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Is there anybody out there who is Hispanic and can give any advice as to the "boost" given for being a URM?

I'm not Hispanic, but it's a big one.

What I am trying to figure out is if you are not AA, Mex Amer, Puerto Rican, or Native Amer but are rather a different type of Hispanic, what is "The Boost"?

AA get the biggest boost of all from what I've casually observed.

Puerto Ricans and other smaller Hispanic groups probably get the second largest boost. Again, from what I casually observed.

Mexican-American might get a boost, but it is not guaranteed. I'd advise to not highlight your Mexican-American heritage on your application except for the box that you place an "X" on when asked about your ethnicity. I suspect that a lot of Mexican-Americans applying to law school try to highlight their background via a diversity statement. There is nothing completely wrong with this except for the fact that all the other Mexican and Hispanic applicants might also highlight their ethnicity. When this happens, you are sure to be lost in the sea of diversity statements.

The admissions committee already knows you are Mexican-American so there is no need to present your application with a side of tacos, and huevos-rancheros. I thought my personal diversity story was unique and would automatically grant me admission to a few schools, but I was wait-listed with people whose scores and numbers are way lower than mine. I suspect this happened because I milked my alleged URM status a tad too much.

Next time, I'm going to be like the White kids and just study, ready, study, read and eat apple pie instead of churros.

Also, it really matters when you apply and what your numbers are. If you do not meet the numbers of a particular school, don't waste time and money applying with them to gain some sort of psychological benefit. Yes, apply to a few dreams, but focus on reaches, and safeties.

Nola wrote:What I am trying to figure out is if you are not AA, Mex Amer, Puerto Rican, or Native Amer but are rather a different type of Hispanic, what is "The Boost"?

What Hispanic are you?

My mother is from Honduras. My interest in this came about as I found the law school predictor calculator. Once I input that I was a URM my chances at schools I thought were reaches became much more doable. I am trying to figure out if this is accurate.

Typically the only Hispanics that see a major boost are Mexican or Puerto Rican.

I went through this last cycle as an "other" Hispanic, and there was no notable impact on my cycle. That being said, I did not write a diversity statement. If you think being Honduran gives you unique perspective, then by all means write about it. It probably won't get you the same kind of boost received by URMs, but it can make you stand apart from other applicants.

For the purposes of LSP, I do not believe checking the "URM" box will give you accurate information.

mi-chan17 wrote: For the purposes of LSP, I do not believe checking the "URM" box will give you accurate information.

It won't and this observation is not limited to Hispanic applicants. You're much better off just looking at individual applicants on LSN or just applying where you want to go.

SwollenMonkey wrote:AA get the biggest boost of all from what I've casually observed.

Puerto Ricans and other smaller Hispanic groups probably get the second largest boost. Again, from what I casually observed.

Mexican-American might get a boost, but it is not guaranteed. I'd advise to not highlight your Mexican-American heritage on your application except for the box that you place an "X" on when asked about your ethnicity. I suspect that a lot of Mexican-Americans applying to law school try to highlight their background via a diversity statement. There is nothing completely wrong with this except for the fact that all the other Mexican and Hispanic applicants might also highlight their ethnicity. When this happens, you are sure to be lost in the sea of diversity statements.

The admissions committee already knows you are Mexican-American so there is no need to present your application with a side of tacos, and huevos-rancheros. I thought my personal diversity story was unique and would automatically grant me admission to a few schools, but I was wait-listed with people whose scores and numbers are way lower than mine. I suspect this happened because I milked my alleged URM status a tad too much.

Next time, I'm going to be like the White kids and just study, ready, study, read and eat apple pie instead of churros.

Also, it really matters when you apply and what your numbers are. If you do not meet the numbers of a particular school, don't waste time and money applying with them to gain some sort of psychological benefit. Yes, apply to a few dreams, but focus on reaches, and safeties.

QFStupidity

If you think your ethnic background, economic disadvantage, or any other special circumstances can show that you'll bring diversity into the classroom, you should by all means express it. Of course if you start talking about how having chilaquiles for breakfast showcases the hardships you had to go through as a Mexican-American and fail to mention anything else, your personal/diversity statement won't help you much. Although this is simple anecdotal evidence, I personally know a few Mexican-Americans that got accepted into Columbia with LSAT scores in the low 160s and less than 3.5 GPAs.

SwollenMonkey, unless you have some reliable data to support your claim, please refrain from asserting that stressing one's ethnicity is actually detrimental to the admission's process.

I actually talked to my mother last night who said that her mom was actually half Mexican. Unfortunately, I do not know a lot about that side of my family as I am the first generation on my mom's side of the family born in the US and my mother doesn't really talk about it very much (which infuriates me). So I am going to check both Central American and Mexican American on my LSAC account. Thanks for all of the help.

