Spivey worth it? Forum

[Jay2021]

It's a lot of money. 5 grand for the full package. But if it bumps you up to a better school that's worth it right? And if they help negotiate a better scholarship that could pay for it.

Are there any competitors who are cheaper but good? I spoke to one smaller place and didn't get a good feeling (don't want to blast them here, maybe for someone else they are good).

For those saying that you can get the information from blogs and books,,,,,, thanks. I've heard it before. I know I need a consultant, just trying to figure out the best way.

[cavalier1138]

Why do you need a consultant?

Spivey's great, but I imagine he's full for this cycle. And consultants are generally most useful if you have a unique set of circumstances that means a neutral party looking over and helping with your application is worth an extra five grand.

[KENYADIGG1T]

It's a lot of money. 5 grand for the full package. But if it bumps you up to a better school that's worth it right? And if they help negotiate a better scholarship that could pay for it.

Are there any competitors who are cheaper but good? I spoke to one smaller place and didn't get a good feeling (don't want to blast them here, maybe for someone else they are good).

For those saying that you can get the information from blogs and books,,,,,, thanks. I've heard it before. I know I need a consultant, just trying to figure out the best way.

5 Grand?! That's mind-blowing. Regardless of my $0.02, best of luck this cycle!

[Rigo]

It kind of depends on what you need. If you have above median numbers, then you probably don't need Spivey. Otoh, I've heard really good things from former clients if you're a splitter or have weird circumstances or need help with waitlists later in the cycle.

Email his team and get see if you can get a free consult (maybe they're free anyways idk). He'll be quite frank with you on if he can help you or not or if you even need his help to begin with.

[AvatarMeelo]

It's a lot of money. 5 grand for the full package. But if it bumps you up to a better school that's worth it right? And if they help negotiate a better scholarship that could pay for it.

Are there any competitors who are cheaper but good? I spoke to one smaller place and didn't get a good feeling (don't want to blast them here, maybe for someone else they are good).

For those saying that you can get the information from blogs and books,,,,,, thanks. I've heard it before. I know I need a consultant, just trying to figure out the best way.

I have much love for Spivey but they're not miracle workers. They can help a lot but it's also dependent on you and how much you can do as well. It's definitely a lot of money, but really depends on what exactly is lacking with your application that you feel you need the additional help with. If you're a super splitter, difficult circumstances growing up, etc. then it's something to consider. But if you're below medians/25ths for both LSAT and GPA, then your priority should be to raise your LSAT score as high as possible. They're a fantastic group of people, but they can only do so much. That being said, I do believe they're full at the moment unless that new person they brought on is ready to take people.

[Jay2021]

Why do you need a consultant?

Spivey's great, but I imagine he's full for this cycle. And consultants are generally most useful if you have a unique set of circumstances that means a neutral party looking over and helping with your application is worth an extra five grand.

I am not going to give you my resume in public. I need a consultant. I'd rather not pay this much.

[icechicken]

I am not going to give you my resume in public. I need a consultant. I'd rather not pay this much.

You get what you pay for. Cheaper "consultants" are often just freelance copy-editors who will make sure your essays are grammatically sound. If someone doesn't specialize in any particular type of application (undergraduate, law-school, etc.), they're probably one of those.

And if you can't tell us why you think you would benefit from consulting, then we can't tell you whether any given consultant would indeed be worthwhile. The answer is, of course, that it depends on your circumstances.

[cavalier1138]

Why do you need a consultant?

Spivey's great, but I imagine he's full for this cycle. And consultants are generally most useful if you have a unique set of circumstances that means a neutral party looking over and helping with your application is worth an extra five grand.

I am not going to give you my resume in public. I need a consultant. I'd rather not pay this much.

I didn't ask for your resume, but based on your prior posts here, it sounds like you may be overdoing it. Do what you want, but it's impossible to tell you how you'd benefit (or not) from consulting if you come in to the conversation with your mind made up. Maybe Spivey is worth it for you. Or maybe not. You're not giving anyone enough information to tell you one way or the other.

[BigZuck]

I've found that the best way to get advice on admissions is by posting your resume on this site and generally just acting unnecessarily hostile.

Have you considered that route yet?

[MercW07]

What exactly does Spivey do that makes them worth 5 grand? Im not trying to be a dick, I genuinely am wondering what kind of wizardry they are performing over there. I understand what a consultant is, and I know that businesses will pay a pretty penny for consultants to come in and help, but in the case of law school admissions how much can they really help? Having a strong PS/resume is important, and I understand they help immensely with that, but 5 grand?? Other than PS/resume review what else could they possibly be doing? If I had the money to burn Id probably hire them myself just to see what $5000 worth of law school admissions consulting looks like lol

[icechicken]

What exactly does Spivey do that makes them worth 5 grand?

People post here all the time about how they want to go to Harvard or Columbia or whatever at sticker even though they have a full ride at a lower T13. If so many people are willing to spend ~$300k on that T6 brand it stands to reason that at least as many people would be willing to drop five grand to increase their chances by 2% or so.

Spivey and his ilk probably do make that much difference for high-risk or marginal applicants, if only by minimizing the chance you auto-ding yourself by doing something stupid.

[ms9]

What exactly does Spivey do that makes them worth 5 grand? Im not trying to be a dick, I genuinely am wondering what kind of wizardry they are performing over there. I understand what a consultant is, and I know that businesses will pay a pretty penny for consultants to come in and help, but in the case of law school admissions how much can they really help? Having a strong PS/resume is important, and I understand they help immensely with that, but 5 grand?? Other than PS/resume review what else could they possibly be doing? If I had the money to burn Id probably hire them myself just to see what $5000 worth of law school admissions consulting looks like lol

You aren't being a jerk, it's a fair question. FYI we have many packages, starting at $550. The 5k is for an entire cycle, for some more than a year. The ideal is to increase someone's scholarship (where so many people have zero percent experience negotiating and law schools have tons) by well over 5k and increase their application odds with really sound strategy throughout the cycle. We can't guarantee that but we have had a good deal of experience from the other side of things. I could go on forever but we are at capacity and I just wanted people to be aware that the only price quoted here is our max level price after 6 years of helping people and getting feedback. There are many other options we offer.

Consulting is certainly not for everyone. We turn a good deal of people down if we don't think we can help them. And we know for a fact we have sweet spots and that there are those that don't need us nearly as much or at all. Just some other input -- there are tons of these threads and I hardly ever have jumped in. But since we are at capacity I figured it would be a good time to share a bit. Hope it helps.

[Slippin' Jimmy]

Consulting is certainly not for everyone. We turn a good deal of people down if we don't think we can help them. And we know for a fact we have sweet spots and that there are those that don't need us nearly as much or at all. Just some other input -- there are tons of these threads and I hardly ever have jumped in. But since we are at capacity I figured it would be a good time to share a bit. Hope it helps.

I can vouch for this, did an initial consult with one of Spivey's people and she essentially said that consulting wasn't necessary for my situation/goals.