Are foreign citizens considered URM? Forum

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Apple1000

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Are foreign citizens considered URM?

Post by Apple1000 » Mon Jun 15, 2020 5:27 pm

If someone is a black Canadian citizen and isn’t an American citizen or perm resident will they still get a URM boost?

The Lsat Airbender

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Re: Are foreign citizens considered URM?

Post by The Lsat Airbender » Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:57 pm

Apple1000 wrote:
Mon Jun 15, 2020 5:27 pm
If someone is a black Canadian citizen and isn’t an American citizen or perm resident will they still get a URM boost?
As far as anyone can tell, yes: black (and Mexican) people from outside the U.S. get similar consideration to their American counterparts.

kenhope

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Re: Are foreign citizens considered URM?

Post by kenhope » Wed Aug 12, 2020 12:47 am

The Lsat Airbender wrote:
Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:57 pm
Apple1000 wrote:
Mon Jun 15, 2020 5:27 pm
If someone is a black Canadian citizen and isn’t an American citizen or perm resident will they still get a URM boost?
As far as anyone can tell, yes: black (and Mexican) people from outside the U.S. get similar consideration to their American counterparts.
Like OP im a black canadian, grew up partly in US as well

Im not doubting you but do you have more info i can read on us getting the same urm boost as our black american kin?

The Lsat Airbender

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Re: Are foreign citizens considered URM?

Post by The Lsat Airbender » Wed Aug 12, 2020 11:07 am

kenhope wrote:
Wed Aug 12, 2020 12:47 am
Like OP im a black canadian, grew up partly in US as well

Im not doubting you but do you have more info i can read on us getting the same urm boost as our black american kin?
I'm hesitant to say "the same boost". Especially in the past few years, law schools are interested in training more African-American lawyers for the purpose of improving the criminal-justice system. There are many unique aspects of the AA experience that go beyond skin color.

But that's just one narrow part of diversity. Cynically, I think law schools want to be able to put "10% black" in their entering-class brochure instead of "8% black." They only way they have of measuring that number is a tickbox on the application saying "Black/African-American." Less cynically, black people from other countries bring important perspectives to the law-school classroom and, just by being visible on campus, in courtrooms, and in law firms, help in the fight against antiblack racism in the U.S. legal system. Very broadly speaking, American culture "cares more" about race than nationality.

You're probably not going to find hard numbers on this. Law schools are very careful about how they publicly discuss these issues (they could get sued, especially the public unis, for saying or doing certain things). But I personally know African and Caribbean people from Canada (Toronto mostly) who've done very well in their application cycles (for law schools as well as other undergraduate and graduate programs), well enough that law schools must strongly value this kind of diversity.

If at all possible, you should try and get in touch with people of similar backgrounds. LinkedIn is worth trying, and you can/should also reach out to student associations at law schools you're interested in.

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