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Nola wrote:I actually talked to my mother last night who said that her mom was actually half Mexican. Unfortunately, I do not know a lot about that side of my family as I am the first generation on my mom's side of the family born in the US and my mother doesn't really talk about it very much (which infuriates me). So I am going to check both Central American and Mexican American on my LSAC account. Thanks for all of the help.

If you Identify as such and feel like writing a DS about will put into light why you would be a better law school candidate, you go for it.

I am Central American from Belize, how big of a boost will that be. The same as any other URM I suppose.

stintez wrote:I am Central American from Belize, how big of a boost will that be. The same as any other URM I suppose.

I don't know about Central Americans being URMs, you might get a boost but I wouldn't count on it.

blackwater88 wrote:

stintez wrote:I am Central American from Belize, how big of a boost will that be. The same as any other URM I suppose.

I don't know about Central Americans being URMs, you might get a boost but I wouldn't count on it.

of course CAs are URM it falls under Hispanic

Im a central american URM too. In my experience, I did get a boost, not as much as a AA (saw some AA ppl with same numbers doing better) but I think what helped me the most is that I highlighted that Im more than just "diversity of race" Also, try to be connected to your roots somehow, like volunteering at a Hispanic youth drop-put prevention program or something like that. THEY LOVE that shit. Leadership in your URM community is also big. The main thing is, be more than just a Checkbox on the application and you will get a higher boost.

Ps: Out of 500+ hispanic URM profiles I've seen in LSN and TLS with similar numbers, this strategy gave me the best results out of all them.

stintez wrote:

blackwater88 wrote:

stintez wrote:I am Central American from Belize, how big of a boost will that be. The same as any other URM I suppose.

I don't know about Central Americans being URMs, you might get a boost but I wouldn't count on it.

of course CAs are URM it falls under Hispanic

See that's the thing, URM does not equal minority. Underrepresented minority means just that, a minority who's attendance rate in law school is lower than its percentage of the population. Asians in general, although they are minorities, are overrepresented in law school, that's why they are not considered URMs. To be Hispanic does not necessarily mean that you're a URM, again I don't have the figures right now but I don't know if CAs are a large enough group to be considered URMs. Just to clarifiy, this is just based on the consensus on TLS and that's the response you're most likely to get when you ask about who qualifies as a URM. It could be that you do get a boost, but experience seems to tell that it's not as big as the "official" URMs: African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans.

cr073137 wrote:Im a central american URM too. In my experience, I did get a boost, not as much as a AA (saw some AA ppl with same numbers doing better) but I think what helped me the most is that I highlighted that Im more than just "diversity of race" Also, try to be connected to your roots somehow, like volunteering at a Hispanic youth drop-put prevention program or something like that. THEY LOVE that shit. Leadership in your URM community is also big. The main thing is, be more than just a Checkbox on the application and you will get a higher boost.

Ps: Out of 500+ hispanic URM profiles I've seen in LSN and TLS with similar numbers, this strategy gave me the best results out of all them.

Nice to see cases that disprove the consensus
How about doing academic research on your parent's place of origin, in my case, Mexico. Do you think that works as well as having done volunteering work in your community?

blackwater88 wrote:

cr073137 wrote:Im a central american URM too. In my experience, I did get a boost, not as much as a AA (saw some AA ppl with same numbers doing better) but I think what helped me the most is that I highlighted that Im more than just "diversity of race" Also, try to be connected to your roots somehow, like volunteering at a Hispanic youth drop-put prevention program or something like that. THEY LOVE that shit. Leadership in your URM community is also big. The main thing is, be more than just a Checkbox on the application and you will get a higher boost.

Ps: Out of 500+ hispanic URM profiles I've seen in LSN and TLS with similar numbers, this strategy gave me the best results out of all them.

Nice to see cases that disprove the consensus
How about doing academic research on your parent's place of origin, in my case, Mexico. Do you think that works as well as having done volunteering work in your community?

I would think so, and to echo what the previous poster said. Its NOT just being minority, an Asian at Howard will be considered a big minority. If you are mexican, your urm boost at UCLA/USC etc might not be as big when compared to U Iowa/Minnesota/etc. Your boost depends how how many of your kind the schools gets.

Also, dont downplay the importance of little things that you might have done that contributed somehow to your community, (tutoring once a week a neighbor that didnt speak english well) is an example. Small things like that can make for a killer Diversity statement. At first, I didnt want to use any of my "diversity" because i felt that my upbringing wasnt that different from that of a typical middle class white family so it wouldnt be fair to get a boost for something i didnt do anything to deserve. But there are many small things in our lives that impacted us, how we think, and see the world differently than our "non-minority" counterparts, even if you dont see them in your everyday life. Even if you never faced adversity or racism, there is always something extra that you bring to the table.

cr073137 wrote:

blackwater88 wrote:

cr073137 wrote:Im a central american URM too. In my experience, I did get a boost, not as much as a AA (saw some AA ppl with same numbers doing better) but I think what helped me the most is that I highlighted that Im more than just "diversity of race" Also, try to be connected to your roots somehow, like volunteering at a Hispanic youth drop-put prevention program or something like that. THEY LOVE that shit. Leadership in your URM community is also big. The main thing is, be more than just a Checkbox on the application and you will get a higher boost.

