Native American admission Forum

Share experiences and seek insight regarding your experience as an underrepresented minority within the legal community.
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting

Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are sharing sensitive information about bar exam prep. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.

Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned."
reedm

New
Posts: 43
Joined: Mon Nov 09, 2015 11:00 am

Native American admission

Post by reedm » Mon Nov 09, 2015 11:16 am

I can barely find anything on Native Americans and where NAs have been admitted. I'm taking the LSAT in December and expecting around a 16x, hoping for a 16x. GPA 3.x from a top public university. Good softs. I'm involved in my tribe and have a tribal ID number I can provide, as well as experience within the tribe etc.
I'm applying all over the place, but do want to give some T-14s a shot. If anyone has any insight on my chances with T-14 schools or just information on NA admission in general, I'd really appreciate it. Or any NAs applying this cycle and have heard back from law schools.
Last edited by reedm on Tue Aug 01, 2017 12:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
PubliusJ

New
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2015 4:06 am

Re: Native American admission

Post by PubliusJ » Mon Nov 16, 2015 4:37 pm

I'm no expert, but from everything I've read NAs get the biggest boost, provided of course that they are registered with their tribe, and incorporate their ancestry in their personal or diversity statement. I'd say you have a pretty good shot at some T14s.

I'm also an NA, but I'm anticipating my score is a little too low for comfort.

User avatar
Trippel

Bronze
Posts: 192
Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2013 2:52 pm

Re: Native American admission

Post by Trippel » Mon Nov 16, 2015 11:43 pm

PubliusJ wrote:I'm no expert, but from everything I've read NAs get the biggest boost, provided of course that they are registered with their tribe, and incorporate their ancestry in their personal or diversity statement. I'd say you have a pretty good shot at some T14s.

I'm also an NA, but I'm anticipating my score is a little too low for comfort.
This is a prevalent TLS misconception. The NA boost is not the largest, but it can help with scholarship $$$. Also, only like 3-4 T-14s seem to provide a boost to NA applicants.

OP, shoot for a 167 for T-14. Even a 166 could be too low.

andythefir

Silver
Posts: 701
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2010 1:56 am

Re: Native American admission

Post by andythefir » Tue Nov 17, 2015 12:29 am

I identify as Native/White, but I don't have a card or a terribly strong cultural connection (immediate family moved away from the rest of the family). If you count people like me who identify as >1 race, roughly 2% of the population is Native. In Yale's class, then, they need <4 Natives to get to the national average. From what I've seen, schools tend to treat from-rural-rez-speaks-Native-language like they treat decorated combat veterans. Cool to get when possible, but not necessary in the same way that schools can't have a class with 5% black students. A school can always fill a class with tangential native connections in a way they can't for black/Hispanic/etc.

In my experience, schools eyeball classes and start to massage admissions more aggressively if the class is getting lopsided.

User avatar
Trippel

Bronze
Posts: 192
Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2013 2:52 pm

Re: Native American admission

Post by Trippel » Tue Nov 17, 2015 1:14 am

andythefir wrote:I identify as Native/White, but I don't have a card or a terribly strong cultural connection (immediate family moved away from the rest of the family). If you count people like me who identify as >1 race, roughly 2% of the population is Native. In Yale's class, then, they need <4 Natives to get to the national average. From what I've seen, schools tend to treat from-rural-rez-speaks-Native-language like they treat decorated combat veterans. Cool to get when possible, but not necessary in the same way that schools can't have a class with 5% black students. A school can always fill a class with tangential native connections in a way they can't for black/Hispanic/etc.

In my experience, schools eyeball classes and start to massage admissions more aggressively if the class is getting lopsided.
Are you drunk? How does this help/answer OP's question?

User avatar
A. Nony Mouse

Diamond
Posts: 29293
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:51 am

Re: Native American admission

Post by A. Nony Mouse » Tue Nov 17, 2015 1:28 am

It's a comment on how schools treat NAs in admissions. That's one of the things the OP asked for.

User avatar
mornincounselor

Silver
Posts: 1236
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:37 am

Re: Native American admission

Post by mornincounselor » Tue Nov 17, 2015 2:27 am

--
Last edited by mornincounselor on Fri Dec 11, 2015 5:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

andythefir

Silver
Posts: 701
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2010 1:56 am

Re: Native American admission

Post by andythefir » Tue Nov 17, 2015 9:21 pm

Trippel wrote:
andythefir wrote:I identify as Native/White, but I don't have a card or a terribly strong cultural connection (immediate family moved away from the rest of the family). If you count people like me who identify as >1 race, roughly 2% of the population is Native. In Yale's class, then, they need <4 Natives to get to the national average. From what I've seen, schools tend to treat from-rural-rez-speaks-Native-language like they treat decorated combat veterans. Cool to get when possible, but not necessary in the same way that schools can't have a class with 5% black students. A school can always fill a class with tangential native connections in a way they can't for black/Hispanic/etc.

