Advice

Generation Neurotic

Every generation, it seems, gets a label. It’s what older people like to do — label those younger than themselves as worse at something than they are. And it makes life more simple. For my generation, Generation X, we were dubbed “lackluster.” We lacked passion and focus. In many ways, I believe that was accurate. When I was 20, I wasn’t focused on, or worried about, graduate school or my career. Indeed, the only career thoughts I had was of opening some small business at a ski town. But mostly

Feb LSAT: What's important now

Below is an email I just sent to a client (with a few changes for confidentiality), which was in response to triple checking with a school to make sure they would honor an exemption they gave her. To her credit, she immediately got what I was saying...despite my comically poor analogy (included below). We are seeing many more people this year worry deeply about things completely out of their control, and right before the looming test. So I thought I would include here, in case it helps you too.

One hour of free law school admissions advice!

This webinar, with Mike Spivey and Jenn Kopolow, may be particularly helpful for those applying to the 2016/17 cycle wanting to get a head start on admissions strategy. We hope it helps! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXMXyIe4jYM&feature=youtu.be [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXMXyIe4jYM&feature=youtu.be] Interested in more free advice and law admission data? Follow us on Twitter @SpiveyConsult Interested in working with us to submit the very best of law school applications? We are at: in

12 minute [video] of the single most important aspect to law school admissions

Many thanks to Mike Kim of The LSAT Trainer and LSATTERS for setting this up. Here is the link to the video: http://lsatters.com/essential-law-school-admissions-advice/

The Curious Reality of Letters of Recommendation

I'm going to share in this blog an admissions truth that you've probably never heard before and that might sound counterintuitive to you: Letters of Recommendation don't particularly help. Sounds odd, right? Why would all law schools ask for them if they don’t? And why wouldn’t they help – after all they are about the only part of the application that isn’t either coming directly from you (e.g. application, essays, interview, etc.) or a direct result of your performance and track record (e.g.

Applicant Considerations in an "Up" Cycle

This cycle will be more competitive than the last for many law school applicants. Indeed, we thought this might be the case way back in March [http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/predicting-the-20152016-law-school-admissions-cycle/] and the June (up 10% for first-time test takers) and October (up 7.1 %) data coupled with conversations we have had with numerous law schools (almost all up) would seem to put an exclamation point on it. More applicants ostensibly equates to more competition (a bit on

To ED or Not to ED?

Early Decision programs are not new, but they have been gaining popularity among both law schools and applicants in recent cycles. We will address the value of such programs momentarily, but first let us define what “Early Decision” really means. An Early Decision program is essentially a contract between an applicant and a school – the only hardline often being that “if admitted, you will immediately withdraw all applications to other law schools to which you have submitted an application” with

Navigating the Law School Admissions Process Freshman Year to Admission

33 Things That Annoy Admissions Officers and Hiring Partners

(Updated 5/26/2017) We've reached out (three times now!) to a number of friends at law schools and at firms and companies to see what things applicants did that made them grouchy (pro tip — it isn’t in your best interest to make them grouchy!). This is what we got; not surprisingly, a good deal of the items mentioned are related to emails. Law School Admissions/Employment Pet Peeves 1. When they launch into a sales presentation about themselves the moment we meet. -CEO of Company

Q&A with Michigan Law Admissions Dean Sarah Zearfoss (ongoing series updated June 24)

June 26th update and joint answer There seems to be a perception that law school admissions are the most numbers-oriented of the professional graduate schools (i.e., law, business, and medical). Is there merit to that view? If so, why do you think that is? Mike Spivey Response: I was recently asked this from a B-School admissions consultant, sans the medical school allusion, so I am going to jump in with my response to her which I hope will address this question, albeit without reference to m