Rankings

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Blog Posts

February 16, 2015
Which Law Schools Give The Biggest Employment Value Relative to Their Rankings?

We compiled a list of every ABA Accredited law school, along with their latest US News & World Report ranking and their Law School Transparency employment score. To determine which law schools are the most underrated relative to the above, we plotted this data (see below) and came up with a linear trend line, then measured each data point’s vertical distance from the trend line. This distance is also called the “Residual,” which you can see below for each law school. Positive residuals indicate

February 16, 2015
The 25 Most “Underrated” Law Schools

We looked at every ABA Accredited law school to assess their latest US News & World Report ranking (2015) against their Law School Transparency employment score here [http://spiveyconsulting.com/blog/which-law-schools-give-the-biggest-employment-value-relative-to-their-rankings/] . For the below, we have now sorted through a variety of categories to derive a ranking, which for kicks and giggles we will call an "underrated law schools” ranking. This list does not include unranked schools because

March 10, 2014
USNWR 51-100 with +/- from last year

Excited for the new USNWR Law School Rankings coming March 10th, 2015? We will get them March 9th! Follow us on Twitter to see who is at the top and who is falling a day early.https://twitter.com/SpiveyConsult And finally, 51 -100. 51. Baylor University (+3) 51. Penn State University (+13)51. University of Richmond (+2)54. Pepperdine University (+7)54. UC Hastings (-6)54. University of Connecticut (+4)54. University of Nebraska—Lincoln (+7)58. University of Houston (-10)58. University of K

May 1, 2013
USNWR v. ATL Top 50

A quick look at individual school differences between USNWR and ATL rankings, with USNWR as the baseline. The first numerical column indicates school that gained in the ATL rankings, while the second column indicates schools that went down. No number equates to neither a rise or gain. Note this does not show which schools dropped out. In respect to students rating Career Services Offices, the highest schools (all with an A+) were Stanford, Harvard, Penn, UVA, Berkeley, NYU, North Carolina, Ne

February 16, 2013
U.S. News Rankings (with +/-) from 2012/2013

Here is a look at last year’s rankings, with who moved up and down, in anticipation of the upcoming rankings release.

Podcasts

June 27, 2020
University, College, and Law School COVID-19 Update & An Alternative Model

COVID-19 isn't going anywhere in the near future, yet only 3 law schools and only 8% of universities and colleges have announced they will be entirely remote for fall 2020.

What is the most recent update, and is there a middle ground that can be reached to decrease on-campus density so that the likelihood of cluster outbreaks is significantly reduced?

Watch below, or listen on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

June 4, 2019
What makes for successful law school admission?

Spivey Consulting Partner Mike Spivey talks about the two primary things at the highest order that make applications stand out and elevate in the admissions process.

September 8, 2016
“When is it early/When is it late?” in the admissions cycle

Danielle Early and Mike Spivey speak for 30 minutes on application submission timing. And a bit more below from Michigan Law Dean of Admissions Sarah Zearfoss.

Here is Dean Z.:

"Totally agree that before Thanksgiving is “early” in any school’s universe. All law school admissions officers are hitting the bricks from mid-September to mid-November; some offices are structured in a way that allows them to make some decisions despite the travel schedule, but the number of offers are a mere pittance compared to the overall number that will be made. People who don’t have their applications in when they start hearing about early September acceptances might feel dismayed, and worry that by the time they apply, nothing will be left—but that’s not even close to true. In general, I would advise people to try to get their applications in before the 1st of the year, simply because most people apply after that, creating a bottleneck. That means your outcome might be slowed down, which will be anxiety producing, but it doesn’t mean you’ll not get admitted because your application is somehow fatally “late.”

Remember, too, that some schools take a lot of care with their applications. If you want to be judged on factors apart from/in addition to your LSAT and UGPA, then try to have some patience with the fact that those holistic processes are necessarily time intensive.

It’s all good practice for being a lawyer. Judges take a lot of time about issuing their opinions, and seem not to take into account that the lawyer submitted a kick-ass brief and did a stellar oral argument."

And the podcast:

October 14, 2019
Calming Your LSAT Anxiety

Something we encounter all too often is applicants who put so much pressure on themselves when they are taking the LSAT that it ends up being counterproductive, barring them from performing near the highest level of which they are capable. If we can help calm even one test-taker's nerves with this podcast, it will be worth it.

Something we encounter all too often is applicants who put so much pressure on themselves when they are taking the LSAT that it ends up being counterproductive, barring them from performing near the highest level of which they are capable. If we can help calm even one test-taker's nerves with this podcast, it will be worth it.

Note: You can also listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud. The blog post Mike mentions in the podcast is here.

Also check out a related blog post on "The Over-Estimated Impact of Median LSAT Change on USNWR Rankings." And our rankings/data tool for comparing law schools, My Rank.

April 28, 2020
Universities, Colleges, and Law Schools Plan to Be Open On Campus This Fall

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting Group founder and higher education expert Mike Spivey discusses the plans universities are making to resume on-campus operations this fall, as well as challenges to those plans from the medical community.

You can listen to the podcast via the YouTube video below, or via SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

November 25, 2019
The Waiting is Long and Full of Terrors

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting Group Founder and Partner Mike Spivey discusses the hardest part of the law school admissions process—the waiting—and how it can cause some applicants to hurt their own chances of admission.

Here's the blog post mentioned in the podcast: Spooky Halloween Blog: Real Stories of Things That Creep Out Admissions Offices.

Mike's other blog which is mentioned in this podcast: Spivey Blog.

Find our podcasts on YouTube, SoundCloud, and Apple Podcasts. And check out our law school data/rankings tool My Rank.