Motivation

31 Oct 2018

Failure is a Liar

I recalled a distant but not entirely forgotten memory while running the other day. It dates back to my first ever homework assignment during my first week of 1st grade, which was a writing assignment.  Unlike much of the rest of my scholastic life, I was beyond thrilled to have homework. I eagerly waited for my parents to get home from work and then demanded they stop their familial duties to help me with it. What I produced, with them helping over my shoulder, was surely a masterpiece. I can s

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21 Jun 2018

Time Management, Self-Care, and Motivation

By Nikki Laubenstein, Senior Consultant at the Spivey Consulting Group Whether you’ve determined which law school you’ll be attending in the fall or are still finalizing that decision, it’s likely that you are feeling a bit anxious, overwhelmed, or unsure of what to expect once orientation and classes begin in August. You’ve focused a lot of your time and energy up until now on honing your logic, analytical reasoning, and writing skills, so now let’s talk about a few other skills that will help

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30 Apr 2018

What lies before us...

Here is a statement that I suspect most people have not considered, or that even may seem contrary to what we are conditioned to believe: The vast majority of law school applicants don't get admitted to their dream school. It even sounds odd for me to say out loud, because I have the wonderful privilege of talking to, working with, and meeting a number of people every year who indeed get to go to their first choice. But from a 30,000 foot level, almost all applicants are below at least one med

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23 Mar 2018

SCG Consultants' Favorite Helpful Quotes for the Law School Admissions Process

Other than waiting for LSAT scores, this time of year can be one of the most frustrating and stressful points in the law school admissions cycle. Many (many) law school applicants are still waiting for decisions, and there are loads of students on waitlists throughout the country. Whether you get your inspiration from a quote written in chalk on the road during your morning hike like Shannon, have quotes pinned to your bulletin board like Nikki and Danielle, or find your motivation in other way

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13 Feb 2018

It's a tough cycle. Here's what you can do about it.

1. Do not obsesses over any one school. This cycle, probably more than any other, I have heard "I want X Law School by far — there isn't really any other school that's close." Often when I follow-up with a simple "why is that?" there isn't really a concrete answer. "For whatever reason when I think about UVa I just can't get it out of my mind," or something along those lines. We (Spivey Consulting) have already seen applicants denied by T14's and yet admitted by T3's. Point being, there are so

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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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03 Dec 2017

"Help, I just failed the LSAT" December 2017 Edition

Amazingly, I have heard that exact line before. More than once. I’ve also heard thousands of times, “I way underperformed, I am doomed.” Indeed, I’ve heard from about 40 people in the last 20 hours who think just that. There are hundreds more out there who think the same right now. For so many reasons, you can’t fail the LSAT. And because I have seen the following scenario unfold so many times, I wanted to give some facts. Not an overblown pep talk or a feel good story. Just a few basic facts.

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20 Nov 2017

Purpose

This is the type of thing you think about a great deal about in your forties, that I wish I had a little more in my twenties. It's also, I believe, very relatable to your law school journey, so I wanted to share. What is our purpose in life? I'll be brief here: I was a Philosophy major (like many law school applicants – it's the 8th most popular major of law school applicants as of the 2016/2017 cycle, and we beat this subject to death. I suspect most of us have a nuanced and different answer.

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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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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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