Advice

31 Mar 2013

Mistake #6: "Help my GPA has fallen and it can't get up"

See previous – Mistake #7: Texts, Typos, and Timezones [http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/mistake-7-texts-typos-and-timezones/] I have been following law school discussion forums for a long time. Much has changed over the years, but the next three mistakes have stayed pretty much constant. For #6, we will focus on undergraduate grade point average (uGPA). Invariably, at some point in the admissions cycle, a phenomenon along the lines of the following happens in numerous panicky threads online (a

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26 Mar 2013

Mistake #7: Texts, Typos, and Timezones

See previous – Mistake #8: Kristen Stewart Goes to Law School [http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/mistake-8-kristen-stewart-goes-to-law-school/] Admissions officers are paid to be friendly, so much so that you may feel like you are on a first-name (or no-name) basis with them. But don’t let this lull you into thinking that it is OK to interact with them the same way that you interact with your friends. Admissions officers are also paid to be on the lookout for the skills and qualities that make f

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23 Mar 2013

Mistake #8: Kristen Stewart Goes to Law School

See previous – Mistake #9: "The History of the World, Part I" [http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/mistake-9-the-history-of-the-world-part-i/] You know that vapid, dull, emotionless look Kristen Stewart always seems to land some huge acting role with? Law school admissions officers, it turns out, hate it. In particular, they hate it when they ask, “Why do you want to go to law school?” and that is the response they get. Let me quote a law admissions colleague circa 4 days ago: “I am continually ap

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22 Mar 2013

Mistake #9: "The History of the World, Part I"

See previous – Mistake #10: "The Dyson Effect" [https://spiveyconsulting.ghost.io/mistake-10-the-dyson-effect/] What I am referring to here is a reliance on historical data – particularly data from last year. In the top 10 rankings of applicants mistakes for the class of 2016, this is the only one where there is a great deal of overlap for law schools. In other words, law schools make this mistake just as much as (or more than) law students. It is harming both students and schools alike. But, I

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21 Mar 2013

Mistake #10: "The Dyson Effect"

No, this does not mean anyone or everyone is not up to par this year (although this was my favorite guess at what the Dyson Effect is… thinking through what a Dyson does…). The Dyson Effect simply means that many applicants see themselves in a vacuum. To be fair, this happens every year. In other words I get a good deal of the following. “Dear Spivey, I am a law school applicant from Western State with a LSAC computed uGPA of 3.5 and a 167 LSAT. Can you tell me if I will get into Eastern State

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21 Mar 2013

Most Common Law School Admissions Mistakes

I correspond with applicants numerous times every day—with clients, friends of friends, via email, in private messages on top-law-schools.com, Twitter, one even sent me a postcard from China. Over time, I have noticed some trends: namely that these people are really savvy about the state of the legal employment market, technologically much more sophisticated than I am, pretty realistic that their legal career begins now (and not upon entry to or graduation from law school—this is a big decision!

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13 Feb 2013

Why a Handshake Matters (more than you may think)

Study after study suggests that first impressions matter; indeed, in terms of creating a lasting impression, they matter more than anything else. You are going to be remembered from the first few minutes of your initial encounter—the question is, how do you want to be remembered?

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17 Jan 2013

Focus: Why It Matters So Much (& How You Get It)

This trait rings true for almost all highly successful people—they have the ability to stay on focus. But what is focus, and how can it help for a law school applicant or job seeker?

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31 Oct 2012

Legal Interview Advice from a Fortune 50 Hiring Authority

Our first guest blog comes from a hiring authority at a Fortune 50 company. This is great advice, and most of it applies just as well to law school admissions interviews as it does to legal hiring interviews. Enjoy and dig in! Interviewing is a strange skill requirement. You’ll use it very few times in your life, but, when you do, it’s extremely important, as it definitely determines whether you’ll make it past the interviewing person with a "yes." Fortunately, it has residual value. Probably,

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17 Sep 2012

What you can learn from the 2012 Presidential Election

I live in a swing state, which means that I am constantly getting emails from both the Obama and Romney campaigns. Political platforms aside, what these emails tend to have in common is this important nugget for job search emails.

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