Motivation

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Blog Posts

March 22, 2018
SCG Consultants' Favorite Helpful Quotes for the Law School Admissions Process

The Spivey Consulting team has compiled our favorite quotes for you to consider and to help keep you going throughout the next several months… and years…

February 5, 2018
It's a Tough Cycle—Here's What You Can Do About It

Advice on how to handle a tough admissions cycle and still find success.

December 7, 2017
How Competitive?

A look at this law school admissions cycle's competitiveness.

December 3, 2017
“Help, I just failed the LSAT” December 2017 Edition

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.

November 20, 2017
Purpose

This is the type of thing you think about a great deal about in your forties, that I wish I had a little more in my twenties. It's also, I believe, very relatable to your law school journey, so I wanted to share. What is our purpose in life? I'll be brief here: I was a Philosophy major (like many law school applicants – it's the 8th most popular major of law school applicants as of the 2016/2017 cycle, and we beat this subject to death. I suspect most of us have a nuanced and different answer.

September 29, 2017
Well below your dream school's LSAT? It can still happen.

This was written by a client the day after he was admitted to his dream school despite being almost double digit points below their median LSAT. Published with permission, only edits were to take thanking me out of it a few times :) You thrived academically in undergrad and now you’re hoping to do the same at one of your dream law schools. You look at their median GPA numbers and you’re above them and feel like you’re already in... but then there’s the LSAT. Maybe you just can’t master logic ga

July 24, 2017
About to Start Law School?

Some advice for soon-to-be law students.

June 22, 2017
If You Didn’t Get the LSAT or Law School You Dreamed Of

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.

December 23, 2016
Show up every day

Twelve years ago, a student at Harvard invited 5 people over to his dorm room to discuss a business opportunity. Only 2 of the 5 people showed up. Today those two people are billionaires: Dustin Moskovitz ($9.9 billion) and Eduardo Saverin ($5.8 billion). And the guy they met that night? None other than Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, whose current net worth is $35.7 billion. Now, during the holidays, it would be easier than ever to jump off the grid. But if you have applications you haven

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.