Native Americans: apply to Columbia Forum

[thrillhouse]

Columbia is making an effort to increase Native American law student recruitment. If you are Native American take a shot and apply. If money is an issue, apply for a fee waiver. It is absolutely worth it. You have a much better chance of getting accepted than you realize. And, you have an infinitely better chance of getting accepted than if you don't apply.

[shanshan333]

Is this true? where are you getting your information from? is there like a cut off lsat score to get into columbia where you are just being absolutely ridiculous and wasting the app fee if you are native american. which i am canadian aboriginal.

[tommynobody]

native Canadian = native American?

[thrillhouse]

Is this true? where are you getting your information from? is there like a cut off lsat score to get into columbia where you are just being absolutely ridiculous and wasting the app fee if you are native american. which i am canadian aboriginal.

This is true. I'm getting my information from being at Columbia and working with admissions to increase Native recruitment. Some of the problem we have is that not enough students apply because they believe they can't get in. As I said, if money is an issue, apply for a fee waiver. I have no window into the cutoff for LSAT or GPA. Obviously, the higher the better in each case.

I don't know for certain, but I'm betting Canadian aboriginal doesn't count as Native American. A Canadian tribe doesn't have the same history or present relationship with the US Federal Government that Native American tribes have.

[Lonagan]

native Canadian = native American?

First nations?

[abl]

Ditto Stanford. While Stanford has a strong Native American Law Students Association (and of course, an incredibly strong undergrad Native American community), the admissions office is always looking for more Native American applicants.

[005618502]

Do you have to have proof? aka tribal card?

What about for people who have no proof, but know.

This may make no sense but i know some in this situation

[thrillhouse]

Do you have to have proof? aka tribal card?

What about for people who have no proof, but know.

This may make no sense but i know some in this situation

No school asked me for proof. But, box checking won't do it. It comes through in the essays. Admissions Committees can tell if you're faking it or not. You're description of your heritage will look authentic or it won't and, ultimately, the committee gets do decide that.

Yo, Stanford! Get outta my thread!

[005618502]

Its interesting because my friend is NA (cherokee) and has a 4.0 161, so i guess we will see what happens (she applied ED to columbia). I wonder if thats still way to low. Good softs, i dont think they are amazing though. I will have her post here when she finds out.

Is she still an auto ding with those numbers? She did get a fee waiver from them

[thrillhouse]

Its interesting because my friend is NA (cherokee) and has a 4.0 161, so i guess we will see what happens (she applied ED to columbia). I wonder if thats still way to low. Good softs, i dont think they are amazing though. I will have her post here when she finds out.

Is she still an auto ding with those numbers? She did get a fee waiver from them

Definitely not an auto-ding. I'll be very interested to see what happens.

[mrwarre85]

.

[thrillhouse]

164 2.8 too low..?

The 164 is good, but the 2.8 will hurt you. Still, give it a shot. Your explanation for the 2.8 will be key.

[mbw]

Do you have to have proof? aka tribal card?

What about for people who have no proof, but know.

This may make no sense but i know some in this situation

Different adcomms take different approaches to this, as NDN identification on applications is generally self-reported. Some will look very closely at cultural affiliation, whether or not you have a tribal enrollment and/or CDIB card(s). Others will discount the non-enrolled, and take the card-carriers, whether or not the latter are in fact culturally affiliated (we have a couple of those at my school.) When I was applying, it seemed the higher the USNWR ranking, the less scrutiny was applied in the process.

[JakkoJakko]

Any NAs apply to Columbia and hear back yet? I plan on applying but am waiting for my LSAT scores to come in first. Given my 3.0 GPA and considering that the LSAT went good, not great, I'm wondering if applying is a waste of time and would love to hear how some of the other NA applicants fared.

Feel free to PM me if you're not comfortable posting your stats.

[BackToTheOldHouse]

Any NAs apply to Columbia and hear back yet? I plan on applying but am waiting for my LSAT scores to come in first. Given my 3.0 GPA and considering that the LSAT went good, not great, I'm wondering if applying is a waste of time and would love to hear how some of the other NA applicants fared.

Feel free to PM me if you're not comfortable posting your stats.

I've applied and went complete today (just got the email). I am NA/white though, and I am not sure (and from what I have read here on TLS, no one really is sure) about how that is viewed by ad comms. Because of this, I have cast a broad net for my application cycle.

