Cuban a significant URM boost? Forum

[CMDantes]

Subject.

[jl2032]

URM is only African-American, Puerto Rican, Mexican, or Native American.

Non-URM hispanics can write up a good diversity statement - it's a good soft.

[CMDantes]

.

[jl2032]

You should search for "URM" threads. It's been discussed at least a thousand times on here already:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 14&t=35568

You'll notice on every application, the schools will ask "Are you Hispanic/Latino?" and if yes, they'll ask "Mexican, Puerto Rican, or other?"

Edited to note that I'm also a non-URM hispanic who applied this cycle and I've come to terms with this.

[CMDantes]

You should search for "URM" threads. It's been discussed at least a thousand times on here already:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 14&t=35568

You'll notice on every application, the schools will ask "Are you Hispanic/Latino?" and if yes, they'll ask "Mexican, Puerto Rican, or other?"

For some reason I missed that, thanks!

[Grad09]

You should search for "URM" threads. It's been discussed at least a thousand times on here already:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 14&t=35568

You'll notice on every application, the schools will ask "Are you Hispanic/Latino?" and if yes, they'll ask "Mexican, Puerto Rican, or other?"

Edited to note that I'm also a non-URM hispanic who applied this cycle and I've come to terms with this.

Not to try to discredit your assertions here, but this is definitely not true. I don't recall which schools in specific, but I know I have seen applications with:
-just a hispanic/latino box + a section of boxes identifying race
-a situation similar to the one above, but you type in your type of hispanic
-boxes for PRs, Mexican Americans, and "other hispanic"
-boxes for PRs, Mexican Americans, Cubans, and Other Hispanics

And I'm sure I have seen other scenarios as well. The point: preferences for mexicans and PRs aren't always obvious.

Unfortunately, I have not come to terms with Cubans (or any other non-Mex or PR hispanic) not getting a boost. I constantly hear conflicting opinions on this. For lack of conclusive evidence and differing policies among law schools, this is something I can't admit easily.

Want to know if Cubans get a boost? I'll let you know when my cycle is over.

[CMDantes]

Keep me posted compadre.

[071816]

No.

[CMDantes]

No.

Thanks for resurrecting this dead and useless thread.

EDIT: To say that it did play a factor in my cycle.

[071816]

No.

Thanks for resurrecting this dead and useless thread.

EDIT: To say that it did play a factor in my cycle.

No problem. I do not believe it played any factor whatsoever in my cycle other than getting me on the Michigan waitlist when I probably would have been rejected otherwise.

Seeing as how I just created an account yesterday, how could it hurt to give future Cuban applicants a little info?

Future Cuban applicants, if you have decent numbers and Michigan gives you a fee waiver, APPLY!

[CMDantes]

Seeing as how I just created an account yesterday, how could it hurt to give future Cuban applicants a little info?

Future Cuban applicants, if you have decent numbers and Michigan gives you a fee waiver, APPLY!

True enough.

More advice for fellow Cubans, I suggest writing a diversity statement or incorporating your different-ness in your application somehow. I think that's what made a difference in my cycle.

Edit: Oh, and if you get into a good school, look up the SEO Corporate Law program.

[FalafelWaffle]

Depends. Some schools (I think GW as an example), don't care what kind of Hispanic you are, they just ask you to check off Hispanic. If a school asks you to specify Cuban/Puerto Rican/Mexican/Other, I think that shows that they care. That said, despite hearing that Cuban is not nearly as helpful as PR/Mexican, given that they differentiate Cuban from Other hispanic on many applications, it's probably better than being South American. And I don't really buy the argument that that's because there are more Cubans--there are a ton of South Americans in this country-I'm from Miami, the amount of Venezuelans is staggering.

[071816]

Seeing as how I just created an account yesterday, how could it hurt to give future Cuban applicants a little info?

Future Cuban applicants, if you have decent numbers and Michigan gives you a fee waiver, APPLY!

True enough.

More advice for fellow Cubans, I suggest writing a diversity statement or incorporating your different-ness in your application somehow. I think that's what made a difference in my cycle.

Edit: Oh, and if you get into a good school, look up the SEO Corporate Law program.

