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My Dad left Afghanistan when he was 10. His family was fleeing to avoid the Russian invasion in 1979. So I am half pashtun-afghan.

I told my Dad that I was applying to law schools and he thought that I should mention this to admissions committees. I am not so sure. What do you guys think?

Definitely will have close to 0 impact on your cycle

no besides regular urm

Might help with DC hiring, depending on the firm.

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sethnoorzad wrote:My Dad left Afghanistan when he was 10. His family was fleeing to avoid the Russian invasion in 1979. So I am half pashtun-afghan.

I told my Dad that I was applying to law schools and he thought that I should mention this to admissions committees. I am not so sure. What do you guys think?

Arabs fought hard to get classified as white in the 1940s, so as of now you are not a minority according to the U.S. government. They're considering adding an Arab classification soon though.

smdh Afghan is not the same as Arab.

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pretzeltime wrote:smdh Afghan is not the same as Arab.

Sorry for the generalization. It was just easier to type than "Middle Eastern and North African" which is the group in question, and I checked Afghan classification specifically before posting that. You had to be white until 1952 to get U.S. citizenship as an immigrant, and so affected countries from those regions lobbied to get themselves reclassified. Apparently they've been trying to undo that classification since the 1980s, and might get a census box for "Middle Eastern/North African" in 2020.

Gray wrote:

MarkinKansasCity wrote:

sethnoorzad wrote:My Dad left Afghanistan when he was 10. His family was fleeing to avoid the Russian invasion in 1979. So I am half pashtun-afghan.

I told my Dad that I was applying to law schools and he thought that I should mention this to admissions committees. I am not so sure. What do you guys think?

Arabs fought hard to get classified as white in the 1940s, so as of now you are not a minority according to the U.S. government. They're considering adding an Arab classification soon though.

afghans aren't arabs though.

I'm half iranian (mom fled in 1979 due to the revolution) - definitely no boost. If it makes sense as part of a larger narrative, you could include it in your PS, but if you don't want to mention it, you won't be losing anything

I can second this. I'm half Iranian as well and my dad fled in '83 and there is absolutely no boost. Unfortunately if you're middle eastern you get to check the "Caucasian" box which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it is the way it goes

Cool, thanks for the responses. Seems like the consensus is clear that it's not worth mentioning unless it comes in as part of my narrative and personal story.