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So which ethnicities are exactly underrepresented? I know Hispanics, Latinos, African Americans, and Native Americans are, but is that all?

I don't know what you mean by Hispanics/Latinos, but here is the official list of ethnicities that officially get big AA boosts:

Black
Puerto Rican
Mexican
Native American ("REAL" native American, as in membership in tribe and/or time on reservations and/or not a white person who happens to be 1/8.)

Anything else, for the purposes of discussion about law school admissions is NOT "URM", but rather simply an ethnic minority. Other ethnic minorities may get much smaller "diversity" boosts, but nothing like the boosts that the URM's listed above can look forward to.

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My only problem with that is your definition of Native American. Living on a reservation and/or being an official member of an incorporated tribe are NOT requisites for self-identifying as Native American.

While it may be unethical/immoral to self-identify as NA if you're "white with 1/8th", it most likely won't be questioned.

I'm 1/8 NA but the whitest girl you ever saw. I chose "caucasion" however -- I just felt it was more honest.

If you strongly identify with a NA heritage then I think it's fine.

Wendy

My only problem with that is your definition of Native American. Living on a reservation and/or being an official member of an incorporated tribe are NOT requisites for self-identifying as Native American.

While it may be unethical/immoral to self-identify as NA if you're "white with 1/8th", it most likely won't be questioned.

jsporter-

I see your point, and maybe I was too simplistic; but I think generally speaking, NA is much more like Hispanic than Black in the URM game- you have to demonstrate that you deserve that URM boost in one way or another.

As I understand it, checking NA on the race box is essentially the same thing as writing a PS about how much you want to go into public servce and help people with your law degree; 9 time out of 10, it won't get you a damn thing unless the rest of your application bears you out.

For example, if you have a history of very active participation in charities, public works, volunteering, etc etc, your "save the world" PS moves from the realm of to the realm of "maybe this kid really is a good kid...lets look at this application again."

Likewise, if you can write about your NA-related experiences convincingly, or talk about how growing up as a NA has *actually* had some meaningful influence on your life, you might be OK.

Tribe membership/reservations are just the most surefire way to get the boost; not exactly a neccessity in and of themselves, but without one or the other (or both) anything else has to be pretty convincingly presented and consistent throughout the application.

I'm sure that adcomms cover more than enough applications every year to get a sense (short of outright lying about yourself/your history) of who really falls under "NA" for the purposes of URM admissions and who doesn't.

What about other groups under the term Hispanic, for example, I'm Salvadoran, would I not be considered an URM? Just wondering, I don't know much.[/quote]

What about other groups under the term Hispanic, for example, I'm Salvadoran, would I not be considered an URM? Just wondering, I don't know much.

The general consensus seems to be that you might receive a very small diversity boost for being an Int'l Student and a non-URM ethnic minority (and possibly also a socio-economic boost, depending on if you have a poor background), but you will not be looking at the giant boost that Mexicans/Puerto Ricans often get.

This is because comparatively speaking, South Americans tend to be very well represented in higher education compared to the "real URM" Hispanics (Mexicans and Puerto Ricans).