Just for Fun

columnscolumns

Blog Posts

October 5, 2023
Top 15 Law School Websites

We have spent a great deal of time browsing and evaluating the websites of every ABA-approved law school, and we identified the following 15 as the strongest examples.

January 3, 2021
Congratulations on Your Admit to Princeton Law School!

Dear [Insert applicant's Last Name and LSAT score and Identifying Information for our Massive Listserv].

November 1, 2020
5 Examples of Exceptionally Written Letters

If you are a fan of writing, of well-written letters, or have to write one yourself (it is all but assured you will), check out these 5.

January 23, 2020
The Great Smile Experiment

Check out the links and give it a try!

August 1, 2019
Where the 2020 Presidential Candidates Went to Law School

List of where presidential candidates attended law school.

May 6, 2019
What the U.S. News Law School Rankings Looked Like in 1987

The U.S. News & World Report law school rankings have changed quite a bit over the years. In 1987, the methodology included just one metric—the percentage of law school deans who ranked the school, in their subjective estimation, as a "top 10 law school." See below the resulting top 20. As a bonus, you can also see what tuition rates looked like in 1987—the highest figure of which is under $14,000 (Columbia), and the lowest of which is just $4,500 (UT Austin—which is out-of-state) (note that all

October 18, 2018
Spooky Halloween Blog: Real Stories of Things That Creep Out Admissions Offices

For Halloween this year, we'd like to share some peculiar stories from some of the Spivey consultants' days as admissions officers.

September 22, 2018
Spivey Consulting Group's 17 Best College Campuses

Methodology: The Spivey consultants voted on their favorite, most beautiful college campuses that they've visited (and we have visited hundreds upon hundreds cumulatively in our careers), and these are the top 17. How did we pick 17? It was the cut-off point where each school had been voted on by at least two of us. You may think that there are some blatant, egregious exclusions, and that's probably true—there are so many beautiful colleges and universities, one of the best parts of admissions

July 3, 2018
2018 Top 10 Law School Websites

From a law school applicant who has extensive web development experience and who incredibly generously agree to look at all ABA law school websites to pick their collective top 10.

Podcasts

December 22, 2020
Holiday Law School Admissions AMA with Mike Spivey

In this podcast, Mike Spivey takes questions from Reddit!

You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

Happy holidays from all of us at Spivey Consulting Group!

  • 0:00 – Introduction
  • 1:30 – Character & Fitness
  • 4:43 – Scholarship vs. debt load in choosing a law school
  • 8:08 – What to do if you make a mistake/typo in your law school application
  • 12:37 – How much will LSAT medians move this cycle
  • 14:09 – uGPA's importance this cycle
  • 16:02 – How will splitters do this cycle
  • 16:33 – Competitiveness of particular schools/bands
  • 18:02 – In-person vs. remote law school next year and effects on deferrals/WL movement this summer
  • 18:55 – How high LSAT-Flex scores will be seen in future cycles
  • 20:00 – Non-traditional applicants this cycle
  • 21:12 – Part-time programs this cycle
  • 21:45 – What is Georgetown up to?
December 8, 2020
Staying Calm in the Law School Admissions Process

In this newest episode of our podcast, Mike Spivey talks about how to stay calm in the law school admissions process.

You can listen below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

  • 0:24 — outline
  • 1:42 — good news for this cycle
  • 4:43 — biological reasons for stress and how to manage it
  • 11:07 — long-term optimism
December 15, 2020
Law School “Yield Protection”: What It Is & Steps to Take to Prevent It

In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses the phenomenon in law school admissions known as "yield protection," and explains steps you can take to prevent being waitlisted as a result of it.

You can listen to this podcast below, or via SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

As promised in the podcast, here are some resources for how to choose which law school to attend:

January 4, 2021
Commonly Misunderstood—But Important—Parts of the Law School Application Process

In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses some of the most commonly held misconceptions about the law school admissions process, and how understanding them can help you get admitted.

You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

  • 0:30 – admissions is inherently comparative
  • 4:21 – admissions officers want to get to know you
  • 7:12 – how do law schools make money?
  • 11:03 – being a savvy applicant (regarding advice from law school admissions offices)
February 8, 2021
Anything is Possible

For today's podcast, a little something different — some advice on resiliency in the face of watching others succeed in the ways you'd like to be succeeding.

You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

January 19, 2021
Reddit AMA: Why haven't I gotten a decision yet? Is January too late to apply? + the worst PS we've ever seen

In this podcast, Mike answers a few questions from Reddit.

You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.