Predictions

01 Jul 2016

Predicting the 2016/2017 Law School Admissions Cycle

It is time for our annual forecasting into the upcoming cycle -- which means it is time to start thinking in macro-level terms about what is going on with the applicant pool and with schools. But first, a look into our last year's predictions: http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/predicting-the-20152016-law-school-admissions-cycle/ Notably, we said applications would be up, especially at the top bandwidths, and that you would be favored to get your applications in early, if possible. Holy smokes,

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13 Jul 2015

How the increase in 2015 LSAT test-takers will affect this cycle [and next]

If you have not heard, the June LSAT test-taker numbers are out, and they are up. Indeed, they are up for the first time since 2010: 6.6% for all test takers and 10% for first-time takers. Most applicants applying next cycle (Sept 2015 – August 2016 are the dates we will use to define “next cycle”) understand that this isn’t necessarily good news. More test-takers means more competition. But it is still far too early to tell if this is a leading indicator for a more difficult cycle or just a bu

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18 May 2015

Coming This Summer: Waitlist Movement

A question we get asked a lot these days is “will there be more waitlist activity this summer than in recent years?” It is, of course, a pertinent question for the vast majority of law school applicants because most applicants will be waitlisted at least somewhere. While there is no definitive answer yet, data from this cycle and historical trends give us at least one theory. And “the new norm” of law admissions leads to another. Let’s take a look at both. **Theory 1: The dominoes will fall. **

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08 Mar 2015

Predicting the 2015/2016 Law School Admissions Cycle

What will next year’s (2015/2016) law school admissions cycle look like? While no one knows for sure, we are beginning to see some early  markers that might indicate the historic shift to an applicant buyers’ market may be nearing its end (for the time being). If you have been an applicant of late, it’s been a good run [http://www.lsac.org/lsacresources/data/lsac-volume-summary]. Looking at next cycle, we have one piece of advice: Get your applications in early! That run might be over, but early

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09 Jan 2015

Applicant questions answered, "will high LSAT scores be MORE or LESS valuable this cycle"

“Mike and Karen, as the number of takers continues to drop, won’t it become MORE acceptable to drop a median point in favor of maintaining GPA? Won’t this make high scores LESS valuable? For example, if Harvard or Yale’s median is going to drop to 172, doesn’t a 173 become LESS valuable, not more? If the median drops a point, suddenly, the pool of at/above median expands, right? So, in theory, I should be rooting for medians to stay the same?” This is something we spend a good deal of time loo

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