URM?

somishah2017

Hey guys, I'm not sure if I'm considered a URM. My father is South Asian and my mother is African American. Are South Asian's URM?

I'm applying to NYU, UPenn, NW, BU, UCLA, and Georgetown.

TheMikey

AA definitely is an URM. South Asian I believe is as well. Per LSAC's website "To promote diversity, law schools actively seek qualified African American, Latino, Asian, and Native American students, as well as other students of color."

https://www.lsac.org/jd/diversity-in-law-school/racial-ethnic-minority-applicants

Either way, you will definitely get some type of boost.

acsimon

First, is the premise of the post serious? Second, as for south asians, it doesn't seem like they've gotten the URM bump, if TLS is anything to go by.

But to my first point, why doesn't your mother's heritage matter?--A.c.S

Alex

@TheMikey said:
AA definitely is an URM. South Asian I believe is as well. Per LSAC's website "To promote diversity, law schools actively seek qualified African American, Latino, Asian, and Native American students, as well as other students of color."

https://www.lsac.org/jd/diversity-in-law-school/racial-ethnic-minority-applicants

Either way, you will definitely get some type of boost.

Yup, you'll be considered URM if you mark AA.

somishah2017

@acsimon i think my question was more of if South Asians are considered URMs. I've always checked off just Asian on the LSAT scantron so I'm not sure if that would be an issue. Im not neglecting my mother's heritage but given my last name "Shah" I would assume the admission officer would think I'm just wholly South Asian.

Leah M B

Yeah, AA is URM for sure. I believe that Asian generally is not considered URM (minority, but not typically under-represented) but I’m not sure if South Asian is differentiated by schools or LSAC. Might depend on the specific school/app. So if I were you, I’d select AA wherever you are able.

cgracia12

This is interesting. I'm curious to know what kind of boost you're referring to @TheMikey ?

I heard someone tell me that as an URM, you have a good chance if you are in certain schools 25th percentile. Is there any truth to that? Or what boost were you referring to?

I am hispanic/Mexican american so I'm curious to know more about this.

TheMikey

@cgracia12 said:
This is interesting. I'm curious to know what kind of boost you're referring to @TheMikey ?

I heard someone tell me that as an URM, you have a good chance if you are in certain schools 25th percentile. Is there any truth to that? Or what boost were you referring to?

I am hispanic/Mexican american so I'm curious to know more about this.

Yeah, there's a 'boost' that URMs get in which they may outperform their numbers. It depends on what kind of URM you are though, like I think generally people regard the AA boost are better than say the hispanic boost (for the Hispanic's that count as a URM, that is). How exactly this 'boost' is put into action with each applicant, idk.

acsimon

@somishah2017 have you ever identified as AA before?

Tom_Tango

Might as well say you are if there is any way you can justify it

cgracia12

That's interesting. Thanks again for your advice man @TheMikey

acsimon

@cgracia12 If TLS and Reddit ppl are to be believed the boosts are quite sensitive to the type of URM you happen to be, even within the Latino population. For instance, apparently Mexican/Mexican Americans receive more of a boost than,say, Cuban Americans (which, again apparently, receive none). And, apparently still, URM boosts are even broken down further still, with AA males receiving more of a "boost" than AA females.

What is not apparent, but obvious, from all of this is that ppl spend a lotta time thinking 'bout this stuff. But I guess it's to be expected. In any case, there's plenty on the subject if you care to read up on it more.--A.c.S