Admissions

26 Dec 2017

Law School Admissions Advice: "Is it too late?"

The easiest answer to this question is "almost never" — but obviously there are some qualifications. So let me start with a real life story and then the qualifications. A few cycle ago I got a call from someone who had taken the June LSAT and just received his score, in the upper 170s. He also had a strong LSAC computed GPA and was asking me if I thought he could get into Harvard next cycle (keeping in mind it was like roughly July 1 and Harvard clearly said on their website the application dea

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08 Dec 2017

How Competitive?

In case you haven't seen it yet, the first volume report [http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/december-2017-data/] for this (2017/2018) admissions cycle is out, and the numbers are almost categorically up. The fact that applications are up doesn't come as much as a surprise. We've had hard data on test-takers and forum attendance for a while now, and as far back as June we started having an inkling [http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/predicting-to-2017-2018-law-school-cyce/] that apps and apps at th

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01 Nov 2017

Do I need an admissions consultant?

At its best, working with an admissions consultant is a rewarding and enjoyable experience where both parties learn from one another, and where the consultancy can add a tremendous degree of value to the admissions process. The veritable admissions "bump" can occur exactly because of this teamwork and effort -- we have seen it happen hundreds of times and there is no greater professional feeling to get the phone call from an applicant who just was admitted to their dream school. Words we use in

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29 Sep 2017

Well below your dream school's LSAT? It can still happen.

This was written by a client the day after he was admitted to his dream school despite being almost double digit points below their median LSAT. Published with permission, only edits were to take thanking me out of it a few times :) You thrived academically in undergrad and now you’re hoping to do the same at one of your dream law schools. You look at their median GPA numbers and you’re above them and feel like you’re already in... but then there’s the LSAT. Maybe you just can’t master logic ga

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15 Aug 2017

Getting Admitted Below Both Medians (here's how we did it)

Keep Calm and Trust the System: Advice from a Below-Both-Medians Student Who Got Accepted to Her (T-14) Dream School Your LSAT didn’t go as well as planned, and you swear you remember your GPA in undergrad being higher than the number on your transcript. You’re below both medians, but you’ve managed to pull off a waitlist at your dream school. Congratulations! The good news is: you might have a better chance than you think of getting accepted (full disclosure I worked directly with Mike at Spiv

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02 Aug 2017

Finding Balance in Law School Admissions and Beyond

Preface The legal profession, law school, and law school admissions can be very tough on people. The following comes from a 2014 joint study conducted by the American Bar Association and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation: 33 percent drink problematically. 28 percent suffer from depression. 19 percent exhibit symptoms of anxiety. Those are just numbers, percentages to be exact, to many. But there have been a number of recent articles in the media that put a poignant and troubled face on these

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21 Jul 2017

Top 50 Law School Application Opening Calendar - 2017/2018 Cycle

*Please note, schools can change these dates, and it is possible that when we called to ask them that they gave us the dates applications open rather than when they are accepted (although we were very careful to clearly articulate when can you submit), etc. But this should be highly accurate to the extent we can control it. August 15 * U Chicago * Washington & Lee September 1 * Stanford * Columbia * NYU * U Penn * U Michigan * UVA * Duke * Northwestern * Berkeley * Cornell * U

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13 Jun 2017

Examples of Successful Diversity Statements

IMPORTANT NOTE: As of 2023, most law schools no longer ask for a “diversity statement,” instead opting for a broader category of essays that we are calling “experience/perspective essays” or “E/P essays.” You can read examples of successful E/P essays here. We've been asked for examples of diversity statements many times; below are several great ones. It is important to note that diversity statements are truly optional, and not everyone should write one. Contrary to what you may have heard, it

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02 Jun 2017

Spivey Consulting Sample Personal Statements

**Important Note (2024)** Law school admissions and the strategy behind optimizing applications change over time, and one significant part of our business is tracking and understanding these trends and developments. Since the time we published this blog in 2017, what law schools are looking for has changed. For example, one of these changes is a trend toward law schools wanting more of a strong, clear "why law" in personal statements. So please note that, while the below personal statements wer

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11 Apr 2017

The Multiple Deposit Dance

Over the past few years more and more schools have tried a variety of methods to control the arms-race of scholarship negotiation; one way is asking for people to withdraw from all schools to which they have been admitted and to verify that they have done so when depositing. Below is a link to the LSAC Statement of Good Admissions Practices – a good reference this time of year. Note the section on Commitments: http://www.lsac.org/docs/default-source/publications-%28lsac-resources%29/ statemen

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