Ps: Out of 500+ hispanic URM profiles I've seen in LSN and TLS with similar numbers, this strategy gave me the best results out of all them.

Nice to see cases that disprove the consensus
How about doing academic research on your parent's place of origin, in my case, Mexico. Do you think that works as well as having done volunteering work in your community?

I would think so, and to echo what the previous poster said. Its NOT just being minority, an Asian at Howard will be considered a big minority. If you are mexican, your urm boost at UCLA/USC etc might not be as big when compared to U Iowa/Minnesota/etc. Your boost depends how how many of your kind the schools gets.

Also, dont downplay the importance of little things that you might have done that contributed somehow to your community, (tutoring once a week a neighbor that didnt speak english well) is an example. Small things like that can make for a killer Diversity statement. At first, I didnt want to use any of my "diversity" because i felt that my upbringing wasnt that different from that of a typical middle class white family so it wouldnt be fair to get a boost for something i didnt do anything to deserve. But there are many small things in our lives that impacted us, how we think, and see the world differently than our "non-minority" counterparts, even if you dont see them in your everyday life. Even if you never faced adversity or racism, there is always something extra that you bring to the table.

Shit, thing is I haven't been very active in my community helping out disadvantaged kids, tutoring or things like that. I've been active in academic research that focuses on border issues, co-authored a book soon to be published on immigration issues, and have done translation work for a NGO. I know they're strong softs, but I'm worried they might be strong softs in general but won't be able to demonstrate that I've been active in my community.

Nola wrote:I actually talked to my mother last night who said that her mom was actually half Mexican. Unfortunately, I do not know a lot about that side of my family as I am the first generation on my mom's side of the family born in the US and my mother doesn't really talk about it very much (which infuriates me). So I am going to check both Central American and Mexican American on my LSAC account. Thanks for all of the help.

Please do not lie on your application about being Mexican-American. It is obvious that had this whole URM-question not arisen you would had not found out(or possibly cared) about your half-Mexican grandmother's roots. Besides how are you going to explain to Character and Fitness once you graduate that your are Mexican-American. I would imagine that it will be very hard for you to prove your claimed "heritage." Last thing you want is to go through law school and not be able to practice law. Anyway, retake your LSAT and leave the URM boost to true URMS.

blackwater88 wrote: Shit, thing is I haven't been very active in my community helping out disadvantaged kids, tutoring or things like that. I've been active in academic research that focuses on border issues, co-authored a book soon to be published on immigration issues, and have done translation work for a NGO. I know they're strong softs, but I'm worried they might be strong softs in general but won't be able to demonstrate that I've been active in my community.

Are you trying to make a point through sarcasm? I hope so, because your softs have contributed to your community way more than drop by volunteer work you described in the first sentence.

hiromoto45 wrote:

blackwater88 wrote: Shit, thing is I haven't been very active in my community helping out disadvantaged kids, tutoring or things like that. I've been active in academic research that focuses on border issues, co-authored a book soon to be published on immigration issues, and have done translation work for a NGO. I know they're strong softs, but I'm worried they might be strong softs in general but won't be able to demonstrate that I've been active in my community.

Are you trying to make a point through sarcasm? I hope so, because your softs have contributed to your community way more than drop by volunteer work you described in the first sentence.

I guess it depends what we mean by community, when i hear community I think of the people in the area where I reside, where I grew up, my neighbors. The sort of research that I did seems more detached; I dunno, I'm really proud of it and know that I've contributed on two topics that I really love, but just wasn't sure if that work was local enough.

I have really no idea how much being a URM effects your chances, but I was just fooling around with a LS prediction calc, and clicking "URM" increased the numbers in my favor dramatically.

I'm Dominican (born in DR, a USA citizen, & bilingual), haven't taken the LSAT yet but I've been getting around 169-175 on LSAT preptests (timed and official) & my gpa is 3.9.
Does anyone have any thoughts on how being Dominican is going to impact my applications this fall? Lots of people have said that Mexicans & PRicans get the bigger boosts in the Hispanic area...

Is being Dominican gonna boost my applications?

pandorasfox wrote:I have really no idea how much being a URM effects your chances, but I was just fooling around with a LS prediction calc, and clicking "URM" increased the numbers in my favor dramatically.

I'm Dominican (born in DR, a USA citizen, & bilingual), haven't taken the LSAT yet but I've been getting around 169-175 on LSAT preptests (timed and official) & my gpa is 3.9.
Does anyone have any thoughts on how being Dominican is going to impact my applications this fall? Lots of people have said that Mexicans & PRicans get the bigger boosts in the Hispanic area...

Is being Dominican gonna boost my applications?

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