Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM?? Forum

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071816

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by 071816 » Sun Mar 25, 2012 3:24 am

PARTY wrote:
rad lulz wrote:
jippy5 wrote:Hey all, quick question here...trying to get some assistance as I look into the process more.

Father born in South Africa. Mother born in Chicago. I was born in New York City, raised in a Jewish household (I know that's irrelevant pertaining to URM status, just thought it'd be interesting to include for informational purposes here). Do I fall under URM status? I have successfully applied for a South African passport through the U.S. consulate and am currently awaiting arrival of my S.A passport. Once that arrives, will have dual citizenship (U.S. and South Africa).

Thanks to all.
You white?
can't one be a *white* (south) african american?
Yes but that doesn't make you black. Thus, because you are white, you are not a URM.

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PARTY

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by PARTY » Sun Mar 25, 2012 3:25 am

terrible.

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top30man

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by top30man » Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:14 am

chimp wrote:
PARTY wrote:
rad lulz wrote:
jippy5 wrote:Hey all, quick question here...trying to get some assistance as I look into the process more.

Father born in South Africa. Mother born in Chicago. I was born in New York City, raised in a Jewish household (I know that's irrelevant pertaining to URM status, just thought it'd be interesting to include for informational purposes here). Do I fall under URM status? I have successfully applied for a South African passport through the U.S. consulate and am currently awaiting arrival of my S.A passport. Once that arrives, will have dual citizenship (U.S. and South Africa).

Thanks to all.
You white?
can't one be a *white* (south) african american?
Yes but that doesn't make you black. Thus, because you are white, you are not a URM.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by jippy5 » Sun Mar 25, 2012 2:30 pm

Yes, I am white. Figured that dual citizenship would maybe suffice in URM status being that I am, truly, African-American.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by bk1 » Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:43 pm

jippy5 wrote:Yes, I am white. Figured that dual citizenship would maybe suffice in URM status being that I am, truly, African-American.
But you're not black. You know you're white and just trying to cheat the system.

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20130312

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by 20130312 » Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:56 pm

Checking off African American wouldn't be lying. If you have done it already for your UG app, do it again. Otherwise, don't.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by 071816 » Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:57 pm

InGoodFaith wrote:Checking off African American wouldn't be lying. If you have done it already for your UG app, do it again. Otherwise, don't.
It would be if the box said african american/black (which 99% of them do).

Also, according to the census, African American refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa, so I doubt the schools would interpret it differently.
Last edited by 071816 on Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by jippy5 » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:00 pm

bk187 wrote:
jippy5 wrote:Yes, I am white. Figured that dual citizenship would maybe suffice in URM status being that I am, truly, African-American.
But you're not black. You know you're white and just trying to cheat the system.

The application doesn't ask if I am black, it asks if I am African American, which I am. I have checked off African American on any application that gives me the opportunity from the past because of this, and just wanted to double check on these boards to see if there was some sort of formal rule that states they are specifically looking for "black" and not the generalized African American like is typically requested.

If the box says "African American/Black" then I suppose that is a whole other conversation to be had...

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by 20130312 » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:03 pm

chimp wrote:
InGoodFaith wrote:Checking off African American wouldn't be lying. If you have done it already for your UG app, do it again. Otherwise, don't.
It would be if the box said african american/black (which 99% of them do).

Also, according to the census, African American refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa, so I doubt the schools would interpret it differently.
By that definition, a white person from South Africa doesn't fall into any of the US Census's categories:

"White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as "White" or report entries such as Irish, German, Scottish, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish."

"Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as 'Black, African Am., or Negro,' or provide written entries such as Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian."

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descartesb4thehorse

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by descartesb4thehorse » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:05 pm

InGoodFaith wrote:
chimp wrote:
InGoodFaith wrote:Checking off African American wouldn't be lying. If you have done it already for your UG app, do it again. Otherwise, don't.
It would be if the box said african american/black (which 99% of them do).

Also, according to the census, African American refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa, so I doubt the schools would interpret it differently.
By that definition, a white person from South Africa doesn't fall into any of the US Census's categories:

"White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as "White" or report entries such as Irish, German, Scottish, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish."

"Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as 'Black, African Am., or Negro,' or provide written entries such as Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian."
White people from South Africa are not indigenous. There's a reason white doesn't include specifically South Africa, Australia, or New Zealand. White people from these countries are still of European (British) origins.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by rad lulz » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:07 pm

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Last edited by rad lulz on Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by 071816 » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:07 pm

InGoodFaith wrote:
chimp wrote:
InGoodFaith wrote:Checking off African American wouldn't be lying. If you have done it already for your UG app, do it again. Otherwise, don't.
It would be if the box said african american/black (which 99% of them do).

Also, according to the census, African American refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa, so I doubt the schools would interpret it differently.
By that definition, a white person from South Africa doesn't fall into any of the US Census's categories:

"White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as "White" or report entries such as Irish, German, Scottish, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish."

"Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as 'Black, African Am., or Negro,' or provide written entries such as Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian."
Whites are originally from Europe, so a white person from South Africa would check the white box. White South Africans are made up of settlers from Holland, Germany, France, and England.

oops: see descartes' post above.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by bk1 » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:10 pm

Have fun reading this thread (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=160055) to see what people's response is to whether a white Libyan is an "African American." I actually think some people fall on the side of it's okay to mark AA if you have always previously marked AA, though I think the vast majority think that white South Africans are not AA's.

As Vanwinkle points out in that thread, AA is a geographic term used to denote a racial background. The point is the racial background though whoever decided to start using the term made a poor choice since the words themselves are geographic. Which is why even though you have that geographic background, people see it as disingenuous to claim yourself as that since even though it uses geographic words it is specifically referring to a racial background.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by 071816 » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:13 pm

bk187 wrote:Have fun reading this thread (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=160055) to see what people's response is to whether a white South African is an "African American." I actually think some people fall on the side of it's okay to mark AA if you have always previously marked AA.
Weird. So it's okay to continue being wrong because you were wrong in the past? Sweet logic.

No one who is 100% white should mark the AA box. I don't give a shit where they're from.

Edit: People should just interpret African American to mean black. African American is just a politically correct term that essentially means black person living in the United States.
Last edited by 071816 on Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by bk1 » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:17 pm

chimp wrote:Weird. So it's okay to continue being wrong because you were wrong in the past? Sweet logic.

No one who is 100% white should mark the AA box. I don't give a shit where they're from.
I agree with you. I edited my post to add more. The reason I added that part was that vanwinkle's opinion on this, which I respect having read what he posted in that thread, in his final post seemed to imply that. However it is likely that I read it out of context since I'm not gonna read any of those 10 pages again.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by rad lulz » Sun Mar 25, 2012 9:05 pm

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Last edited by rad lulz on Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by JimmyHuang » Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:38 pm

It seems that Asians don't count as URMs.

This is a bit unfair considered that
1) Asians are minorities in America (5% of population)
2) Asians account for 2.2% of lawyers in 2000 (http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/ ... eckdam.pdf)

In both cases, Asians seemed to be "underrepresented." Am I missing something or is law school admissions just that unfair?

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by 071816 » Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:49 pm

JimmyHuang wrote:It seems that Asians don't count as URMs.

This is a bit unfair considered that
1) Asians are minorities in America (5% of population)
2) Asians account for 2.2% of lawyers in 2000 (http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/ ... eckdam.pdf)

In both cases, Asians seemed to be "underrepresented." Am I missing something or is law school admissions just that unfair?
From what I understand, asians aren't underrepresented in the legal profession in comparison to their population in the United States. Also, I believe they are the fastest growing minority group in the legal profession.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by bdubs » Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:54 pm

chimp wrote:
JimmyHuang wrote:It seems that Asians don't count as URMs.

This is a bit unfair considered that
1) Asians are minorities in America (5% of population)
2) Asians account for 2.2% of lawyers in 2000 (http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/ ... eckdam.pdf)

In both cases, Asians seemed to be "underrepresented." Am I missing something or is law school admissions just that unfair?
From what I understand, asians aren't underrepresented in the legal profession in comparison to their population in the United States. Also, I believe they are the fastest growing minority group in the legal profession.
Asians are underrepresented as lawyers, but not as law students. Not surprisingly, this is because there were very few non-white lawyers prior to the 1970s. It takes a while for representation as practitioners to catch up with law school enrollment.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by rad lulz » Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:56 pm

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Last edited by rad lulz on Mon Apr 22, 2013 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by FloridaCoastalorbust » Sat Apr 07, 2012 10:00 pm

Check the box, South African.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by rad lulz » Sat Apr 07, 2012 10:09 pm

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Last edited by rad lulz on Mon Apr 22, 2013 11:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by FloridaCoastalorbust » Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:39 am

rad lulz wrote:
FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:Check the box, South African.
If you are black, yes.
If you are white, red, yellow, or black, check the box.

If the poster had not too distant lineage in the Middle East and was black because of this, would he be able to claim African American descent because his skin color corresponded to your preference?

Yes. But not because of his Middle Eastern origins.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by kapachino » Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:34 pm

FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:
rad lulz wrote:
FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:Check the box, South African.
If you are black, yes.
If you are white, red, yellow, or black, check the box.

If the poster had not too distant lineage in the Middle East and was black because of this, would he be able to claim African American descent because his skin color corresponded to your preference?

Yes. But not because of his Middle Eastern origins.

Wut.

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Re: Am I a URM???/Is___ race/circumstance considered URM??

Post by rad lulz » Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:42 pm

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Last edited by rad lulz on Mon Apr 22, 2013 11:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

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