Editor David Busis, Spivey Consulting, or Something Else?

LetsHigh5

Fellow 7Sagers, I have a dilemma on my hands and I'd like your advice on how best to resolve it. I'm especially interested in hearing the opinions of those of you who have first-hand knowledge of the services offered by editor David Busis, Spivey Consulting, or ideally, both. Here goes...

Context: I'm going to take the LSAT in September and if need be, re-take in December, as well. After I receive an LSAT score that I'm happy with, my goal is to then immediately turn around and send off my law school applications. Therefore, to accomplish all of this, I need to begin preparing all of my non-LSAT components of the application now. Procrastination = death.

Problem: I know that during the process of putting together all of these application materials, I'm going to need some expert-level assistance. But that's where I'm stuck. I'm not sure how much help I'll actually need and from whom it's best to get it. I'm especially worried about being blind to any "unknown uknowns", to use Rumsfeldian terminology.

Option 1 (@david.busis): As many of you already know, 7Sage works with the wonderful David Busis. I've bought his Intro. to PS course and seen him in action on a webinar. He's funny, direct, and full of writerly wisdom. I would love to buy his "Unlimited PS Edits" for $599. The only concern I have is that this leaves ALL of the other important stuff (e.g. scholarship, wait lists, mock interviews, etc.) off of the advisement table. Basically, I live and die by my numbers and personal statement and hope for the best with everything else.

Option 2 (Spivey Consulting): A second option is to buy a more comprehensive--and significantly more expensive--package with Spivey Consulting (out of the firms I got quotes from, theirs seems like the best value). I'm confident that Spivey et al. know their stuff when it comes to the entire application components and process. But it's A LOT of money for a person in my financial situation (just about $3,000 more than what Busis' PS edits would cost me). I'd prefer not to rack up credit card debt for this, but the investment might be worth it if it gets me into a better school and/or a better FINAID package. Or, maybe it's not necessary if I've got good numbers and Busis' great advice on crafting my PS. Who knows?

Option 3: Anything else you all might come up with. Have at it!

Well, there it is. There are no do-overs when it comes to submitting my law school apps later this year. And at 33 years-old, I cannot afford wait another year to do so anyway. I need to decide ASAP which service fits my needs/budget and get started right away. If any of you have first-hand experience (rather than mere speculation) that you can offer up on this topic, I would greatly appreciate it.

-Adam

UsernameChange

This totally depends on your numbers/goals to be honest. If you have median or above numbers to your goal schools it would be crazy to spend 3k+ for consulting. If I were you I would see what my lsat score is and go from there. A solid PS and good numbers is more than enough to achieve all of your goals without dropping 3k+ on consulting services.

LetsHigh5

@UsernameChange : I agree that this sounds reasonable, and it was my initial thought, too. But I don't want to sit on my hands until September regarding getting personal statement editing because it takes time to craft and revise, especially if one tailors the PS slightly differently to each school. Also, what if I have to re-take the LSAT in December? Waiting until getting that score back and then trying to decide whether or not to get consulting services seems to be cutting very close.

If it's helpful to you all, here is list of the services Spivey helps with for a "full cycle" package:

- School List (i.e., where to apply)
- Application Review and Editing for every law school client wishes to apply to
- Resume Review and Editing
- Personal Statement Review and Editing
- Supplemental/Optional Essay Review and Editing
- Addenda Review and Editing, as needed
- Letter of Recommendation Advising
- Editing of all email correspondence to Law Schools
- Unlimited phone call discussions for strategic advice
- Mock Interview & Skype Interview Guidance
- Hold/Wait List Help
- Scholarship Essays, Interviews, and Negotiation
- Assessing Offers/Choosing a School
- Deferral help, if applicable

Again, if people have actually used @david.busis and/or Spivey Consulting and can speak from that experience, that would be most helpful. Thanks!

CocoZhang

@LetsHigh5 said:
If it's helpful to you all, here is list of the services Spivey helps with for a "full cycle" package:

- School List (i.e., where to apply)
- Application Review and Editing for every law school client wishes to apply to
- Resume Review and Editing
- Personal Statement Review and Editing
- Supplemental/Optional Essay Review and Editing
- Addenda Review and Editing, as needed
- Letter of Recommendation Advising
- Editing of all email correspondence to Law Schools
- Unlimited phone call discussions for strategic advice
- Mock Interview & Skype Interview Guidance
- Hold/Wait List Help
- Scholarship Essays, Interviews, and Negotiation
- Assessing Offers/Choosing a School
- Deferral help, if applicable

Wow that really includes everything.

I am also deciding if I want to take David Busis, and I have the exact same strategy to take LSAT in September and finish all the other things as early as possible.

Pacifico

David is amazing at what he does, and Mike is amazing at what he does. I was fortunate to win David's help in a contest and have Spivey on retainer so I got the best of both worlds. If you suck at writing then David might be the way to go. If you want peace of mind, knowing you'll be submitting the strongest possible app across the board, then Spivey is worth way more than you'll ever pay for their assistance. Since Spivey assists with so much, the biggest part for you is bringing a high LSAT score to the table. If you can't do that, then there's only so much they can do, but that's going to be the case either way. This may not have helped too much since it's all over the place, so I'll close by saying that Spivey's work on essays is on point as well. But David's assistance with my PS was so good that Spivey had essentially no recommendations to change the finished product. Good luck with your decision!

mes08

I worked with David and Spivey Consulting.

Now that the application cycle is over for me, I'm confident that I wouldn't be where I am without David's help. My numbers aren't that strong and I feel like it was my essays that really made the difference.

If you do your due diligence and research (listen to free webinars, reach out to other students, look at the free professional Q&A help on TLS, etc etc), you should be able to answer most of your questions about the application process by yourself. One way to go is to hire the Spivey consulting team on an hourly or basis for any lingering questions you may have.

LetsHigh5

@Pacifico @mes08 : Thank you so much for your thoughtful, pragmatic advice. Here's where I'm leaning, as of right now.

1. I'm going to continue to diligently study for the September/December LSAT. I know that this is the single most important thing I can do to further my candidacy.
2. I realize that other than my undergraduate GPA (which is pretty good, at 3.85) and my LSAT score (which is TBT, of course), the next most important component of the application is the personal statement. I will likely seek out David Busis' help writing this in the next few months because my PS needs to be stellar, regardless of my LSAT score.
3. If I achieve an excellent LSAT score, then the value of Spivey Consulting will go down somewhat because my numbers and good PS (crafted with David's help) should be enough to open a lot of opportunities to me. I've read that consulting services are most helpful at the margins for so-called "splitters".
4. If, however, I do end up becoming a "splitter" after the September LSAT and decide to re-take in December, then there is a higher likelihood that I will use Spivey Consulting. It will be a bit later in the cycle and there is a chance I will remain a "splitter" after the December LSAT, as well. If my LSAT is lower than I would have hoped, then this will necessarily increase the relative importance of other components of my application. Many of these factors (e.g. wait lists info., mock interviews, scholarship advice, etc.) will not become relevant anyway until after I receive my LSAT scores because that determines how ambitious I can be in applying.

Thus, I guess I'll be using a sort of "wait and see" contingency on all of this. I do have plans to speak with a Spivey Consulting representative later this week to discuss the approach I outlined above. It never hurts to ask some follow-up questions now, right?

Anyway, thanks again to everyone who replied to this thread or PM'd me. You're all very kind to take the time to do so and I greatly appreciate it.

-Adam

Pacifico

It's virtually impossible for you to end up as a splitter with that high of a GPA. You might end up as a reverse splitter, but consultants are equally helpful there I would say. I think there just happen to be a lot more splitters than reverse splitters but that might just be my own selection/confirmation bias.