+1

[FalafelWaffle]

URM is only African-American, Puerto Rican, Mexican, or Native American.

Non-URM hispanics can write up a good diversity statement - it's a good soft.

Meh, blanket statements are a little disingenuous. It varies by school. If a school only cares about diversity on paper, they'll take any Hispanic to say that they have x%. If they actually care different story.

[Deep Trench]

I don't know the correct answer to the question, but there was a discussion whether a Cuban applicant who got into Chicago with 167/3.76 received URM boost or not (scroll towards the bottom of the page):
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... &start=775

[BillsFan9907]

Generally, I do not believe that there is a boost.

[CMDantes]

Nevermind. Not worth it.

[071816]

Subject.

Yeah - way to milk it buddy. Cubans are the most successful Latin American people in the United States. They are overrepresented in academia (and other fields) relative to their population.

You must have worked very hard to be Cuban. You deserve the boost though!

----------------------------------

US Census Bureau. Facts about Cuban Americans

Organizacion Autentica US Census Bureau. Facts about Cuban American:
Cuban Americans have acquired an enormous amount of wealth and prosperity in an extremely short period of time; no other immigrant group has achieved this as quickly as the Cubans. Many immigrants have never achieved it at all, despite being in this country far longer than Cubans.

Second-generation Cuban-Americans were more educated than even Anglo-Americans. More than 26.1% of second-generation Cuban-Americans had a bachelor’s degree or better versus 20.6% of Anglos. Thus Cuban-Americans in 1997 were approximately 25% more likely to have a college degree than Anglos.

Other Hispanic groups lag far behind. Only 18.1% of South Americans had a bachelor’s or better. Puerto Ricans, despite being U.S. citizens by birth, recorded a disappointing 11%; Mexicans only 7%.

In 1997, 55.1% of second-generation Cuban-Americans had an income greater than $30,000 versus 44.1% of Anglo- Americans. Thus Cuban-Americans are approximately 20% more likely to earn more than $30,000 than their Anglo-American counterparts. All other Hispanic groups lag far behind in average income.

In 1997, 36.9% of second-generation Cuban-Americans had an income greater than $50,000 versus 18.1% of Anglo- Americans. Cuban-Americans were twice as likely to earn more than $50,000. Also, approximately 11% of Cuban-Americans had incomes greater than $100,000 versus 9% of Anglo-Americans, and less than 2% of other Hispanics.

Cubans comprise less than 4% of the U.S. Hispanic population, Mexicans 65%, Puerto Ricans 10%, Central and South Americans 11%, and “others” 10%. Yet of the top 100 richest Hispanics in the U.S., more than 50% are of Cuban descent (ten times what it should be on a population basis), and 38% of Mexican descent. The rest is scattered among all other Hispanic groups.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

http://havanajournal.com/forums/viewthread/551/#1842

Dude what are you trying to prove here? There are plenty of MX/PR Latinos who grew up privileged who probably receive the URM "boost" and plenty of Cubans who have had to work for every damn thing and do not come from privileged backgrounds who may receive a slight "boost" but nothing compared to the URM groups. Just because Cubans tend to be relatively well off as a whole does not mean you should be making hasty generalizations about OP or any other Cuban for that matter. Get a life.

[BillsFan9907]

Nevermind. I didn't read what he was saying correctly.

[071816]

Dude what are you trying to prove here? There are plenty of MX/PR Latinos who grew up privileged who probably receive the URM "boost" and plenty of Cubans who have had to work for every damn thing and do not come from privileged backgrounds who may receive a slight "boost" but nothing compared to the URM groups. Just because Cubans tend to be relatively well off as a whole does not mean you should be making hasty generalizations about OP or any other Cuban for that matter. Get a life.

Yeah you're right - I'm the one checking off my race to get a boost in admissions. I need a life.

And do you realize how your logic above only reinforces my point? Using your logic, then white people should get a boost because after all, there are white people who don't come from privileged backgrounds.

That kind of logic just reinforces the notion that those who have to check off their race aren't otherwise qualified. I mean come on, this kind of reasoning is the crap they test for on the LSATs.

