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Hi all,

Current first-gen, URM (South American) undergraduate going into paralegal work after graduation for 1-2 years, and am interested in Big Law in the future -- thus considering T14 schools, preferably in the NYC area.
Truth be told, I am interested in Big law, but also have interest in public service due to my own background as first-gen/low-income/lgbt.

I have a bit of an untraditional background...started off college out of high school near my town (3.2 gpa) before transferring to a community college (3.8 gpa) before transferring again into an Ivy. I ended up with a 3.5 due to a family emergency/death one semester, but have had 3.7s, and 3.8s every semester after that.

Stats:
LSAT (expected): 165-170+
LSAC GPA: 3.49/3/5
UG GPA: 3.5 (Top 4 US News Ivy)
Major GPA: 3.8

Volunteer/Extracurricular:
Co-Founder of a chapter of a nationwide Latino pre-professional organization
College mentorship program
LGBT Youth volunteering/mentorship programs
work-study (20+ hours a week)

Work Experience/Internships:
- Paralegal for full-time (Expected)
- Internships: investment banking at a big name firm, other finance internships at a F500 company

Softs/General Info:
- First gen
- URM (South American)
- LGBT
- Low-income
- have a personal / compelling story about my background and how my identity and experiences impacted me growing up

Q's:
- What are my chances for T-14? really aiming for NYU / Columbia, and potentially Fordham for Big Law
- How much of a boost do South Americans get for URM? I've read that Mexican Americans generally only really get a big boost, and not so much SAs.

Thanks!

You're correct that you might not get much of a URM boost.

This is all speculation until you have an LSAT score. Your GPA is below most T13 25th percentiles, so you will likely need close to or above a 75th percentile LSAT to be competitive for a given school.

South American is not considered URM

Major Kong wrote:South American is not considered URM

Indigenous South American probably would.

Thanks for the replies so far guys!

Just a follow up. I'm a US citizen but 1 parent is South American indigenous, and 1 parent is Mexican. I've never really identified with my mexican side since I did not know that parent, but for application purposes is this still valid? If it is, how much of a boost would my application get? Also, the LSAC doesn't ask if I'm part of an indigenous group when I mark off South American...assuming I can discuss this in my diversity statement.

Thanks!

Mexican-Americans are considered URMs for law school admissions purposes, I believe. That said, if you don't personally identify as Mexican-American, as an ethical matter you probably shouldn't check that box.

That makes sense...thank you!
Also, does anyone know if I can edit my main post? LSAC gpa is 3.49/3.5...thanks

South Americans with skin light as day enjoy the full benefit that all Hispanics do. It's therefore imperative that OP score as high as possible 167-169, given the terrible GPA.

As long as OP is of Hispanic origin, it is proper to check Hispanic.

Wild Card wrote:South Americans with skin light as day enjoy the full benefit that all Hispanics do.

For law school admissions purposes (and only for law school admissions purposes), only Native Americans, African-Americans, Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans are typically considered URMs (and those groups aren't treated identically - e.g., African-Americans usually receive a larger URM "boost" than the other groups).

(It's irrelevant to discuss affirmative action more generally, as many minorities - e.g., LGBTQ, first-generation students, Asian-Americans - do not receive any discernible "boost" in law school admissions.)

OP doesn't self-identify as Mexican-American, but even putting that piece aside, it's possible OP will be treated as a URM due to the (seldom-seen) combination of their U.S. citizenship and their Indigenous (South) American ancestry. I don't think we have enough data to say for sure. I'd recommend OP write a compelling diversity statement. It's possible some schools will consider OP a URM while others won't.

Of course, OP - as with any applicant, URM or not - should strive to score as highly as possible on the LSAT. That can only help.

Wild Card wrote:As long as OP is of Hispanic origin, it is proper to check Hispanic.

Of course, with the caveat that if OP is (Indigenous) Brazilian, Brazilians aren't considered "Hispanic" in the U.S.