Status Check with Spivey

In this short episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike discusses a question that tends to come up frequently this time of year—“Should I contact x law school's admissions office to ask for an update since I haven't heard back yet?”—then talks generally about when it can be advantageous to reach out to admissions, why, and how you should do it. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. You can read a full transcript on our blog post for this episode.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike talks about how online law school admissions discussion can affect (or not affect) your outcomes. Are adcoms on Reddit? Will they Google you? What sorts of online conduct can turn an admit into a waitlist or deny? Mike gives his thoughts on these questions and more from 15+ years following law school message boards. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. You can read a full transcript in our blog post for this episode.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike gives an update on 2022-2023 applicant data and discusses admissions strategies for the second half of the application cycle: waitlists and letters of continued interest, tips for asking for scholarship reconsideration, and handling the waiting/anxiety. (It may surprise you how impactful that last item can be to your outcomes!) Mike recorded this episode before final January 2023 LSAT data was out—you can find the latest update on our Twitter, here. A few other Status Check episodes are mentioned in this podcast as well: Dr. Guy Winch on Handling Rejection (& Waiting) in the Admissions and Job Search Process Dr. Jud Brewer on the Highly Effective Way to Overcome Anxiety Interview with Dr. Gabor Maté, Author of "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts" Dr. Anna Lembke, Author of Dopamine Nation & Featured on The Social Dilemma Will Medians Stay As High This Law School Admissions Cycle? You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. You can read a full transcript of this episode on our blog post for this episode.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike talks about the different factors that precipitate waves of law school admissions decisions being released, especially late in the cycle/during waitlist season. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. You can read a full transcript of this episode on our blog.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike interviews Jordana Confino, Assistant Dean of Professionalism at Fordham Law School, about ways that law school applicants and students (and in fact, any applicant or student) can healthily cope with and reduce stress and increase overall happiness and well-being. Jordana is a graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School, and in her current role at Fordham, she develops and delivers programs designed to promote student wellness, mentorship, and professional identity formation. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Fordham, teaching courses on “Positive Lawyering” and “Peer Mentoring & Leadership.” She was voted Fordham Law Adjunct Professor of the Year in 2021. In this interview, Jordana discusses her academic and professional history, how law school and legal practice impacted her well-being, and specific tactics applicants and students can employ to improve their own mental and emotional wellness in stressful, high-pressure environments. Mike and Jordana discuss a number of psychology researchers and experts throughout their conversation, including the groundbreaking work of Dr. Kristin Neff in the field of self-compassion—you can listen to our interview with Dr. Neff here. Mike also mentions a graph near the end of the episode that details the relative effectiveness of different activities to reduce stress levels. You can find that graph in our blog post for this episode. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. You can read a full transcript of this episode here.

In this episode, Mike gives his thoughts on whether law schools will be able to maintain their historically high LSAT/GPA medians after the 2022-2023 admissions cycle. Note: You may notice that the numbers we cite sometimes vary slightly from the volume data that LSAC publishes. This is because LSAC reports only an applicant's ultimate high LSAT score, even if they didn't achieve that score until months or even years after the date in question. For example, if someone applied in 2021-2022 with a 160, then retook the LSAT the following fall and scored a 170 to reapply for 2022-2023, LSAC's data would include them as an applicant with a 170 even in the 2021-2022 data. To avoid this effect, we record applicant volume daily in real-time so that we can later compare to the data as it actually was on that date, rather than factoring in any new LSAT scores that were achieved after that date. Spivey Consulting Availability Notes: We have just begun accepting early reservations for admissions consulting for next cycle, 2023-2024! Email info@spiveyconsulting.com to get on the list and schedule a free initial consultation with one of our expert admissions consultants. We are also currently taking transfer clients. If you are a 1L considering transferring to another law school and would like assistance with your application strategy, reach out today! Interested? Get started. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. You can read a full transcript of this episode on our blog.

In this short episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike offers some optimistic news for law school applicants who may not have yet received any admits. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike has a conversation with Justin Kane, Spivey Consulting's Director of Business Intelligence and resident rankings expert, about recent developments in the U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings. If you haven't already heard, a number of law schools have recently announced that they will no longer be participating in the rankings. But what does that actually mean? Why are they doing it, and why now? What impacts might it have on applicants, law students, and legal education as a whole—both this current cycle and down the line? You can find an up-to-date list of law schools that have announced they will no longer be participating in the rankings here. Important Disclaimer: At this point, all of our forward-looking thoughts are purely speculation. We can't emphasize enough that we don't know yet what U.S. News is going to do—no one does, not even U.S. News itself. This is an actively-evolving situation in the short term, and the longer-term effects are even more difficult to predict. This episode is meant to provide an insider look into what law school administrations and other major legal education stakeholders are thinking about right now, but we can't predict the future. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. You can read a full transcript of this episode here.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Spivey Consulting COO Anna Hicks-Jaco checks in with "Lucy," u/Accomplished-Body785 on Reddit, an applicant currently in the middle of her law school application process. We are interviewing Lucy at several points throughout her cycle to check in about how things have been going, what she's been up to in terms of her application process, and how she's feeling about it all. You can find Part 1 here. This episode is primarily focused on interviews! Lucy has had a number of law school admissions interviews at this point, including one group interview and a Kira interview, and she shares how those interviews went, what sorts of questions they asked, and how she prepared. She also shares some of her first decisions. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts. You can read a full transcript of this episode here.

In this short episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike talks about applicants' (deeply understandable) tendency to catastrophize in law school admissions. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.  You can read a full transcript of this episode here.