LOL you clearly misread my post. I said that you cannot make a generalization about OP based on your info. The info you cited is probably why Cubans historically DON'T receive a URM boost, but that doesn't mean a Cuban can't write a killer diversity statement about what he/she would bring to an incoming law school class (which is clearly what OP did) to try and improve their chances at admission.

[BillsFan9907]

I don't want to speculate. I'm fine with just waiting until the OP responds.

[071816]

LOL you clearly misread my post. I said that you cannot make a generalization about OP based on your info. The info you cited is probably why Cubans historically DON'T receive a URM boost, but that doesn't mean a Cuban can't write a killer diversity statement about what he/she would bring to an incoming law school class (which is clearly what OP did) to try and improve their chances at admission.

Your reply was considered in conjunction with this:

No problem. I do not believe it played any factor whatsoever in my cycle other than getting me on the Michigan waitlist when I probably would have been rejected otherwise.

Seeing as how I just created an account yesterday, how could it hurt to give future Cuban applicants a little info?

Future Cuban applicants, if you have decent numbers and Michigan gives you a fee waiver, APPLY!

So in other words, you support taking advantage of a system designed to help those who are underrepresented in order to help those who are overrepresented.

Your logic for doing so as it could only possibly be relevant to my post is that its possible that the individual himself is not privileged. After all, I made no reference to individual status, only group status which is what matters here.

If you feel you bring something different to the table and want to discuss it in your app then I am all for it (which is what I did). Your assertion that OP was "milking it" is clearly misguided so that's why I felt the need to comment. Cubans are not helped AS A WHOLE by the law school admissions process. Certain Cubans may receive some sort of boost just as certain white, asian, or middle eastern people with interesting backgrounds may receive a slight boost (honestly really depends on the school). I came here to try to give some useful info to future Cuban applicants, not to argue with you. Have a nice weekend. I'm out.

[BillsFan9907]

Thanks.

[FalafelWaffle]

Dude what are you trying to prove here? There are plenty of MX/PR Latinos who grew up privileged who probably receive the URM "boost" and plenty of Cubans who have had to work for every damn thing and do not come from privileged backgrounds who may receive a slight "boost" but nothing compared to the URM groups. Just because Cubans tend to be relatively well off as a whole does not mean you should be making hasty generalizations about OP or any other Cuban for that matter. Get a life.

Yeah you're right - I'm the one checking off my race to get a boost in admissions. I need a life.

And do you realize how your logic above only reinforces my point? Using your logic, then white people should get a boost because after all, while white people are "privileged," there are
white people who don't come from privileged backgrounds.

As an advocate of box checking your logic is that even if a person is from a disproportionately privileged people but not individually privileged, he should be able to check off his ethnicity to get a boost even though the issue isn't ethnicity

Ethnicity is a little silly to be honest. I am Cuban, and middle class, but at my (very Cuban) high school, there were plenty of working class and poor Cubans who deserved a boost in admissions. Likewise, I've known wealthy Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. I really think more schools should be like Berkeley, taking CLASS into account moreso than RACE.

Barack Obama's daughters are black. Now, they'll probably get into Harvard Law just because of that relation, but point being-DESPITE the fact that they are black and female, they will have infinite opportunities. On AVERAGE (and historically), the typical white male will have greater opportunities than the typical black male/white female/black female. However, I would argue Obama's daughters' class privilege is INFINITELY greater than white privilege and male privilege (which yes, exist) combined. However, children of the President are outliers, but it shows how much of a factor Class is on privilege. Race/Ethnicity are VERY important, but cannot be divorced from class. The system of minority boost is a good thing, but it would be fairer if class were given equal weight.

[FalafelWaffle]

I really and truly understand why some people do not sympathize with people not being able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, I think it's either a very privileged or ignorant political belief.

If you're white, middle class, male, raised in a stable home environment with loving and supportive parents, have no mental or physical disabilities, and are of average or above average intelligence, then I agree entirely, you have almost NO excuse to fail at life.

It's when you change one or more variables that the disadvantages and inequalities come in--alternate gender, race, class, upbringing, disability, intelligence, completely different story.