Are you considering applying to transfer law schools? Here's the most important strategic advice we can give.
Here's a list of law schools that have early decision or early action transfer programs.
If you are seriously considering transferring, or are a pre-1L and disappointed with your admission results and think you might transfer after your 1L year, then take a few minutes to review this. I hope it will help you decide what to do!
It's the time of year when some people are making decisions they're not 100% happy about on what law school to attend.
The following data is all from 2018 ABA 509 reports [http://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/Disclosure509.aspx]. These are the top 25 schools to matriculate the most transfers: 1 Georgetown: 105 transfers in 2 NYU: 58 transfers in 3 Arizona State: 50 transfers in 4 Emory: 42 transfers in 5 UC Berkeley: 36 transfers in 6 Columbia: 35 transfers in 7 Loyola Los Angeles: 34 transfers in 8 Northwestern: 33 transfers in 9 Harvard: 32 transfers in 10 (tie) UCLA: 31 transfers in 10 (tie) George Washing
The following lists the law schools ranked 7-30 for the most recent USNWR rankings) in order of the percentage of students that transferred out of their first-year classes. We will do a future post on schools 31-50. We didn't use the schools in the top 6 because it has been our experience that very few students elect to transfer "up the ladder" from those schools and thus the data isn't as comparable.
Here is a personal statement from last year’s transfer cycle we think worked very well.
The transfer application cycle is quickly approaching, so here are some general thoughts and tips on the transfer process based on some of the more frequently asked questions that we receive.
In this podcast, Spivey Consulting Group founder Mike Spivey discusses Harvard Law School's recent announcement that all classes will be held fully remotely for Fall 2020 — what does it mean for other law schools, for international students, the ABA, and current applicants? Will this cause more waitlist movement? What about deferrals? Plus, a bit of a look into what the 2020-2021 cycle might bring.
Listen below, or via SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
In this podcast, Spivey Consulting Group founder Mike Spivey discusses one of the most common mistakes in law school admissions that we see from applicants who have underperformed their numbers — overdoing it in the admissions process — then details the most common types of applicants this happens to: the "over-explainer," the "over-spammer," the "over-[publicly] talker," the "permutator," and the "boundary pusher."
You can find the blog post Mike mentions in the podcast, "Spooky Halloween Blog: Real Stories of Things That Creep Out Admissions Offices" (examples of the most extreme "boundary pushers"), here.
You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
And for our free tool for comparing law schools/medians/data, check out My Rank.
Mike Spivey served as a law school dean of career services during the Great Recession, and in this podcast he shares actionable advice for legal networking that you won't hear from your CSO.
Listen below via YouTube, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
Mike was asked by a rivals.com affiliate to speak about higher education as it relates to the upcoming fall athletic season. Listen to the interview below:
Spivey Consulting Group · VandySports Podcast Academics, athletics and COVID-19
Chances are, if you're applying to a healthy range of target, safety, and reach schools, you're likely to get a waitlist or two (at least!). Especially if it happens relatively early in the cycle, or if it's your first decision, a waitlist can be difficult to interpret and hard to know how to respond. In this podcast, Mike Spivey talks about what to do when you get your first waitlist.
Our podcast is embedded below, but here are also links to podcasts/videos mentioned in this podcast:
And a bonus link: Blog — Every piece of Spivey Consulting Law School Waitlist Advice
You can listen to this podcast below, or via SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
Please note that our reservation list for next cycle (2021-2022) is now open.
In this podcast, Mike Spivey predicts what to expect as far as the timing of admissions decisions this year, then discusses the preliminary LSAC data that has applicants wondering whether this will be a far more competitive cycle than normal.
You can also listen to this podcast on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts, or read the transcript below.