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

December 15, 2020
Law School “Yield Protection”: What It Is & Steps to Take to Prevent It

In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses the phenomenon in law school admissions known as "yield protection," and explains steps you can take to prevent being waitlisted as a result of it.

You can listen to this podcast below, or via SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

As promised in the podcast, here are some resources for how to choose which law school to attend:

January 4, 2021
Commonly Misunderstood—But Important—Parts of the Law School Application Process

In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses some of the most commonly held misconceptions about the law school admissions process, and how understanding them can help you get admitted.

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

  • 0:30 – admissions is inherently comparative
  • 4:21 – admissions officers want to get to know you
  • 7:12 – how do law schools make money?
  • 11:03 – being a savvy applicant (regarding advice from law school admissions offices)
February 8, 2021
Anything is Possible

For today's podcast, a little something different — some advice on resiliency in the face of watching others succeed in the ways you'd like to be succeeding.

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

January 19, 2021
Reddit AMA: Why haven't I gotten a decision yet? Is January too late to apply? + the worst PS we've ever seen

In this podcast, Mike answers a few questions from Reddit.

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

January 16, 2021
Interviews with Law School Applicants About the Admissions Process

In this podcast, Mike Spivey interviews groups of current law school applicants about their experiences with the admissions process — what has surprised them, how they've handled the stress, what they expect for the future, and what advice they would give to someone at the beginning of the process. The participants are all volunteers from r/LawSchoolAdmissions, and only one happened to be a client of Spivey Consulting.

Here's a link to the blog post Mike mentioned in the podcast: Spivey Blog, The Malevolent Puppeteer.

You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts. Thank you for listening!

January 26, 2021
LOCIs & Law School Fit When You Can't Visit + International Applicant Considerations This Cycle

In this podcast, Mike Spivey answers more questions from Reddit. First up, he discusses differences international JD applicants might see in their admissions processes with the special considerations of this application cycle. Then, he talks about how to figure out whether a law school is the right fit for you when you can't visit in person — and, for those who haven't been admitted yet, how to write a strong letter of continued interest (LOCI) without visiting.

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

  • International JD admissions considerations this cycle: 0:52
  • Getting to know a school's culture when you can't visit: 4:32
  • How to write a LOCI when you can't visit: 7:32