103 episodes

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.

Status Check with Spivey Spivey Consulting Group

    • Education
    • 5.0 • 69 Ratings

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.

    On Dream Schools

    On Dream Schools

    In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike talks to Spivey Consulting's COO Anna Hicks-Jaco about a question from Reddit—one that we hear many times every year. "How do I stop being so attached to my dream school?"

    This episode mentions several other interviews, including our episode with Dr. Guy Winch and our episode with Dr. Judson Brewer.

    "Life teaches you how to live it, if you live long enough." –Tony Bennett

    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.

    • 20 min
    Why Is This Cycle So Slow—& What You Can Do About It

    Why Is This Cycle So Slow—& What You Can Do About It

    In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike discusses the factors that have led to this historically slow-moving cycle—and how you can strategically leverage that knowledge to your advantage.

    Mike references two of our other episodes in this podcast:


    When Should You Reach Out to an Admissions Office, and How Should You Do It?
    Dr. Guy Winch on Handling Rejection & Waiting

    You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Google Podcasts.

    • 9 min
    When Should You Reach Out to an Admissions Office, and How Should You Do It?

    When Should You Reach Out to an Admissions Office, and How Should You Do It?

    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.

    • 7 min
    The Rules of Reddit

    The Rules of Reddit

    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.

    • 10 min
    How to Crush the Second Half of the Law School Admissions Cycle

    How to Crush the Second Half of the Law School Admissions Cycle

    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.

    • 25 min
    What Triggers Admit Waves?

    What Triggers Admit Waves?

    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.

    • 9 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
69 Ratings

69 Ratings

@gremck ,

Gold for law applicants

Mike is a very kind guy who gives advice that would save a lot of future students time / money on researching how to get into law school.

LouAkr ,

Great podcast

Love this podcast!

nonibbity ,

Great interviews!

This is so good. Totally worth exploring.

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