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 episode, Mike interviews a current applicant (who we'll call "Barb") about her application process so far. Barb is a splitter with a 176 LSAT and a 3.1 GPA, and she's also a non-traditional applicant with 10+ years of full-time work experience after college. In this interview, we talk through her motivations for going to law school, her school list, the three different personal statement topics she's debating between, and more.
You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.
In this podcast, Mike Spivey talks about the LSAT-Flex, particularly is it relates to timelines and the pace of admissions this cycle. It is important to note that LSAT scores are higher at the top bandwidths right now than one would expect in any cycle. There are several hypotheses out there for why that is.
LSAC maintains that they will organically come down to natural levels. Spivey Consulting (and others we should note) believes that we won't maintain this pace of increase, just like every cycle, but that we are already past the point where they could come down to "natural" levels barring some extremely inorganic occurrence, and that until now law schools have been trying to figure this equation out. To LSAC's credit, they have provided law schools with data that we think should now speed up the pace of admitting for the cycle — although exactly when and at what pace that happens is still impossible to predict.
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 video, Spivey Consulting Group founder Mike Spivey answers questions from r/lawschooladmissions on strategies for splitters, international students, non-traditional applicants, reapplicants, and more.
You can also listen to the interview as a podcast on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
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.
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.
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:
