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April 8, 2020
Law School/Law School Admissions COVID-19 Update, April 8, 2020

Please keep in mind that because so much is fluid right now, no one can say for certain where things will be in a few months.

April 3, 2020
Will Universities, Colleges, and Law School Campuses Be Open in Fall 2020?

The short answer is that there is no definitive answer yet.

April 1, 2020
LSAT score restoration (“zombie scores”) numbers

This is a first ever, and we are grateful to LSAC for sharing this data with us.

March 18, 2020
Memorandum from ABA

Directly from the American Bar Association.

March 13, 2020
Why Colleges and Graduate Schools are Closing Their Doors So Quickly for the Coronavirus / COVID-19, and Why That's a Good Thing for You (or Your Children)

I had a conversation with a college freshman the other day who was on his way home from school – on account of his school cancelling all classes and asking all students to be out by a certain day. Understandably, he was irate.

March 10, 2020
Admitted Students Weekends are being cancelled for COVID-19. How should you choose a law school without them?

Over the weekend, we learned of several law schools that have changed their plans for Admitted Students Days/Weekends due to concerns over Coronavirus/COVID-19.

March 10, 2020
List of Colleges and Universities who have cancelled classes (or moved online) due to the coronavirus (COVID-19 ) is at 150+ please see link

> It is likely that the vast majority of #colleges [https://twitter.com/hashtag/colleges?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] & #universities [https://twitter.com/hashtag/universities?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] in the U.S. will move courses online/ cancel classes in the U.S due to #COVID19 [https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] As of yesterday this has happened fully in 22 nations and rising. It is occurring now too rapidly to track each school. — Spivey Consulting (@Sp

Podcasts

March 8, 2022
No Admits to Six Admits (Law School Applicant Diaries #3)

In this episode, Mike speaks again with "Barb," an applicant this 2021-2022 cycle with a ~177 LSAT, a ~3.3 GPA, and ten years of work experience. The last time we spoke with Barb, which was in December, she had submitted most of her applications but hadn't yet heard back from any schools, and her anxiety was mounting. She now has six admits (in addition to one waitlist, one priority hold, and three denials), and we spend this podcast talking about her thought process for each of those schools, plus discussing and giving advice on next steps, including assessing whether to pursue the waitlist, navigating scholarship negotiation and seat deposit deadlines, and deciding where to attend.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

May 21, 2022
Top 5 Mistakes New Law Students Make

In this episode, Mike interviews law school strategy coach Angela Vorpahl about some of the most common mistakes that 1Ls make and how to set yourself up to get great grades. Prior to starting her own firm to assist law students, Angela graduated from law school in the top 1% of her class, clerked for a federal judge, worked in biglaw, and practiced as a human rights attorney.

You can find Angela online on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and her website.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

March 29, 2022
Thoughts on the 2023 (2022) USNWR Law School Rankings

In this episode, Mike discusses the recently released 2023 edition (2022 release) U.S. News & World Report law school rankings. You can view the full rankings (including +/- from last year) here.

As always, we want to disclaim that it is our strong opinion that rankings should not be a major factor in where you decide to attend law school. You can watch our video on how best to use rankings to decide on a law school here, and you can always visit our site My Rank to create your own custom law school rankings based on the metrics you prioritize.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

April 19, 2022
Predicting the Rest of This Cycle & Next Cycle with PowerScore's Dave Killoran

In this episode, Mike gets together with PowerScore CEO and LSAT expert Dave Killoran to discuss the closing months of this current 2021-2022 cycle, early indicators and predictions for next cycle 2022-2023, and the development of the LSAT over time as it has shifted from a five-section, in-person, pencil-and-paper exam, to a three-section, at-home, virtual exam, then back to its current four-section format (and what to expect next).

At the end of the episode, Mike and Dave share an announcement: the PowerScore/Spivey Consulting Admissions Bible is coming this fall! Sign up here for updates on the release date and ordering info.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

May 12, 2022
On Rejection in Admissions

This is a brief podcast on being denied from law school. For more on rejection, listen to our podcast with Dr. Guy Winch, renowned psychologist, author, and speaker.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

August 15, 2022
Law School Admissions AMA with Mike Spivey & Dave Killoran (Part 2)

You can find Part 1 of this episode here.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike and Dave answer more questions from the Law School Admissions Reddit! Part 2 discusses personal statements topics, reapplying, letters of recommendation, the relative importance of "softs" generally, Why X essays, work experience vs. going "K-JD," how law schools look at leaves of absence during college, and undergraduate record addenda.

Relevant links from this episode:

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

** A note on our personal statement examples: Probably not every personal statement in this post will be your personal taste, and that is perfectly fine! However, they are all essays that contributed toward the applicant achieving great results, i.e. multiple acceptances where they were below both medians or substantially below the LSAT median. The examples come from our team of consultants with collectively over 250 years of experience reading law school applications and making decisions on files, and they were each deeply authentic and genuine for the applicants who wrote them (in addition to fitting well within the greater context of their applications). Ultimately, those are the personal statements that are the most positively differentiated—those written sincerely from the heart—so certainly don't try to write something like one of these essays if it's not your cup of tea. We hope they are helpful examples nonetheless.