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I am applying to law school this cycle and for the demographics page on the application, it does not have my ethnicity. I heard it is a bad idea to check the box that says "Decline to respond". As messed up as this sounds, law schools want diverse students and affirmative action is real.

Im asking you guys what to check it. I am middle eastern, Persian. I am technically considered white/Caucasian, I was born here. But as far as my chances of getting into a better law school, what box should I check? " Decline to respond" or " White/Caucasian"

Andrewfromla818 wrote:I am applying to law school this cycle and for the demographics page on the application, it does not have my ethnicity. I heard it is a bad idea to check the box that says "Decline to respond". As messed up as this sounds, law schools want diverse students and affirmative action is real.

Im asking you guys what to check it. I am middle eastern, Persian. I am technically considered white/Caucasian, I was born here. But as far as my chances of getting into a better law school, what box should I check? " Decline to respond" or " White/Caucasian"

If you hit decline to respond they'll just assume you're white.

Seems like you answered you own question. You are Caucasian. You can check Caucasian, decline to reply, or lie. One of these three options is clearly wrong, you decide!

Was wondering if something like Palestinian, which is mostly Hebrew with a mix of African and Greek would count as URM

No, you would not be considered a URM.

You need to “identify” with a group to be considered URM. You don’t need to necessarily have that blood. I.e. a white child adopted and raised by black parents can be considered AA for admissions purposes if that’s how they identify. If your step dad is URM, check that box if you identify with his culture and was raised that way.

....really??

I think you’d have a great diversity statement but I don’t think having an African-American stepdad makes a white person African-American.

(Or: okay, Rachel.)

Synapse2018 wrote:You need to “identify” with a group to be considered URM. You don’t need to necessarily have that blood. I.e. a white child adopted and raised by black parents can be considered AA for admissions purposes if that’s how they identify. If your step dad is URM, check that box if you identify with his culture and was raised that way.

So by this logic, a Korean person can identify as a Mexican?

L_William_W wrote:

Synapse2018 wrote:You need to “identify” with a group to be considered URM. You don’t need to necessarily have that blood. I.e. a white child adopted and raised by black parents can be considered AA for admissions purposes if that’s how they identify. If your step dad is URM, check that box if you identify with his culture and was raised that way.

So by this logic, a Korean person can identify as a Mexican?

It is completely possible, but it depends on the circumstances. The diversity statement is generally a good place to address that type of association

Writing about this in a diversity statement is fine. Checking the box for Mexican or African-American is not.

nixy wrote:Writing about this in a diversity statement is fine. Checking the box for Mexican or African-American is not.

I did notice that some schools ask for "what group you identify with." I think if you want to limit ethnic grouping to biological ethnicity you would not word it like that.

I do identify with a different group more than my birth group, but I checked my group. I can't say that I disagree with anyone who truthfully choose the other way though. This using ethnic grouping to proximate disadvantages is not entirely on point.

Are black canadians considered urm and non intl?

Would having a medically diagnosed learning disability make me a URM?

Plus would starting law school at a later age also put me in this category? Ex. starting at 29/30 vs. fresh out of a college at 21 or 22.

Collegiate wrote:Would having a medically diagnosed learning disability make me a URM?

Plus would starting law school at a later age also put me in this category? Ex. starting at 29/30 vs. fresh out of a college at 21 or 22.

No to both.

kenhope wrote:Are black canadians considered urm and non intl?

You’re still international, but anecdotes suggest you will count as African American/black.

I'm brazilian and y'all know colorism is real af in brazil. whenever i'm in there i'm considered "black" but here in the states i'm not embraced by the AA community whatsoever since my grandmothers were not black. both of my grandfathers were visibly black people and so i've always checked the "other" or "two or more" box when it comes to self identification and on lsac itself i checked off "black" "white" and "south american". do i need to go into lengthy detail about this on my diversity statement? i actually planned on writing about my parents' struggle moving to america and how that shaped my upbringing. most people who see me guess, based on my features, that i am mixed with something. feels like racial limbo most of the time tbh

Im a biracial white/black Canadian.

Can I select only black/AA on my application? I don’t identify as white and if you look at me you will essentially see a lighter skinned black man.

nixy wrote:

kenhope wrote:Are black canadians considered urm and non intl?

You’re still international, but anecdotes suggest you will count as African American/black.

Does being international affect URM status in any way? Negatively or positively?

CoolHouse wrote:

nixy wrote:

kenhope wrote:Are black canadians considered urm and non intl?

You’re still international, but anecdotes suggest you will count as African American/black.

Does being international affect URM status in any way? Negatively or positively?

Negatively. The URM boosts are based on being a US citizen - i.e. African Americans being underrepresented, not Africans. I'm pretty sure that's how US News implements diversity ratings. That said, law schools like having diverse classes so there is still some benefit.

CoolHouse wrote:Im a biracial white/black Canadian.

Can I select only black/AA on my application? I don’t identify as white and if you look at me you will essentially see a lighter skinned black man.

As you are 50% black, appear black, and self-identify as black, yes, IMO you are fine to identify as "only" black/AA on your application.

LSATWiz.com wrote:

CoolHouse wrote:

nixy wrote:

kenhope wrote:Are black canadians considered urm and non intl?

You’re still international, but anecdotes suggest you will count as African American/black.

Does being international affect URM status in any way? Negatively or positively?

Negatively. The URM boosts are based on being a US citizen - i.e. African Americans being underrepresented, not Africans. I'm pretty sure that's how US News implements diversity ratings. That said, law schools like having diverse classes so there is still some benefit.

Is there a part in the application where I indicate my citizenship? What if I have a green card? Would I be seen the same as a US citizen?

CoolHouse wrote:

LSATWiz.com wrote:

CoolHouse wrote:

nixy wrote:

kenhope wrote:Are black canadians considered urm and non intl?

You’re still international, but anecdotes suggest you will count as African American/black.

Does being international affect URM status in any way? Negatively or positively?

Negatively. The URM boosts are based on being a US citizen - i.e. African Americans being underrepresented, not Africans. I'm pretty sure that's how US News implements diversity ratings. That said, law schools like having diverse classes so there is still some benefit.

Is there a part in the application where I indicate my citizenship? What if I have a green card? Would I be seen the same as a US citizen?

IDK - it's possible the green card changes it - I just don't know the exact way US News defines it, and the truth is that's a big part of why there's a large URM boost. Now, law schools do want to have more black law students. I remember reading a law review article years ago where an admissions dean was quoted as expressing it would be embarrassing for a school to have a class with one black student. The thing it is a numbers game, and an African American student with lower #'s can check a box you can't so you do want to be above one median the same as if you were not a URM. You are probably going to be preferred over other non-URM's, but you're not going to get the same boost. Think somewhere between a diversity boost and URM boost.

Eastern European immigrant to the US that lives around the poverty line. Do I qualify as URM?

Caracalla wrote:Eastern European immigrant to the US that lives around the poverty line. Do I qualify as URM?

For law school admissions purposes, no.

That said, you could/should potentially include a Diversity Statement, which may help move things around the edge. But you won't be considered a URM for law school admissions purposes, so you shouldn't expect to outperform your GPA/LSAT as predicted by MyLSN.

Does the LGBT community get an admissions advantage at Harvard, Columbia, or NYU? Do other hispanics (not Mexican or Puerto Rican)?