What happens if I check the URM box anyway? Forum

Share experiences and seek insight regarding your experience as an underrepresented minority within the legal community.
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pleaseberkeley

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What happens if I check the URM box anyway?

Post by pleaseberkeley » Mon Jul 31, 2017 7:08 pm

My family consists of refugees from the Middle East. Many family members do not even know how to read in their own language. I find it totally unfair that people who come from such privileged backgrounds in comparison to mine often times get URM boosts and I don't. I literally consider myself an under respresented minority and if it weren't for the knowledge I have gained on this website, I would have checked the box without a second thought.

YBF-W

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Re: What happens if I check the URM box anyway?

Post by YBF-W » Mon Jul 31, 2017 7:33 pm

There isn't a "URM box" to check. You have a differentiating background worth sharing and you should share it through various parts of your application.

Nebby

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Re: What happens if I check the URM box anyway?

Post by Nebby » Mon Jul 31, 2017 7:35 pm

There's no box to check. Write a diversity statement. Bonus points if you try to work in your racial grievances against other URMs.

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Barack O'Drama

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Re: What happens if I check the URM box anyway?

Post by Barack O'Drama » Mon Jul 31, 2017 7:43 pm

pleaseberkeley wrote:My family consists of refugees from the Middle East. Many family members do not even know how to read in their own language. I find it totally unfair that people who come from such privileged backgrounds in comparison to mine often times get URM boosts and I don't. I literally consider myself an under respresented minority and if it weren't for the knowledge I have gained on this website, I would have checked the box without a second thought.
Just because you think something is unfair, and it very well might be, it doesn't mean you have carte blanche to make it fairer.

Also, what "box" do you imagine there being? A URM boost box lol?

pleaseberkeley

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Re: What happens if I check the URM box anyway?

Post by pleaseberkeley » Mon Jul 31, 2017 7:51 pm

YBF-W wrote:There isn't a "URM box" to check. You have a differentiating background worth sharing and you should share it through various parts of your application.

Ahh, so your URM status is determined how? Is it through a diversity statement or?

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A. Nony Mouse

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Re: What happens if I check the URM box anyway?

Post by A. Nony Mouse » Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:06 pm

You report your demographics by selecting from categories on the application (white, black/African American, American Indian/Alaska Native etc.; Hispanic or not, etc.). I think they're based on the US census categories. You can also write a diversity statement explaining how you contribute to the diversity of the law school's class, which is limited only by your imagination/experience.

Keep in mind that much of the reasoning behind the URM boost is tied to a long legal history in the US, and so it's a specialized category not intended simply to mean "people who have suffered in their immediate lifetime." Whether that makes it fair or not is in the eye of the beholder, but I mention it just to point out that there's more to it than is necessarily obvious from the label.

Also, discussing the merits of the URM boost is not allowed in this part of the forum. There's a thread in the lounge where people can debate this to their heart's content, so I'm going to lock this. You can start another thread about how this part of your application works if you need more info, without going into the merits.

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