicated Character & Fitness ("C&F") issue that he will need to disclose on some applications.
In this first episode of the series, we discuss John's LSAT process, his personal statement, his E/P essays, his resume (and how he thought it was done before listening to our resume deep-dive podcast episode!), his school list, letters of recommendation, Reddit, and more.
We'll be checking in with him throughout the cycle for updates!
Relevant Links/Resources:
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 Spivey has a conversation with Associate Dean Don Rebstock—who, among multiple other departments, heads both Admissions and Career Services at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law—about the first 2024-2025 law school applicant data that was released last week, what it means for applicants, and why it's not as scary as it looks.
Some of the questions they discuss include, will the numbers go down? How much will they go down? Why are LSAT scores so high? How will this impact competitiveness? How will it impact the pace of the cycle? Will law schools enroll more students next fall? Plus thoughts on grade inflation, rankings, employability, and their best advice for applicants in light of the new data.
You can find our recent blog on predicting this cycle here. Mike's interview with Justin Ishbia, also mentioned in this episode, is 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, Anna Hicks-Jaco has a discussion with two Spivey consultants—Derek Meeker, former Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid for the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Danielle Early, former Harvard Law School Associate Director of Admissions—diving deep into the law school application addendum. This episode covers guidelines, best practices, common mistakes, and specific examples of tricky situations (including a discussion about mental health in addenda) related to addenda generally, LSAT addenda, GPA addenda, and a bit about C&F addenda (see our longer, more in-depth video on C&F linked below for more on that topic).
You can find the previous episodes in our deep dive series here:
Additionally, you can find our 35-minute video all about Character & Fitness (evaluating the seriousness of your C&F issue(s), how to decide what to disclose and what not to disclose, and advice for writing a strong addendum) 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 Megan Carpenter, Dean of the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law, on the highlights and challenges of being a dean, the future of law school and innovation in legal education, generative artificial intelligence as it relates to both admissions and the practice of law, and her best law school admissions advice (plus, what res ipsa loquitur means).
Dean Carpenter has a distinguished reputation and was recently named one of the 20 Most Influential People in Legal Education by National Jurist. She is a prominent expert and scholar in intellectual property and technology and is the author of the book, Evolving Economies: The Role of Law in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. She has been in legal academia for nearly 20 years, including 7 and a half years as a law school dean, and she is the founder and former director of the Center for Law and Intellectual Property at Texas A&M School of Law.
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, 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.
