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I am a "mutt". My father is white and my mother is pacific islander/black, I look like a mixed kid. I plan on marking all of these on my law school applications. Do mixed students usually get URM boosts?

Yes, I am not sure how much of your dna has to be URM, but I'm pretty sure 50% counts. As long as the school can say that they have some black pacific islander they are happy.

2011Law wrote:Yes, I am not sure how much of your dna has to be URM, but I'm pretty sure 50% counts. As long as the school can say that they have some black pacific islander they are happy.

Pacific islanders aren't black. . They're some sort of other people.

Mark what you are and write a DS. Chances are you'll get something.

Are you saying your mother is half pacific islander, half black or something else?
If you are saying she is 1/2 black then that makes you 25% URM in terms of being "African American"
Not sure how much that would boost you though. I would imagine writing a DS helps.

If you're mom is half black, then I'd use that one-drop rule to my full advantage.

Omegared179 wrote:I am a "mutt". My father is white and my mother is pacific islander/black, I look like a mixed kid. I plan on marking all of these on my law school applications. Do mixed students usually get URM boosts?

LOL you don't hang out with too many Black people do you? So many people who identify as Black (in fact the majority of those who aren't African immigrants-and even many of them) have other racial groups in their background. Your "mutt" situation is pretty common! Just check Black on your applications--you'll get the "boost".

BruceWayne wrote:

Omegared179 wrote:I am a "mutt". My father is white and my mother is pacific islander/black, I look like a mixed kid. I plan on marking all of these on my law school applications. Do mixed students usually get URM boosts?

LOL you don't hang out with too many Black people do you? So many people who identify as Black (in fact the majority of those who aren't African immigrants-and even many of them) have other racial groups in their background. Your "mutt" situation is pretty common! Just check Black on your applications--you'll get the "boost".

Thanks for the advice guys! Haha I have several friends who are part White and Black, but I don't know anyone else that is as "mixed" as I am. I was just concerned because my appearance is not like any of these individual races.

Omegared179 wrote: Thanks for the advice guys! Haha I have several friends who are part white and black, but I don't know anyone else that is as "mixed" as I am. I was just concerned because my appearance is not like any of these individual races.

Schools don't do any "mixed enough" or "too mixed" or "not Black enough" tests----think of the legal and political disaster that would turn out to be! You'll be fine checking Black; good luck with the application process.

As someone who is checking 4 boxes, I've been told it will be the same as purebreds. Schools can't tell if you're 70% or 7% black, fwiw.

bk187 wrote:As someone who is checking 4 boxes, I've been told it will be the same as purebreds. Schools can't tell if you're 70% or 7% black, fwiw.

Thank you for the information, just curious, did schools tell you this or individual applicants.

BTW, pendulum kicks ass

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Omegared179 wrote: Thank you for the information, just curious, did schools tell you this or individual applicants.

BTW, pendulum kicks ass

It's from the trend seen on TLS. Also it just intuitively makes sense. When you check the boxes, you could check 4 things and they would have no way of telling what the percentages are. It's not like they ask for your parents' and grandparents' ethnicities so they can determine whether you are 75% or 12.5% black.

Suppose you were part white, part asian, part mexican and part black. The answer just depends on the school you are applying for... look at the race that the school gives the biggest boost to and check that box. Why in the world would you check multiple boxes when you know that certain races wouldn't get the boost or would put you into a category that was more competitive number wise. If you were only Chinese and black and were applying to a school on the west coast and had average numbers... would you want to be lumped into the group of blacks which tend to have lower numbers as a whole or with the Asian applicants that tend to have higher numbers. Don't give them any reason to put you in a group that would hurt your chances pick the one that will help the most.

In your case I'm not sure what pacific islanders normally are in comparison to blacks... if they get a bigger boost than blacks then check that box if the blacks get a bigger boost then pick black... but don't pick them all it could come back to hurt you.

Pip wrote:Suppose you were part white, part asian, part mexican and part black. The answer just depends on the school you are applying for... look at the race that the school gives the biggest boost to and check that box. Why in the world would you check multiple boxes when you know that certain races wouldn't get the boost or would put you into a category that was more competitive number wise. If you were only Chinese and black and were applying to a school on the west coast and had average numbers... would you want to be lumped into the group of blacks which tend to have lower numbers as a whole or with the Asian applicants that tend to have higher numbers. Don't give them any reason to put you in a group that would hurt your chances pick the one that will help the most.

In your case I'm not sure what pacific islanders normally are in comparison to blacks... if they get a bigger boost than blacks then check that box if the blacks get a bigger boost then pick black... but don't pick them all it could come back to hurt you.

FTFY

Nightrunner wrote:Other solution: just mark boxes next to racial terms that you (a) are genetically linked to and (b) identify as in your daily life.

Isn't this the only correct response?

1/2 white and cherokee, 1/2 Black chiming in FWIW. I suppose the most ethical boxes to choose are what you identify with and have traces to, as was stated earlier. I personally only checked black, primarily because that is what everyone down here in the south calls me and I figure that if that is how the world views me then that is effectively what I am.

I have a freind who is half black and half white. On his texas drivers license it says only black. When he was pulled over and got a ticket for having the plastic dealer's thingy still around his license plate they wrote that he was mexican on the ticket.
If the government can decide how to define you based off your mix you can write down whatever you want based off your mix, I think.

bkbkbk wrote:if that is how the world views me then that is effectively what I am.

/facepalm

sophia.olive wrote:I have a freind who is half black and half white. On his texas drivers license it says only black. When he was pulled over and got a ticket for having the plastic dealer's thingy still around his license plate they wrote that he was mexican on the ticket.
If the government can decide how to define you based off your mix you can write down whatever you want based off your mix, I think.

I agree... you can choose whatever you want based on your heritage, but don't feel obligated to be confined by what others perceive you to be. That said, the friend you mentioned above would be disingenuous to consider himself Mexican merely because an officer characterized him as such due to his skin tone (I am assuming that is why he marked it as such).

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*****

SehMeSerrious wrote:

bkbkbk wrote:I figure that if that is how the world views me then that is effectively what I am.

WOW this guy is stupid.

Save yourself the time and money and skip law school.

Can you imagine this guy representing you in court?

Thanks for your contribution

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