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March 5, 2020
Spivey Consulting Group COVID-19 Update on the Impact to Law School Admissions

We continue to be asked from a variety of directions, both from schools and from applicants, about how COVID-19 (Coronavirus) will impact law schools, particularly as it relates to law school admissions.

December 12, 2019
Entering Class Data for Every ABA Law School

The link to all of the entering class data for every ABA-approved law school from the official 509 reports is here.

June 22, 2019
LSAC Updates

NAPLA Conference LSAC Slide Show A member of Spivey Consulting was in attendance at the Northeast Association of Pre Law Advisers conference these past few days. LSAC presented updates, and we have pictures of the slides to share, as well as other comments they made. - Notes and Takeaways July Test * They mentioned that 28,000+ registered for July, which was welcome since they were hoping for a large pool t

June 12, 2019
LSAT Retake Rules and You

LSAT retake rules as of 2019.

May 6, 2019
Create Your Own Law School Rankings (coming soon)

Learn how to make your own custom law school rankings.

January 28, 2019
2018/2019 Midpoint Cycle Update

An update from approximately 50% of the way through the cycle.

May 13, 2018
ABA On Track To Drop LSAT Requirement: What Happens Now

On Friday, May 11, 2018, an ABA council approved a proposal that formally removes the requirement that the LSAT be used for admissions purposes.

January 15, 2018
Brief cycle update as of 1/15

This was from today's one-hour Spivey Consulting internal conference call where most of our admissions team shared observations from speaking with hundreds of applicants on a daily basis and admissions deans each week. Thought I'd share a bit of it and hope it helps! * Top schools are maybe seeing even bigger increases in apps, from what we're hearing * As a result, decisions are coming out much more slowly compared to past years, particularly at the top 7 or so schools * E.g. right no

December 22, 2017
About This Super Early December 2017 Test Score Release...

What does it mean for applicants that LSAC released LSAT scores so early?

Podcasts

April 15, 2024
Transferring Law Schools: Strategy & Process with Two Successful Applicants

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco has a conversation with Paula Gluzman—a Spivey consultant and former law school admissions officer at UCLA and UW—as well as two of her past clients who successfully transferred law schools: Katie, who transferred from a regional law school in Texas to Columbia Law School, and Melissa, who transferred from a regional school on the west coast to Harvard Law School.

The conversation covers a wide range of topics related to transfer admissions, including personal statements, letters of recommendation, 1L activities, application timing, the relevance of undergraduate GPA and LSAT in transfer admissions, and more.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠Google Podcasts⁠⁠.

April 29, 2024
Work Experience, Admissions Strategy, & Legal Employment: What You Need to Know

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco speaks with Pre-L consultants Rob Cacace and Jordana Confino (bios here) about the growing importance of work experience in admissions, why the impact of being a "KJD" (going "from Kindergarten through law school" without full-time work experience) has increased over time, and—importantly—how work experience (or a lack thereof) plays out during law school and in the search for legal employment.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠Google Podcasts⁠⁠.

April 24, 2024
What Are Your Chances Off the Waitlist?

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike discusses the various factors that play into any given applicant's chances of admission coming off the waitlist. He also gives a quick preview of our (very early) predictions for next cycle.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠Google Podcasts⁠⁠.

July 8, 2024
Law School Personal Statements: Deep Dive with Former Admissions Officers

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco has a conversation with three Spivey consultants—Anne Dutia, Paula Gluzman, and Derek Meeker, former law school admissions officers at Michigan, UCLA, Penn, and more—diving deep into the law school personal statement. They discuss the brainstorming and topic selection process, how to structure a personal statement, writing tips, broad-level traits of A+ personal statements, common mistakes, and more.

You can watch the video Derek mentions in this episode, in which he walks through how to choose a personal statement topic, here. You can read bios for Anne, Paula, Derek, and Anna here.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠.

June 12, 2024
Dear 1L with Amanda Haverstick

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, SCG Pre-L Consultant and Fordham Law professor Jordana Confino has a conversation with legal writing coach and Dear 1L author Amanda Haverstick about legal writing and tackling your 1L year.

You can learn more about Dear 1L here, connect with Amanda via LinkedIn here, or email her directly at amanda@dear1L.com.

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠.

July 22, 2024
Law School Application Resumes: Deep Dive with Former Admissions Officers

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco speaks with two Spivey consultants—Karen Buttenbaum, former Director of Admissions at Harvard Law School, and Nathan Neely, former Associate Director of Admissions and Director of Global and Graduate Programs at the University of Houston Law Center—about the law school application resume: what to include and what not to include, differences from professional resumes, common mistakes, best practices, and more. You can read Karen and Nathan's full bios here.

This episode is part of an ongoing deep dive series on the main components of the law school application. You can listen to our episode on personal statements here. Next up: diversity statements (the new versions—also known as E/P essays).

You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠.