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Hey people.... needing this fine communities advice again.... i am ecuadorian/south american.. do i count as a URM? thanks

Ineedhelpplease wrote:Hey people.... needing this fine communities advice again.... i am ecuadorian/south american.. do i count as a URM? thanks

Only Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are URM so no.

However, you are only as URM as your diversity/personal statement put yourself out to be.
See http://www.deloggio.com/diversty/forbidden.html

If your diversity statement and personal statement is crap, URM status will get you nothing even if you are URM. However, if it is stellar, it can do wonders even if you have low LSAT and/or GPA.

No, you're not URM, but you could still make an argument that you bring an element of diversity to your law school of choice.

I suppose you are a URM as you're part of a minority group without large representation in law school. But as the above poster said, it won't auto-admit you anywhere. It can give you a leg up but it needs to be combined with a good PS. Your South American heritage would make an ideal topic.

I am Cuban and though not a URM I think i got a slight boost. Very little but definitely more than if I had been Caucasian.

legalease9 wrote:I suppose you are a URM as you're part of a minority group without large representation in law school. But as the above poster said, it won't auto-admit you anywhere. It can give you a leg up but it needs to be combined with a good PS. Your South American heritage would make an ideal topic.

I take what I said in bold back. Technically you aren't a URM. This is the definition I found.

"Currently includes African Americans, Mexican-Americans, Native Americans (American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians), Pacific Islanders, and mainland Puerto Ricans."



Still though, discuss your heritage in your PS. It will make you a highly diverse candidate.

Clearly these people haven't been to Ecudaor. Yes you're a URM


Chao

hold on...a North American is a URM and a South American isn't? somebody please reconcile this for me.

From my understanding, in order to be "U," the % of such law students in law school classes as compared to % of total population must be lower. Is that wrong?

In general South Americans are not considered URM . URM- under-represented minority- is a label reserved for Puerto Ricans and Mexican-Americans (among Latinos) whose law school enrollment #s do not reflect their presence in the US population.

Other groups of Latinos aren't counted as URMs either because they don't have a big enough presence in the US population ( someone was asking about whether their Aymara heritage would qualify them for URM status the other day- the answer is, unfortunately, not technically, though someone recommended that they check the "native american" box and specify Aymara, which makes sense to me ) or because they are not underrepresented in law school enrollment, as would be the case with, say, Argentine- Americans and Brazilian-Americans.

You can still specify that you are "Latino" both on the LSAC form and on your particular law school applications and there are various options for what sort of Latino you would describe yourself as (Cuban, South American, etc.) It would also help to write a diversity statement about how your experience has impacted you personally and your decision to go to law school.

Good luck.

MrKappus wrote:From my understanding, in order to be "U," the % of such law students in law school classes as compared to % of total population must be lower. Is that wrong?

you might be close, but if this is the calculus, it'd probably be that the % of lawyers is < the % in the population.

You're Hispanic, so you are a URM. Don't listen to people who say that only Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are URMs (at least not until they produce evidence supporting this claim).

TTTeacher wrote:You're Hispanic, so you are a URM. Don't listen to people who say that only Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are URMs (at least not until they produce evidence supporting this claim).

Don't listen to this person they don't know what they are talking about. You are not an URM. Diverse applicant yes so write a diversity statement with your application. You will not get the "boost" or consideration that URMs get in admissions.