In my experience, schools eyeball classes and start to massage admissions more aggressively if the class is getting lopsided.
Are you drunk? How does this help/answer OP's question?
It's folly to say that anyone is "out at X school, in at Y school" even with numbers in hand. When (1) there is no LSAT yet, (2) the applicant is Native, and (3) admissions is changing all the time, there's no way to be sure of anything. If you're Native or have a very high LSAT or GPA, you may just fill a role some school desperately needs. If they've got plenty of what you've got to offer, you may strike out. Native applicants should apply everywhere. The ceiling is very high, and the floor is very low.

Troianii

Silver
Posts: 542
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 5:13 am

Re: Native American admission

Post by Troianii » Wed Nov 18, 2015 2:06 am

Trippel wrote:
PubliusJ wrote:I'm no expert, but from everything I've read NAs get the biggest boost, provided of course that they are registered with their tribe, and incorporate their ancestry in their personal or diversity statement. I'd say you have a pretty good shot at some T14s.

I'm also an NA, but I'm anticipating my score is a little too low for comfort.
This is a prevalent TLS misconception. The NA boost is not the largest, but it can help with scholarship $$$. Also, only like 3-4 T-14s seem to provide a boost to NA applicants.

OP, shoot for a 167 for T-14. Even a 166 could be too low.

Do you have a source?

NonTrat

New
Posts: 62
Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2015 4:24 pm

Re: Native American admission

Post by NonTrat » Thu Nov 19, 2015 8:08 pm

What is your source that the NA URM boost is the largest?

Everything I've read is that black is the largest...

User avatar
Trippel

Bronze
Posts: 192
Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2013 2:52 pm

Re: Native American admission

Post by Trippel » Thu Nov 19, 2015 9:20 pm

Troianii wrote:
Trippel wrote:
PubliusJ wrote:I'm no expert, but from everything I've read NAs get the biggest boost, provided of course that they are registered with their tribe, and incorporate their ancestry in their personal or diversity statement. I'd say you have a pretty good shot at some T14s.

I'm also an NA, but I'm anticipating my score is a little too low for comfort.
This is a prevalent TLS misconception. The NA boost is not the largest, but it can help with scholarship $$$. Also, only like 3-4 T-14s seem to provide a boost to NA applicants.

OP, shoot for a 167 for T-14. Even a 166 could be too low.

Do you have a source?
Sources: My own cycle and other Native students I know who are at/gone through the T-14. Also look at law school numbers for Native applicants for the last 5 years and peruse TLS threads about Native applicants.

You will generally find that Native applicants with sub-166 lsat scores and mediocre GPA's do not land T-14.

239840

Bronze
Posts: 119
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 2:38 pm

Re: Native American admission

Post by 239840 » Sat Mar 28, 2020 1:40 pm

Trippel wrote:
Troianii wrote:
Trippel wrote:
PubliusJ wrote:I'm no expert, but from everything I've read NAs get the biggest boost, provided of course that they are registered with their tribe, and incorporate their ancestry in their personal or diversity statement. I'd say you have a pretty good shot at some T14s.

I'm also an NA, but I'm anticipating my score is a little too low for comfort.
This is a prevalent TLS misconception. The NA boost is not the largest, but it can help with scholarship $$$. Also, only like 3-4 T-14s seem to provide a boost to NA applicants.

OP, shoot for a 167 for T-14. Even a 166 could be too low.

Do you have a source?
Sources: My own cycle and other Native students I know who are at/gone through the T-14. Also look at law school numbers for Native applicants for the last 5 years and peruse TLS threads about Native applicants.

You will generally find that Native applicants with sub-166 lsat scores and mediocre GPA's do not land T-14.
Bumping this just to add my n=1 in support of the advice given here. As others in this thread pointed out, it seems there's some notion that NA applicants receive perhaps the biggest admissions boost. That is just plain false. And if you look at the representation of minority groups in law, it's AAs who are not proportionally represented in law - more so than any other group - compared to the percentage of the population that they represent. They wholly justifiably receive the largest admissions boost.

If you're an NA applicant and wanting T14-20, you should still be trying to achieve an LSAT that puts you at some of those medians. 167+ is the minimum you should want, on average. 170+ is always ideal, though. Of course, if your GPA is on the higher side you might get away with something in the 160-165 range. But if you're going to be below both medians at all of the T20, then you won't do so well, as the above poster pointed out.

Post Reply Post Anonymous Reply  

Return to “Underrepresented Law Students”