Status Check with Spivey

In this episode, Mike speaks again with "Barb," an applicant this 2021-2022 cycle with a ~177 LSAT, a ~3.3 GPA, and ten years of work experience. The last time we spoke with Barb, which was in December, she had submitted most of her applications but hadn't yet heard back from any schools, and her anxiety was mounting. She now has six admits (in addition to one waitlist, one priority hold, and three denials), and we spend this podcast talking about her thought process for each of those schools, plus discussing and giving advice on next steps, including assessing whether to pursue the waitlist, navigating scholarship negotiation and seat deposit deadlines, and deciding where to attend. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. For a full transcript of this episode, please see our blog post for this episode.   spiveyconsulting.com | spiveyblog.com | myrankbyspivey.com

We have been asked multiple times in the last 24 hours about how the recent Russian invasion into Ukraine may impact law school, admissions, and legal employment, so we wanted to post this brief, unedited podcast addressing those questions. We want to disclaim that this is analysis discusses far from the most important and impactful effects of the invasion, and we fully recognize that relative importance. Still, we wanted to weigh in regarding the areas where we have expertise — law school, admissions, and legal employment — as these are important to many individuals as well. Mike Spivey's thoughts on the situation are in this episode. You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

In this episode, Mike gives an update on the data for the 2021-2022 cycle as of early February. He discusses what to expect for median increases/decreases after this cycle, what's going to happen this waitlist season, what to expect for transfer admissions this year, and some early preliminary predictions for next cycle. Note: You may notice that the data Mike references in this episode is slightly different from the numbers that LSAC publishes. This is because LSAC reports only an applicant's ultimate high score, even if they didn't achieve that score until months or even years after the date in question. As a result, LSAC data overstates prior cycle high scores, whereas we keep track of the volume data as it was on the actual corresponding date last cycle. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. For a full transcript of this episode, please see our blog post. spiveyconsulting.com | spiveyblog.com | myrankbyspivey.com

In this episode, Mike speaks with an applicant from Reddit who we'll call "Ryan Reynolds" (you know, just for fun). Ryan has a 178 LSAT and a 3.8 undergraduate GPA, and while he blanketed the top 20 law schools, he has received only waitlists and denials so far this cycle (as of February) despite having applied early on. Mike and Ryan discuss the factors that have likely contributed to this, both at the larger-scale level as far as the nature and pace of this 2021-2022 cycle, and more specifically as it pertains to his application and potential points for improvement. After reading Ryan's applications, we are very confident that he will be receiving admits this cycle, and we will provide an update in a later episode when he does! You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. For a full transcript of this episode, please see our blog post. spiveyconsulting.com | spiveyblog.com | myrankbyspivey.com

In this episode, Mike and one of our Spivey consultants Karen Buttenbaum (former Director of Admissions at Harvard Law School) catch up with u/lightningmcboops (who we call "Megan"), one of r/lawschoolsadmissions' regular posters from last cycle, who went through the most difficult cycle we have ever seen without receiving a single rejection. After ultimately choosing Stanford Law over Harvard, Megan matriculated to law school in fall 2021 and just completed her first semester. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. spiveyconsulting.com | spiveyblog.com | myrankbyspivey.com

In this episode, we continue our interview series with "Barb," a current applicant. Barb is a splitter with a 176 LSAT and a 3.1 GPA, and she's also a non-traditional applicant with 10+ years of full-time work experience after college. In this interview, she and Mike discuss the many emotions and anxieties that come up after you hit that "submit" button, what to expect as far as a timeline for hearing back from schools, and the potential implications of the Omicron variant for admitted students' days. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. For a full transcript of this episode, please see our blog post. spiveyconsulting.com | spiveyblog.com | myrankbyspivey.com

In this episode, Mike has a conversation with Spivey Consulting's Business Intelligence Director Justin Kane (current 2L and data genius) about where this current admissions cycle (2021-2022) stands so far in terms of applicant volume, what that means, what we predict for the rest of the cycle, and some actionable admissions advice based on what we know so far. They also touch on why our numbers are slightly different from LSAC's (and why we believe ours capture a more accurate picture for current applicants), as well as how to interpret differences between applicant numbers and application numbers, plus a few other wonky topics throughout. We hope it's helpful! You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. For a full transcript of this episode, please see our blog post for this episode. spiveyconsulting.com | spiveyblog.com | myrankbyspivey.com

In this episode, Mike and our consultant Danielle Early (former Associate Director of Admissions at Harvard Law School) talk about safety schools and back-up plans. How do you choose the right range of schools where your worst-case scenario is an outcome you can live with? For some that might be a law school where they're well above both medians; for others that might be taking a year off to continue their job or gain new work experience. If you take a year off, how will you strengthen your application? Should you plan to matriculate to a safety school but then transfer out? When is too late in the cycle to add a safety school to your list? Mike and Danielle discuss these possibilities and the factors to consider when you make your backup plan — which everyone applying to law school should consider, especially in a competitive cycle. For a full transcript of this episode, please see our blog post. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. spiveyconsulting.com | spiveyblog.com | myrankbyspivey.com

In this episode, Mike has a conversation with our consultant Karen Buttenbaum (former Director of Admissions at Harvard Law School) about how to prepare for law school admissions interviews, best practices, common pitfalls, and other advice for the interviewing process. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

In this episode, Mike predicts whether law schools will be able to maintain their high medians from last year, and how we expect that to play out across the course of the cycle. He also discusses how this will impact splitters and reverse splitters. You can find the spreadsheet Mike mentions in this podcast with schools' medians from the 2020-2021 cycle here. For a full transcript of this episode, please see our blog post. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.