Does Native American count as URM and should I file as one? Forum

[existenz]

I don't think OP should check the box. Say he gets into HYS as a NA. Then he shows up for admit days or orientation and he's the whitest guy in school. Admissions dean asks him what tribe he is in, but OP doesn't know or seems evasive, reveals he's not registered with any tribe, never been to a reservation, says his great-grandmother thinks they were part of a tribe, but the details are sketchy, blah blah blah.

Chances are the law school would not be super-happy. They'd suspect he's a big fat liar who tried to scam the system by checking the box. Would they kick him out for lying on his law school app? Probably not, since proving he is not NA would be difficult and the ethnicity question is pretty subjective. But when he goes before the bar character and fitness Interview, they might grill him, and if his answers aren't solid they would not be happy about such misrepresentation.

Even if none of these things ruin OP's career, he gets to spend 3+ with a worry in the back of his head that he will exposed as a fraud.

If he can somehow get documentation that he is 1/8th NA or whatever, then he can check the box without fear. But even then, I don't think checking the box by itself gets a major boost, especially if his PS and background have zilch to do with anything NA.

[Haribo]

I don't get why people are getting all upset about this. Check the box, don't check the box, NA is the one URM that requires substantial involvement before it even begins to approximate a boost, and it doesn't sound like you have that, or could get it. It won't make any difference at all in your cycle.

And to be honest, while being NA seems like it should be a huge boost, it isn't in practice. Check back for previous years on TLS - there are plenty of people with diversity statements and strong NA-related softs who have gotten in just about where their numbers would suggest as a non-URM.

[Kohinoor]

I'll post again on page 23.