Status Check with Spivey

Spivey Consulting Group
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Status Check with Spivey Podcast

Hosted by Mike Spivey, founder of the Spivey Consulting Group, the Status Check covers life and wellbeing plus all things law school and admissions. Our admissions advice comes from our Spivey Consulting team — who collectively have over 220 years of experience working in law school admissions offices including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Chicago, and Penn — and covers how to get into the best possible law school you can, plus news and predictions about the current state of law school admissions.

  1. 4 HR AGO

    Making Your Law School List: Advice & Resources for Deciding Where to Apply

    In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Spivey Consulting President Anna Hicks-Jaco has a conversation with three Spivey Consultants and former law school admissions officers—Sam Kwak (Stanford Law, Northwestern Law, Indiana University Law), Paula Gluzman (UCLA Law, UW Law), and Joe Pollak (Michigan Law)—a group that has collectively spent over 20 years advising law school applicants one-on-one as consultants. In that time, they have assisted hundreds of law school applicants in creating strategic school lists, the topic of today's episode. How do you estimate your chances of admission to determine reach, target, and "safety" schools? How many schools should you apply to? How many schools do most applicants apply to (and how is the oft-cited average number of applications per applicant somewhat misleading here)? Where can you find the best and most up-to-date information about law schools when doing your research? We cover all of the above and more. This episode is a companion to our recent blog post on this topic, How to Create Your Law School List. Here are a few other resources we mentioned in this episode: Law School Application Fee Waivers blog post series from Joe Pollak: Part 1 (Unsolicited Fee Waivers), Part 2 (Soliciting Fee Waivers), and Part 3 (Need-Based Fee Waivers) Podcast: "Safety Schools" and Making a Law School Backup Plan (with Danielle Early, former Harvard Law admissions officer) 2024 Medians Spreadsheet (Spivey Consulting) Official Guide to ABA-Approved JD Programs (LSAC) ABA-Required Disclosures (including admissions and employment data for all ABA-accredited law schools) How I Lawyer Podcast with Jonah Perlin (also check out our Status Check episode with Jonah here and Jonah's episode interviewing Mike Spivey here) My Rank by Spivey (custom law school rankings according to your priorities and preferences) You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode here.

    52 min

  2. 10 SEPT

    The Differences Between College & Law School, with "How I Lawyer" Host Jonah Perlin

    In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike interviews How I Lawyer podcast host Jonah Perlin on some of the many differences between college and law school, from cold calls to being graded on a curve to the nature of attending a professional school and more. Links to other resources: How I Lawyer Podcast with Jonah Perlin How I Lawyer #134: Mike Spivey - On Law School Rankings, Admissions, and Mental Health (Mike's episode on Jonah's podcast) Dear 1L: The Book by Amanda Haverstick (book mentioned in the episode) Dear 1L with Amanda Haverstick (Status Check episode with the author of the book mentioned in the episode) The Law of Law School: The Essential Guide for First-Year Law Students by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson and Jonathan Yusef Newton (book mentioned by Jonah in the interview) You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode here.

    36 min

  3. 27 AUG

    Experience/Perspective Essay (Diversity Statement) Deep Dive with Former Law School Admissions Officers

    In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco speaks with three Spivey consultants—Tom Robinson, former Harvard Law Director of Admissions; Sir Williams, former Wisconsin Law Director of Admissions; and Anne Dutia, former Michigan Law Assistant Director of Admissions—about the relatively new category of law school admissions essays that we're calling "experience/perspective essays" or "E/P essays," many of which are variations on the essays previously known as "diversity statements." They walk through the specifics of what these essays can look like (going through several example prompts), how to approach those different prompts, common mistakes applicants make with these statements, traits of outstanding E/P essays, and more. This episode is part of an ongoing deep dive series on the main components of the law school application. You can listen to our episode on personal statements here and our episode on resumes here. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode here.

    1h 5m

  4. 13 AUG

    How PARENTS Can Best Support Law School Applicants (Former Admissions Officers Weigh In)

    In this special episode of Status Check with Spivey directed toward parents of law school applicants, Anna Hicks-Jaco and two Spivey consultants—Danielle Early, former Harvard Law Associate Director of Admissions, and Shannon Davis, former Assistant Dean for Admissions and Communications at Lewis & Clark Law—discuss how parents can best support their children through the application process. They walk through differences between the law school and the college admissions processes, how much parental involvement law school admissions offices expect, common mistakes parents can make that may end up hindering rather than helping, and some of the ways that parents can be most helpful and supportive to their applicants. You can read Shannon and Danielle's full bios here. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode here.

    56 min

  5. 30 JUL

    Addiction & Recovery in College with Author Mitch Leff

    In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike has a conversation with Mitch Leff, author of My Addiction, My Superpower, about his experiences overcoming addiction at a young age, the lessons he learned, and how others can use his insights to improve themselves. As attorneys suffer significantly higher rates of substance abuse and depression relative to the wider public, Mitch's insights are highly relevant to anyone who is a part of (or considering joining) the legal profession. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠.

    31 min

  6. 23 JUL

    Law School Application Resume: Deep Dive with Former Admissions Officers

    In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco speaks with two Spivey consultants—Karen Buttenbaum, former Director of Admissions at Harvard Law School, and Nathan Neely, former Associate Director of Admissions and Director of Global and Graduate Programs at the University of Houston Law Center—about the law school application resume: what to include and what not to include, differences from professional resumes, common mistakes, best practices, and more. You can read Karen and Nathan's full bios here. This episode is part of an ongoing deep dive series on the main components of the law school application. You can listen to our episode on personal statements here. Next up: diversity statements (the new versions—also known as E/P essays). You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode here.

    50 min

  7. 9 JUL

    Law School Personal Statement Deep Dive: Advice from Former Admissions Officers

    In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco has a conversation with three Spivey consultants—Anne Dutia, Paula Gluzman, and Derek Meeker, former law school admissions officers at Michigan, UCLA, Penn, and more—diving deep into the law school personal statement. They discuss the brainstorming and topic selection process, how to structure a personal statement, writing tips, broad-level traits of A+ personal statements, common mistakes, and more. You can watch the video Derek mentions in this episode, in which he walks through how to choose a personal statement topic, here. You can read bios for Anne, Paula, Derek, and Anna here. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode here.

    1h 10m

  8. 12 JUN

    Dear 1L with Amanda Haverstick

    In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, SCG Pre-L Consultant and Fordham Law professor Jordana Confino has a conversation with legal writing coach and Dear 1L author Amanda Haverstick about legal writing and tackling your 1L year. You can learn more about Dear 1L here, connect with Amanda via LinkedIn here, or email her directly at amanda@dear1L.com. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode here.

    34 min
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About

Hosted by Mike Spivey, founder of the Spivey Consulting Group, the Status Check covers life and wellbeing plus all things law school and admissions. Our admissions advice comes from our Spivey Consulting team — who collectively have over 220 years of experience working in law school admissions offices including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Chicago, and Penn — and covers how to get into the best possible law school you can, plus news and predictions about the current state of law school admissions.

Information

  • Creator
    Spivey Consulting Group
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2024
  • Episodes
    146
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Spivey Consulting Group
  • Show Website
    Status Check with Spivey

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