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How do you even start the process of going to law school?

There is an LSAC, and an LSAT, and a Spivey, and I want a powerful score, but also 7 Sages sound helpful
Apr 2, 2023

These are all law school application specific terms that are often thrown around on Reddit and on our site. For a full and easy to search list of terms you can check out our term list here.

Table of Contents

  1. What is the LSAC
  2. What is the LSAT
  3. What is Spivey Consulting
  4. What is admissions consulting
  5. Related Articles

What is the LSAC?

The LSAC is the Law School Admission Council, a nonprofit organization that provides services to law schools and prospective law students. The LSAC administers the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), and provides other services to facilitate law school admission. The LSAC also provides information about financial aid and scholarships to help law school applicants pay for their education. 

The LSAC provides a variety of services to help law school applicants pay for their education. The LSAC administers the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), and provides other services to facilitate law school admission. The LSAC also provides information about financial aid and scholarships to help law school applicants pay for their education.

What is the LSAT?

The LSAT is a half-day standardized test that is offered about every other month and is used as an ‘objective’ measure for law schools to compare students. The LSAT is administered by the LSAC and is required for admission to most law schools in the United States, though more and more are accepting the GRE as well. The LSAT is a multiple-choice test that measures reading comprehension, logical reasoning, and analytical reasoning skills. 

What is Spivey Consulting?

Spivey is the most famous and prestigious law school admissions service in the US. From their website: 

“Spivey Consulting Group is the premiere law school admissions consulting firm, with collectively more than 250 years of law school admissions experience across our team. Our consultants are former admissions officers from law schools including Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Chicago, Penn, Michigan, Duke, Northwestern, UCLA, and more, and our mission is to help you get admitted to your dream school.”

What is admissions consulting?

Admissions consultants work with individual students to help with their application for getting into a law school. Admissions consultants help the student choose the right school and then help with all of the application process and documents. They may recommend an LSAT prep course and will act as pseudo tutors to help you with your personal statements and other essays.

Admissions consulting is not cheap. In fact it is painfully expensive. I looked into it when I was applying to business school and was quoted $4900 for help applying to one school and $6800 for two. I assume law school services are comparable though maybe a bit cheaper. If you have the money, this can be a great opportunity to make sure that you give yourself the best chance possible to get into a great school. But if you are deciding where you spend limited money, then we recommend putting it towards doing as well as possible on the LSAT because your score matters a lot for getting into law school. 

If anyone has experience with law school admission consulting please reach out because we would love to hear about your experience. (help@lsd.law)

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Windsor MIT '22, Harvard College Advisor

I am the half of LSD that didn't take the LSAT, or go to law school (Sorry about that). But I did go to MIT business school while surrounded by law students and lawyers, so I am somewhat qualified to talk about the intricacies of law school apps and finances.

Windsor (the dog) didn't write this but he WAS a Resident Tutor and career advisor at Harvard College with me, so deserves some credit.

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17:21
Or EMEA vacation in this example
17:22
i wish i had the money for a european vacation
you will once youre a federal atty
17:24
i plan to go in public interest, i wont have that kinda money lol
omg same
I also don't feel bad for Fulbrights. They'll be alright
17:24
i'll be lucky to afford a home lol
17:24
omg yess
International status generally being a debuff sucks tho for sure
LegalUsername
17:26
There are waitlist sessions for GULC? I never got one after receiving the SPWL.
LegalUsername
17:27
Or maybe it's because I got it yesterday?
SplitOnMe
17:27
yeah they happened a while ago
theres one for NU coming up
17:29
Georgetown waitlists 4000 people a year, they basically have to divvy the waitlistees up across multiple sessions over time
yeah I'll be logged into the NU one so they don't ding me for missing but no shot I'll actually be able to pay attention bc I'll be working
17:30
Imagine being the admissions staffer(s) who need to monitor Q&A for a 4,000 person zoom
USNWR needs to just bump schools back 20 places if they waitlist more than like 10% of apps
17:32
Penn Purge, the reprise
Everyone who was on the WL at the time got that invite but you might not have gotten it if you applied later
Re: GULC WL session
i didnt get it but i believe i received the wl notif after the email went out which like, fair
17:34
It *is* somewhat tricky to plan waitlists, because there are a whole bunch of subgroups you need there. Not just the stats you need to tune and needs people fill (URM, veteran, regional balance, international, STEM), but buckets like "These are the specific STEM majors we might take if we have a bunch of STEM majors go elsewhere, and we've locked down our GPA median, and we need to shore up our LSAT median, and our aid budget is almost exhausted so we need people that would accept a waitlist A with minimal aid (not the 180s)
17:38
And how much "padding" you need in your waitlist is inversely related to how patient applicants will be for that school (HYS can cover their bases with a small waitlist because most people on the list would drop everything and commit; Georgetown needs a large waitlist because a lot of people on their list will end up with better options)
17:38
But even understanding why schools do this, the result sucks for anyone on the WL
kimchi queen if you see this im sorry but i dont have the talent to paint birds on my nails and i have shaky hands today so i went with skittle nails
KimchiQueen
17:47
@manifestT14acceptances: Haha no need to apologize! Skittles and candy style nail art is super cute!
LegalUsername
17:48
Just praying for the WL gods now :(
trees1234567
17:49
Oh damn penn wtf sorry to everyone that got hit
@KimchiQueen: thank you i do like how they came out i always feel bad fielding suggestions and then doing something else
KimchiQueen
18:07
Suggestions can always be used next time! No need to feel bad :)
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