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[admisionquestion]

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[admisionquestion]

Anyone?

[dkt4]

for north american tribal affiliation, you often have to have some proof of membership/affiliation.

no idea for south/central america. i'd call and ask. or hopefully someone knows on here

[admisionquestion]

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[dkt4]

not sure about Michigan specifically...many schools require either a tribal membership or some proof of lineage (it used to be you had to be 1/16th NA...not sure if that still stands).

your parents or grandparents may have a tribal card, or if you can prove your membership i think you can apply for one?

sorry i only know tidbits of this...i think i'm part NA but never bothered looking into it, so this is mostly from talking to friends and family.

[admisionquestion]

Can someone else please answer this?

[kaiser]

If you have to ask about it, its usually a sign that you shouldn't be checking the box.

[admisionquestion]

If you have to ask about it, its usually a sign that you shouldn't be checking the box.

No, thats just wrong. I will do whatever is not breaking the rules. I do not want to break the rules but to not break them I first have to understand them. I am of na origins, I id that way and dont know what it means to affiliate.

[NZA]

Are your parents members of a tribe? Did you grow up on the res?

[admisionquestion]

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[NZA]

http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 4&t=159860


One of my parents are a member. They did not grow up on the reservation. But they did get money from the reservation as a kid.

I don't know...hopefully NR will see this thread and give some insight. Your case seems so borderline, I honestly don't know what you should do. Sorry.

ETA: Anyway, I'm leaning towards "no." Affiliated seems to refer to enrollment in a tribe.

[run26.2]

On Mich's application their question about NA's reads:

are you a, "a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment."

I am struggling to make sense of this:

I maintain "affiliation" in the broad sense. I identify as being of a particular tribe because of my heritage. and I identify as being a member of the community in the sense that I feel attacked when people discriminate against "natives."

But I am not officially affiliated and I am not physically attached to the community.

I was comfortable identifying as NA, but I am not sure If I should be comfortable checking Yes to this question.

1. Is this the typical fashion that this question is asked? Any other t14 applications from the previous year still available or saved as PDF's laying around?

2. What are your thoughts on how to respond to this question given what I said above?

Tribal affiliation is a technical term that relates to the tribe you were born into or carry a card from. The question seems to be asking if you were born into a tribal community or maintain significant ties to people in such a community.

This is more specific than "Are you of NA descent?" and probably more specific than the loose sense of identification you expressed above.

[admisionquestion]

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[run26.2]

Gotcha and thanks for the informative answer!

Then I have another two questions:

First, why are so many people in the post I referenced telling me that I am NA and White. I can think of three possible reasons. One, they have no idea what they are talking about. 2. Mich has a uniquely specific phrasing of the question. 3. According to LSAC I am both but I won't be able to select it on many specific Applications--schools will see the LSAC response still though....

I'm guessing the answer is 3. In which case my follow up question is, is there any NA boost in this case?

I'm not a minority, so I don't really have experience with filling in these boxes. I believe most people would say this because you are descended from a Native American but you are only 1/4 NA.

Michigan's statement may be trying to identify those who they want to give preference to, as opposed to those who have little or no association with a Native American tribe. Their statement seems fairly specific and may be the exception rather than the rule.

I'd have no idea what kind of boost you would get from the school seeing the LSAC response, but I'd guess it would be something and that the boost would increase if you could talk credibly about your experience as a Native American in a diversity statement.

[vanwinkle]

I wrote this in another thread, and it's just as applicable here:

The ABA just passed a resolution urging law schools to verify their Native American status through tribal citizenship or tribal affiliation as well as an "ethnic statement" describing why they indicated NA status. This is because of a spike in applicants who are identifying as NA on their applications, with the ABA wanting to reduce "ethnic misrepresentation" in this category.

Article: http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/ ... oan_debts/
Passed resolution: http://www.abajournal.com/files/102.pdf

Short version: If you just "check the box" after a history of identifying as white, you might get yourself in trouble.

See also: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1 ... hbxlogin=1