Status Check with Spivey

Do resume gaps hurt your law school admissions chances? Is the so-called "KJD tax" real? And how much do GPA and LSAT medians actually matter?In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike Spivey and Spivey Consulting President Anna Hicks-Jaco answer questions submitted by the Reddit law school admissions community.They discuss employment gaps, high-turnover jobs, low undergraduate GPAs, and how admissions committees evaluate applicants who have overcome significant adversity. They also explore the value of work experience, whether graduate GPAs can strengthen an application, and how schools set target LSAT medians.Mike and Anna also share their perspectives on the GRE versus the LSAT, the growing acceptance of JD-Next, and why applicants should be cautious about misleading admissions advice online.Additional resources and notes:Resume gaps: For additional insights, listen to our recent conversation with UVA Law Dean of Admissions Natalie Blazer. 2026–2027 admissions cycle data: The first cycle data is now available! We'll have a separate podcast analyzing the numbers soon.Law school medians: Explore our law school admissions median tracker to see how schools' LSAT and GPA medians have changed. GRE versus LSAT: Although reporting rules have changed, individual law schools may still consider both scores when evaluating applicants. Be sure to review the policies of the specific schools you're interested in.JD-Next: Learn more in our previous episode featuring Craig Boise and Daniel Rodriguez. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠Apple Podcast⁠, ⁠Spotify⁠, and ⁠Youtube⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode with timestamps ⁠⁠here⁠.

What makes a great law school personal statement opening sentence? In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike Spivey is joined by Sarah Zearfoss (Dean Z), Senior Assistant Dean at the University of Michigan Law School and former Dean of Admissions, to evaluate five famous opening lines from literature and discuss how they would work as personal statement introductions.They explore the importance of authenticity and avoiding overly dramatic writing (1:41), finding the balance between creativity and trying too hard (2:16), writing about family and making bold claims (3:47), and keeping the focus on your own story (5:22). They also discuss using personal growth and reflection to create compelling openings (6:35) and navigating political or controversial topics in law school applications (7:13).Through their reactions and occasional disagreements, Mike and Dean Z offer insights into what makes an opening sentence memorable- and what might make an admissions officer think twice.You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Youtube. You can read a full transcript of this episode with timestamps ⁠here.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco shares 20 easy law school application fixes crowdsourced from Spivey Consulting Group’s team of former admissions officers. From essay formatting and résumé consistency to application form mistakes and final submission checks, these are common issues that may seem minor individually but can collectively affect how polished and detail-oriented your application appears.Timestamps:1:57 — #13:03 — #23:34 — #34:04 — #44:41 — #55:15 — #65:44 — #76:11 — #86:28 — #96:47 — #107:23 — #117:36 — #128:03 — #138:30 — #148:51 — #159:06 — #169:56 — #1710:18 — #1810:39 — #1911:00 — #20You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠, ⁠Spotify⁠, and ⁠YouTube⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode with timestamps ⁠here⁠.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike and Anna interview Natalie Blazer, the Dean of Admissions and Chief Admissions Officer at UVA Law. Mike and Dean Blazer discuss the unusual nature of this past 2025-2026 admissions cycle (2:11), why Dean Blazer loves waitlists and why this past cycle ran about three months longer than usual (4:32), why having high numbers means less for an applicant now than it did in the past (10:59), the “prisoner’s dilemma” of increasing medians (13:59), predictions for the upcoming 2026-2027 admissions cycle (15:21), the impact it can make for an applicant to submit in September (17:14), why admissions interview matter more now than ever (20:12), Mike’s two best pieces of admissions advice (21:54), and Dean Blazer’s two best pieces of admissions advice (23:22).Then, Anna and Dean Blazer discuss Anna’s biggest admissions mistake/piece of advice (26:50) before answering questions from Reddit: why UVA’s LSAT and GPA medians stayed flat this year (28:47), how the tough job market for new college grads influences how admissions offices look at resume gaps (32:45), whether retaking a 173 or 174 is a red flag (38:04), whether Dean Blazer anticipates medians continuing to rise (43:34), advice for reapplying to UVA Law (46:56), and the “soft” factors Dean Blazer values most (49:40).Dean Blazer’s podcast, Admissible, is available here. Listen to the episode she mentions, one of her favorites, with a successful reapplicant here.You can listen to our previous episodes with Natalie here: 2025 | 2023 | 2022You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode with timestamps here.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Anna Hicks-Jaco is joined by Spivey consultant Meg Krishnan, former Director of Admissions and Programs at UChicago Law, for a conversation about preparing for law school admissions interviews. Meg spent nine admissions cycles at UChicago Law, ultimately running the school’s interview program and personally conducting thousands of admissions interviews. She shares what admissions offices are looking for in interviews and how applicants can prepare in a way that feels confident, natural, and intentional. They discuss the different roles interviews can play in the admissions process and the different formats applicants may encounter (3:51); what an interviewer may review from your application before speaking with you (6:55); how to prepare your “why law” answer using Meg’s “ghosts of Christmas” framework of past, present, and future (9:08); and how to start researching and preparing for “why this law school?” questions well before receiving an interview invitation (12:18). Meg also shares a simple method for keeping track of school-specific research over time (15:52); what to prioritize once you actually receive an interview invitation, from logistics to reviewing your own application materials (19:35); and why applicants should practice from bullet points rather than scripting and memorizing their answers (24:28).   Anna and Meg also dive deeper into what makes a strong “why X” answer and the importance of connecting what a law school offers back to your own experiences and strengths (28:54); common interview mistakes and how to recover when something goes wrong (31:55); strategies for building confidence before an interview, including an exercise from psychologist Dr. Guy Winch (41:09); and practical ways to reduce distracting filler words and become more comfortable with pauses (43:36). They close with advice on taking care of yourself throughout the process, learning how to reset after a difficult moment, and remembering that receiving an interview invitation itself means the law school is interested in you (51:43).     A note on interview formats: Much of the advice in this episode is most directly applicable to invited interviews and one-on-one interviews with a human interviewer. However, many of the preparation strategies discussed also apply to other formats, including Kira and other prerecorded interviews.Related resources: For a broader overview of law school interviews, including different interview formats and additional preparation advice, see our Interview Strategy Deep Dive with Former Law School Admissions Officers podcast. For more on the types of questions applicants may encounter, listen to Five Categories of Law School Admissions Interview Questions & How to Answer Them, with former Harvard Law Director of Admissions Karen Buttenbaum—including a bonus sixth category of curveball questions.For more advice and resources on researching individual law schools and developing a strong, differentiated “why X,” see our Why X Essay Deep Dive: Advice from Former Law School Admissions Officers podcast episode. Anna also references our earlier conversation with psychologist Dr. Guy Winch, Dr. Guy Winch on Handling Rejection (& Waiting), which includes the confidence exercise discussed in this episode. 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 with timestamps here.