Predictions

columnscolumns

Blog Posts

November 9, 2019
Early Indicators that the 2020-2021 Admissions Cycle Could Be Way Up

We didn't plan to parse the data yet, but the data started begging us to dig in.

May 15, 2019
Predicting the 2019/2020 Law School Admissions Cycle

Our predictions for the 2019/2020 law school admissions cycle.

May 7, 2019
June and July LSAT Registrant Data

We were lucky enough to get some great data on upcoming LSAT administration numbers, and we want to share it with you. We've got some analysis for you, a little bit of a teaser for next cycle, and great input from Dave Killoran of Powerscore, who aside from his obvious LSAT expertise has been closely tracking the shift to a digital LSAT. Without further ado: final June 2019 LSAT registrations are slightly below 24,000. Last year, 22,489 applicants took the June LSAT. As we currently only hav

January 28, 2019
2018/2019 Midpoint Cycle Update

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

December 5, 2018
This Will Be a Slow Cycle, a Flat Cycle, and a Less Competitive Cycle Than Last Year

All cycles are different – for those that have been following us for a while you will recall the term "counter-cycle" for example – but last year, the 2017/2018 cycle, was truly an outlier. We have well over 100+ years of law school admissions experience on our team, and we have never seen a year with such little waitlist movement. It caught most schools off guard too, but the simple fact of the matter is that if the schools above you are not admitting people off the waitlist, then you aren't ei

June 3, 2018
Update from the road

Some admissions intel from traveling with law school administrators.

April 13, 2018
June 28, 2017
June 30, 2016
Predicting the 2016-2017 Law School Admissions Cycle

It is time for our annual forecasting into the upcoming cycle.

Podcasts

May 26, 2022
Mishka Shubaly, Best-Selling Author, on Creative Writing

In this episode, Mike interviews best-selling author and storyteller Mishka Shubaly about personal creative writing. Mishka holds an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University and teaches writing at the Yale Writer's Conference. You can find his new book, The Long Run & Other True Stories, here.

If you're looking for writing advice specifically pertaining to law school applications and personal statements, listen to our podcast on The Genre of Application Essay Writing here.

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

Content Warning: This interview includes content related to suicide and the guest's experience with a school shooting.

May 26, 2022
The Genre of Application Essay Writing

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike speaks with long-time Spivey consultant and former Penn Law Admissions Dean Derek Meeker about tackling the genre of law school applications.

Crafting a well-written essay is just one part of the equation — necessary but not sufficient for a strong application — and in this interview, Derek takes lessons from his graduate-level writing coursework, combined with his extensive experience in admissions decision-making, to offer valuable insights into how you can connect the dots in your law school application within the full context of your experiences, background, and personality.

Mike and Derek mention a few different examples and resources in this episode, including our blog post of example personal statements, Derek's video on choosing a personal statement topic, our interview with Michigan Law's Dean of Admissions Sarah Zearfoss, an example of a Georgetown video from one of our former clients, and an essay from Mike titled Failure is a Liar. Also check out our recent podcast with Mishka Shubaly.

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

August 12, 2022
Law School Admissions AMA with Mike Spivey & Dave Killoran (Part 1)

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike and Dave answer questions from the Law School Admissions Reddit. This will be a series of two episodes, with Part 2 coming out next week! Part 1 covers predictions for the upcoming 2022-2023 law school admissions cycle, discussion about the LSAT and GPAs, application timing, and more. Part 2 will cover more of the "soft factors" of a law school application, including personal statements.

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.

September 20, 2022
UVA Law Admissions Dean Natalie Blazer Dives Deep into Law School Admissions

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike interviews Natalie Blazer, who currently serves as the Assistant Dean for Admissions and Chief Admissions Officer at the University of Virginia School of Law. Dean Blazer talks about her path to law school and admissions, the differences and similarities between the admissions operations at the various law schools where she has worked (including Columbia and Georgetown), her thoughts and insights into the application process at UVA (including the new application question they added this year, on resilience), and both her biggest frustrations and her favorite parts of working as a Dean of Admissions.

Dean Blazer's new podcast, Admissible, launched earlier this month—you can listen here!

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

September 9, 2022
The One Biggest Piece of Advice for New Lawyers from Bill Eddy, JD/Therapist

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike interviews Bill Eddy, an award-winning mediator, attorney, author, and therapist who developed "high conflict personality theory" and is an expert in dealing with high conflict people in the practice of law. Bill is the Co-Founder and CIO of the High Conflict Institute and faculty at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law.

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

September 24, 2022
What It's Like Applying to Law School, Part 1

In this first episode of an upcoming multi-part series of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco (Spivey Consulting's COO) speaks with an applicant from the r/lawschooladmissions Reddit, "Lucy," as she prepares to submit her applications. We will be interviewing Lucy at a number of points throughout her cycle to check in about how things have been going, what she's been up to in terms of her application process, and how she's feeling about it all.

This episode covers Lucy's applications as she gets ready to hit the submit button, including the LSAT (she scored in the upper 170s and shares her tips!), personal statements (she worked on hers with the help of one of Spivey's admissions consultants, independently of this podcast), letters of recommendation (she's still waiting on one), resumes (including the one page vs. two page debate), optional essays, and more.

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