Oh yea, thanks to the OP and the poster from Stanford for the heads up--your comments here really helped pushed me over the edge when deciding whether or not it would be worthwhile to apply to both of these schools.

Good luck y'all!

[mrwarre85]

I didn't apply to Columbia, but I did apply to super reaches Cornell and Vandy. FYI just was accepted at Denver with a full tuition scholarship. Didn't supply a diversity statement, didn't talk about my heritage, and even though I'm NDN with tribal docs, didn't supply my role number because there wasn't a place on the application for it. I just checked white and NDN.

However, I may have done well at Denver because they like applicants with international experience, and I turned in a good application that highlighted my work overseas. Some schools really do look past the numbers (especially if your LSAT is close, and the school has no realistic shot to move up much further in the rankings).

[serdog]

I am thinking of Columbia as my super duber reach although I live in the settler state of Canada my Nation is cross-border and Intended to work for my people are both sides of the that line. Of course I will still be over the moon to get UVic

[s0ph1e2007]

Do you have to have proof? aka tribal card?

What about for people who have no proof, but know.

This may make no sense but i know some in this situation

Different adcomms take different approaches to this, as NDN identification on applications is generally self-reported. Some will look very closely at cultural affiliation, whether or not you have a tribal enrollment and/or CDIB card(s). Others will discount the non-enrolled, and take the card-carriers, whether or not the latter are in fact culturally affiliated (we have a couple of those at my school.) When I was applying, it seemed the higher the USNWR ranking, the less scrutiny was applied in the process.

huh no one asked me if I was enrolled- I'm always surprised when people say it varies.

[mrwarre85]

looked on lsac school info and Columbia reports only 2 native american students at the entire law school. I wouldn't want to go to a school where I was that far under the median LSAT though-- would be worried I would be left behind. I dunno, what do ya think?

earlier someone posted that they had a friend who had a 160, 4.0. the 4.0 is impressive, but not necessarily a good indicator of brainpower.

there is a huge difference between a 172 and a 160. considering law school is graded on a curve, wouldn't you worry about not being able to hang? some other students might not appreciate you around, either.

[005618502]

looked on lsac school info and Columbia reports only 2 native american students at the entire law school. I wouldn't want to go to a school where I was that far under the median LSAT though-- would be worried I would be left behind. I dunno, what do ya think?

earlier someone posted that they had a friend who had a 160, 4.0. the 4.0 is impressive, but not necessarily a good indicator of brainpower.

there is a huge difference between a 172 and a 160. considering law school is graded on a curve, wouldn't you worry about not being able to hang? some other students might not appreciate you around, either.

If you got in with an LSAT around 160 no one would ever know... unless you told them. You could always either not tell or say you scored in the 170's lol

[James Bond]

Well, I was certainly born in America. That makes me native to it.

[005618502]

Well, I was certainly born in America. That makes me native to it.

check that box my friend

[mrwarre85]

looked on lsac school info and Columbia reports only 2 native american students at the entire law school. I wouldn't want to go to a school where I was that far under the median LSAT though-- would be worried I would be left behind. I dunno, what do ya think?

earlier someone posted that they had a friend who had a 160, 4.0. the 4.0 is impressive, but not necessarily a good indicator of brainpower.

there is a huge difference between a 172 and a 160. considering law school is graded on a curve, wouldn't you worry about not being able to hang? some other students might not appreciate you around, either.

If you got in with an LSAT around 160 no one would ever know... unless you told them. You could always either not tell or say you scored in the 170's lol

I've got that much, but do you think they could hang? I've never been to law school and don't have any way of formulating an accurate opinion on this.

[mrwarre85]

Well, I was certainly born in America. That makes me native to it.

makes sense.

[005618502]

looked on lsac school info and Columbia reports only 2 native american students at the entire law school. I wouldn't want to go to a school where I was that far under the median LSAT though-- would be worried I would be left behind. I dunno, what do ya think?

earlier someone posted that they had a friend who had a 160, 4.0. the 4.0 is impressive, but not necessarily a good indicator of brainpower.

there is a huge difference between a 172 and a 160. considering law school is graded on a curve, wouldn't you worry about not being able to hang? some other students might not appreciate you around, either.

If you got in with an LSAT around 160 no one would ever know... unless you told them. You could always either not tell or say you scored in the 170's lol

I've got that much, but do you think they could hang? I've never been to law school and don't have any way of formulating an accurate opinion on this.

LSAT is not as much as a predictor as people think. Just as SAT isnt for college. You will be okay.