Rankings

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Blog Posts

January 2, 2023
Official U.S. News Statement on Law School Rankings Methodology Changes, Following Rankings Exodus

U.S. News & World Report has sent the following letter to law schools regarding methodology changes for the upcoming 2023-2024 rankings. This comes in the wake of 20+ law schools announcing they will no longer submit their data for rankings purposes.

November 19, 2022
List of Law Schools Withdrawing from U.S. News & World Report Rankings Participation

On November 16, 2022, as we recently blogged about, two law schools announced that they would no longer be participating in the U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings (first Yale, then Harvard). In the days since, other schools have begun to announce their plans to do the same.

November 17, 2022
Answering U.S. News Law School Rankings Withdrawal Questions from 11/16/2022

November 16, 2022 may not have been the single most pivotal day in law school decision-making, but it was likely up there.

September 12, 2022
U.S. News Best College Rankings 2022 +/- vs. 2021

The 2022-2023 edition of the U.S. News undergraduate rankings was released today. Here are the changes (plus/minus) from last year.

March 25, 2022
2023 USNWR Law School Rankings: This Year vs. Last Year (+/-)

Here are the 2023 (released 2022) U.S. News law school rankings as compared to last year's 2022 rankings edition.

March 15, 2022
2023 U.S. News Law School Rankings Methodology

U.S. News & World Report recently released the embargoed version of their 2023 (2022 release) rankings, and we can confirm that there have been changes to the methodology used to calculate schools' overall ranking.

March 18, 2021
Understanding and Implications of the New USNWR Law School Rankings Methodology

For the first time in years, U.S. News & World Report has changed their law school ranking methodology.

March 17, 2021
2022 vs. 2021 USNWR Law School Rankings (+/-)

Below are the 2022 (released March 2021) U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, with +/- from last year's rankings.

March 15, 2021
2022 U.S. News Law School Rankings Predictions

Spivey Consulting's Business Intelligence Director, Justin Kane, analyzed a great deal of law school data to calculate our predicted 2022 U.S. News & World Report law school rankings.

Podcasts

February 8, 2020
How will the rest of the 2019/2020 Law School Admissions Cycle Play Out?

In this podcast, SCG's Mike Spivey speaks on what to expect for the rest of the cycle — including why it might greatly favor some people with strong softs this summer, thus making it a "Soft Cycle," but also why it has and will continue to be slow. Also discussed are two internal LSAC changes that will have significant impact for the rest of the admissions cycle and in future years.

Finally, the link Mike mentioned to the blog he wrote to those who are done and checking out of the admissions process – or just want a different take on things —can be found here: 10 Lessons Life Has Taught Me.

February 22, 2020
How Mike Spivey Would Apply to Law School

This is a very encompassing podcast that features the A to Z of the law school admissions process, starting with "Why am I applying" and finishing with scholarship negotiation and the three things that applicants are doing who are punching above their numbers this competitive cycle—with most everything in between covered.

Three other blogs/podcasts are mentioned during this podcast:

  • This is the brief motivational blog Mike wrote that caught that eye of deans of admissions in respect to writing about what matters to YOU, which is what often stands out to others.
  • This is the podcast on being extroverted when visiting law schools.
  • Finally, the applicant who was admitted to Vanderbilt for standing out despite being 15-17 points below the median LSAT is mentioned here.

Also discussed: My Rank, Law School Transparency, and the Above the Law Rankings.

You can listen to this podcast through the YouTube video below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

March 12, 2020
April 2, 2020
How Will Law School Transfer Admissions Be Impacted by COVID-19?

In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses how COVID-19 and new grading systems will affect law school transfer admissions. Listen below through YouTube, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

Also, a quick note — for a look into Mike's daily schedule (which we've been asked about many times) and some advice on staying sane while quarantined, see this recent blog.

March 18, 2020
Update on COVID-19 / Coronavirus & Law School Admissions

Just a quick update from Mike Spivey on how the continuously developing situation with COVID-19 / coronavirus is impacting — and will continue to impact — law school admissions. Watch here or listen on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

September 11, 2020
On the Prevalence of Bad Law School Admissions Advice

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting Group's Anna Hicks and Mike Spivey discuss bad advice in law school admissions — who gives it, how to identify it, and how to determine which advice is worthwhile. Plus, some bonus [good] advice on LinkedIn at the end!

You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

Here's the podcast on when admissions officers do take note of a specific applicant's behavior online and the consequences it can have.

And here's the Family Guy parody video mentioned in the podcast regarding subjectivity in admissions.

Please note that we are currently at capacity and are not taking new clients for this cycle at this time (we are still working through our current waitlist in date order). However, we will soon be opening our reservation list for next cycle! You can monitor our blog and Twitter for updates on our future availability for this cycle and for the reservation list announcement.

You may not know that I, and several of my Spivey Consulting business partners, were meant to be at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. You can read the story and my thoughts nine years later in a blog post I just published to my motivational blog here. –Mike