Status Check with Spivey

In this podcast episode, Mike interviews the long-time Associate Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid at University of Chicago Law School, Ann Perry. Mike and Ann discuss admissions across multiple dimensions, including how admissions has changed over the past 20 years, typos in applications, when you should submit your applications (and what counts as "late"), how admissions offices set target m...

In this podcast, Mike interviews Clint Schumacher — author, podcaster, and former biglaw hiring partner — on resilience in the legal profession, imposter syndrome in law school, what hiring partners look for in applicants, and more. Clint spent the first part of his legal career at Locke Lord, where he went on to be a hiring partner, then transitioned to Dawson & Sodd, a boutique firm with a f...

In this podcast, Mike provide is a brief recap of the historic last cycle (2020–2021) as well as the short version of our best predictions for what's to come this cycle (2021–2022). If you'd like a longer and more in-depth discussion of these topics, please listen to our full podcast on these topics, "Recapping the 2020-2021 Law School Admissions Cycle & Predicting the Upcoming Cycle" (featuri...

In this episode of the Status Check with Spivey, Mike has the opportunity to have a conversation with Lauryn Williams, four-time Olympic athlete and financial advisor with a specialty in student loans. In addition to discussing Lauryn's life and experiences as an Olympian, they also talk about the differences between taking out student loans for undergrad vs. for law school, income-driven repaymen...

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting COO Anna Hicks goes over the basics of law school admissions for those who are at the beginning of their application process and don't know much about how it works yet. This episode is meant to provide context and a basis on which you can expand your research — here are some further resources you may want to check out next, many of which were mentioned in the pod...

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting COO Anna Hicks asks Mike some admissions questions from Reddit, covering large-scale changes to law school admissions due to the pandemic, reapplication strategies, how law schools look at "KJDs," whether or not you should explain why you want to go to law school in your personal statement, how to write Why X statements when you can't visit a law school and don't...

In this podcast, Mike Spivey is joined by PowerScore founder and CEO Dave Killoran and Spivey Consulting Business Intelligence Director Justin Kane — a wonky law school admissions/LSAT crew if there has ever been one! — to discuss takeaways from this previous 2020-2021 admissions cycle and to make predictions for the upcoming 2021-2022 cycle. You can listen and subscribe to this podcast on Apple P...

In this podcast, Mike and Spivey Consulting COO Anna Hicks have a discussion with a current law student, Amanda Bello, who ended her 1L year at Cornell Law in the top 10% of her class, transferred to Harvard Law, earned exceptionally strong grades at Harvard, and is now going into her second summer with the big law firm Gibson Dunn (check out our interview with Gibson Dunn partner Jeff Chapman her...

In this podcast, Mike Spivey has the opportunity to interview Dr. Kristin Neff, a leading researcher and advocate in the field of self-compassion, creator of the self-compassion scales, and author of two books, "Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself," and her upcoming book, "Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive," wh...

A very brief update on law schools that are over-committed on their seat deposits, and Mike's thoughts on how waitlist movement might go this summer as a result. You can listen and subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts — just search for "Status Check with Spivey." spiveyconsulting.com | spiveyblog.com | myrankbyspivey.com

In this podcast, Mike Spivey speaks with Dr. Gabor Maté, one of the world’s leading experts on physical and mental health and author of four best-selling books including "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts" and "When the Body Says No." Dr. Maté shares his thoughts and advice on self-doubt, stress, anxiety, and addiction, and offers the following insight for prospective law students (among others): "You...

In this episode of the Status Check podcast, Mike interviews Reddit user lightningmcboops (who for the purposes of this podcast we're calling "Megan") from the law school admissions subreddit. Megan applied with a 3.9x GPA and a 172 LSAT and received zero rejections despite applying in the most difficult law school admissions cycle we've ever seen, including straight admits from the majority of th...

In this podcast, Mike Spivey explains how the scholarship negotiation process works from the law school's perspective and gives some advice and tips for how to strategically approach increasing your merit aid offers. You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, Google Podcasts, and RadioPublic — just search for "Status Check with Spivey." spiveyconsulting.com | s...

You can also listen to this podcast on YouTube https://youtu.be/x5Zh0E_-AIc or Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spivey-consulting-law-school-admissions-podcast/id1477090223

In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses perspectives and considerations as we head into the 2021 law school waitlist season. You can also listen to this podcast on YouTube https://youtu.be/F_hbOg8wnDA and Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spivey-consulting-law-school-admissions-podcast/id1477090223

In this podcast, Mike interviews Jeff Chapman: Partner, Co-Chair of Global Mergers and Acquisitions, and Executive Committee Member at Gibson Dunn. You can read Jeff's bio here: https://www.gibsondunn.com/lawyer/chapman-jeffrey-a/ Mike and Jeff met when Mike was a law school Dean of Career Services, and they became good friends — in this interview, Jeff shares his story, some thoughts and advice a...

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting Group's Mike Spivey and PowerScore founder Dave Killoran discuss the state of the current 2020-2021 law school admissions cycle, things to consider for applicants who may be on waitlists, and predictions about next cycle (2021-2022). You can also listen to this podcast on YouTube https://youtu.be/hGDsIfKmjDQ or Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Dr. Guy Winch is one of the world's leading psychologists and speakers. He has delivered three TED Talks with over 25 million views combined, all three of which can be seen here https://www.guywinch.com/ He has published three books and along with best-selling author Lori Gottlieb co-hosts a relatively new but already incredibly popular podcast Dear Therapists https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-d...

For today's podcast, a little something different — some advice on resiliency in the face of watching others succeed in the ways you'd like to be succeeding. You can also listen to this podcast on YouTube https://youtu.be/ME6OnVTebFE or Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spivey-consulting-law-school-admissions-podcast/id1477090223

In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses factors that lead to some applicants "underperforming" their numbers. You can also listen to this podcast on YouTube https://youtu.be/uC_pC-T2OsI or Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spivey-consulting-law-school-admissions-podcast/id1477090223 Introduction - 0:46 - Will more people underperform this cycle? (2020-2021) - 1:41 - Defining "Und...

In this podcast, Mike Spivey answers more questions from Reddit. First up, he discusses differences international JD applicants might see in their admissions processes with the special considerations of this application cycle. Then, he talks about how to figure out whether a law school is the right fit for you when you can't visit in person — and, for those who haven't been admitted yet, how to wr...

In this podcast, Mike answers a few questions from Reddit. You can also listen to this podcast on YouTube https://youtu.be/vdKBIT3QNX4 or Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spivey-consulting-law-school-admissions-podcast/id1477090223

In this podcast, Mike Spivey interviews groups of current law school applicants about their experiences with the admissions process — what has surprised them, how they've handled the stress, what they expect for the future, and what advice they would give to someone at the beginning of the process. The participants are all volunteers from r/LawSchoolAdmissions, and only one happened to be a client...

In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses some of the most commonly held misconceptions about the law school admissions process, and how understanding them can help you get admitted. - 0:30 – admissions is inherently comparative - 4:21 – admissions officers want to get to know you - 7:12 – how do law schools make money? - 11:03 – being a savvy applicant (regarding advice from law school admissions of...

In this podcast, Spivey Consulting's Anna Hicks reads one of her favorite personal statements of all time. Please note that this essay includes mention of illicit drugs, abuse, and violence. The full text of the personal statement is included in the description of the video on YouTube https://youtu.be/-IRdTexQHR8 — please note that all names have been changed for anonymity, and this essay is share...