Rankings

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Blog Posts

May 31, 2018
Composite 2019 USNWR and 2018 ATL Rankings

Combining the U.S. News and Above the Law rankings.

March 18, 2018
Raw Scores for USNWR Top 50 Law Schools

A more granular look at the 2018/2019 rankings.

March 18, 2018
Raw Scores for 2019 USNWR Top 50 Law Schools

A more granular look at the rankings.

March 14, 2018
March 13, 2018
February 17, 2018
USNWR Rankings Are Coming*

*in Mid-March Join the rankings prediction competition here: https://www.lawschool.life/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=646 [https://www.lawschool.life/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=646]

March 7, 2017
2018 USNWR Rankings (2017 Release) Are Here!

Top 150 law schools 2017 (2018 edition).

May 17, 2016
All things rankings (except THE rankings)

College Town Rankings * 10 Best College Towns to Live in, Even If You're Not a Student: http://www.thestreet.com/story/13253632/1/10-best-college-towns-to-live-in-even-if-youre-not-a-student.html * Top 10 College Towns in the US -- For Retirees: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/retirement/top-10-college-towns-for-retirees-1.aspx * 50 Best College Towns to Live in Forever: http://www.collegeranker.com/features/best-college-towns/ * The Best College Towns in America (When the Stude

April 4, 2016
USNWR Law School Rankings & How to Choose a Law School Podcast

Just click on the link and let it roll http://culawschool.org/media/moss/moss-4-1-16.mp3

Podcasts

August 1, 2023
The Myth of the Early Application “Bump” & Law School Rolling Admissions

In this brief episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike discusses what has grown in recent years to be the biggest myth in law school admissions today.

Mike mentions two previous Status Check episodes in this podcast:

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

August 7, 2023
The Biggest Non-Negotiable Rule in Law School Admissions

As much as we deign to use absolutes, there is at least one principle we can think of that is absolutely non-negotiable in law school admissions. Regardless of your qualifications, breaking this rule can tank any applicant's chances—this episode of Status Check with Spivey discusses that rule.

Mike mentions our blog post predicting the 2023-2024 admissions cycle in this episode—you can read those predictions here. You can find our interview with Terry Real, which Mike also mentioned in this episode, here.

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

August 29, 2023
What to Expect in the 2023-24 Law School Admissions Cycle (+ Q&A) with Mike Spivey & Anna Hicks-Jaco

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike has a conversation with Spivey Consulting's COO Anna Hicks-Jaco about what to expect during the upcoming cycle, her perspective as both a recent Dean of Admissions and relatively recent applicant, and advice for applicants getting ready to apply.

Mike and Anna mention several resources and past podcasts in this episode:

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

October 11, 2023
What's Wrong with the LSAT? + What is JD-Next? with Craig Boise & Dan Rodriguez

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, two experienced and respected law school Deans—Craig Boise, Dean of Syracuse University College of Law, and Daniel Rodriguez, former Dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law—discuss the history, the present, and the future of law school admissions and legal education. Their conversation covers a range of topics, including problems with the LSAT, the recent test-optional proposal to the ABA, the impacts that the U.S. News law school rankings have had on legal education (and their thoughts on the new methodology changes), and a new pathway to law school admissions, JD-Next.

You can find basic information on JD-Next, as well as a list of schools that have been granted variances to accept JD-Next in lieu of another admissions test (LSAT or GRE), here.

Craig Boise is the Dean of Syracuse University College of Law, where he is currently completing his final year in that role, after which he will be working with colleges, universities, and law schools as a part of Spivey Consulting Group. He is a Member of the Council of the ABA Section on Legal Education, previously served on the ABA’s Standards Review Committee and the Steering Committee of the AALS’s Deans’ Forum, and served as Dean of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He holds a JD from the University of Chicago Law School and an LLM in Tax from NYU School of Law.

Daniel Rodriguez is a current professor and former Dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He served as President of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 2014 and served as Dean of the University of San Diego School of Law from 1998 to 2005. He holds a JD from Harvard Law School.

September 11, 2023
How Important is Work Experience in Law School Admissions?

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike discusses a question we receive often (especially lately, in light of the most recent U.S. News law school ranking methodology changes that significantly emphasized job outcomes over admissions metrics)—just how important is work experience in the law school application process?

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

October 17, 2023
Mike Spivey's Top 5 All-Time Admissions Advice

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike gives his top 5 pieces of advice from his 20+ years working in law school admissions.

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