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This is a question we’ve been getting a great deal since the June LSAT and something we also bounced around the entire Spivey Consulting team in a large and lengthy group discussion. Here is how we look at it, with a brief bit of salient history. Apologies in advance for the length of this post; I’ve tried to incorporate different parts of the many inquiries we have received into this one blog. When I, and a few of my colleagues at Spivey Consulting, first started admissions in the late '90s, t
On Friday, May 11, 2018, an ABA council approved a proposal that formally removes the requirement that the LSAT be used for admissions purposes.
What does it mean for applicants that LSAC released LSAT scores so early?
Amazingly, I have heard that exact line before. More than once. I’ve also heard thousands of times, “I way underperformed, I am doomed.” Indeed, I’ve heard from about 40 people in the last 20 hours who think just that. There are hundreds more out there who think the same right now. For so many reasons, you can’t fail the LSAT. And because I have seen the following scenario unfold so many times, I wanted to give some facts. Not an overblown pep talk or a feel good story. Just a few basic facts.
A cautionary tale about a common LSAT test day pitfall.
This is for everyone who didn’t get the LSAT score they wanted, or who were not admitted into their dream school—basically, most people.
If you haven't heard, the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) recently announced a change in their LSAT retake policy.
A MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN known as SM blithely reaches for poisonous snakes, giggles in haunted houses and once, upon escaping the clutches of a knife-wielding man, didn’t run but calmly walked away. A rare kind of brain damage precludes her from experiencing fear of any sort. (Source: Wired [http://www.wired.com/2010/12/fear-brain-amygdala/].) Urbach-Wiethe disease is the name for the rare disorder, so rare that there have only been about 400 reported cases in history. I learned about this disease t
LSAT score percentiles 2012-2015.
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.
