URM Question Forum

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littleparis

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URM Question

Post by littleparis » Sat Dec 29, 2018 12:09 am

Hi, wise alias.

I'd like to know if checking URM on my law school application is appropriate for me. I am a French female of North African descent (green card holder). I look very much biracial (can pass as Latina or Creole) and have always identified as mixed race/black even though I was born in Algeria. I don't look white whatsoever and have never identified as a caucasian in my whole life. I celebrate Kwanza, and I am also a very active member of KRST unity center of Afrikan Spiritual Science in South Los Angeles and consider myself pan african first and foremost being that I am 100% Afrikan (not white). My biological father who I've never met is from Southern Algeria and is a touareg with Black Features, my mother on the other is Kabyle Berber and looks more Spanish with European feature and with a brown complexion. I'm wondering given my own experience if checking URM would be appropriate in my case. My husband is also African American and I have always identified as mixed-race/North African Black. So, how should I present myself? Do I qualify as URM or will they simply do not care since I was born in Algeria? :roll:

nixy

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Re: URM Question

Post by nixy » Sat Dec 29, 2018 2:36 am

There isn’t a “URM” box to check. You’ll be presented with a variety of racial/ethnic identities to select, like African American, Latino, Asian American, etc. and you check which ones are appropriate based on how you identify. It sounds sort of as though African American is closest (read the definition of it on the app), though that always seems odd when applied to international applicants and that’s just me guessing (multi-racial/ethnic is also an option). Once you select how you identify, schools decide whether that qualifies you as URM. You might consider writing a diversity statement as part of your applications, as that will give adcomms a better sense of your identity and what you bring to a class (obviously checking boxes provides only limited info).

QContinuum

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Re: URM Question

Post by QContinuum » Sat Dec 29, 2018 9:13 am

nixy wrote:There isn’t a “URM” box to check. You’ll be presented with a variety of racial/ethnic identities to select, like African American, Latino, Asian American, etc. and you check which ones are appropriate based on how you identify. It sounds sort of as though African American is closest (read the definition of it on the app), though that always seems odd when applied to international applicants and that’s just me guessing (multi-racial/ethnic is also an option). Once you select how you identify, schools decide whether that qualifies you as URM. You might consider writing a diversity statement as part of your applications, as that will give adcomms a better sense of your identity and what you bring to a class (obviously checking boxes provides only limited info).
nixy's right. I agree that African-American would probably be the most appropriate box to check, given that you do, in fact, have Saharan African ancestry and personally identify as (at least part) black. I also agree that writing a DS may be helpful in your case given your multicultural Saharan African/Middle Eastern heritage.

littleparis

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Re: URM Question

Post by littleparis » Sat Dec 29, 2018 3:02 pm

Thanks for your guidance. Those categories make no sense to me. Geographical location should not predicate what race one is. North Africa is racially diverse with many north Africans having Sub-Saharan roots, especially the further south one goes where the population gets increasingly browner. I now have a better sense on how to approach this. I'll check AA and submit a diversity statement highlighting the nuances of my pan-African background i.e. being a moor w/Arab and black roots, possibly Spanish too, but that's another conversation.

QContinuum

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Re: URM Question

Post by QContinuum » Mon Dec 31, 2018 1:29 pm

littleparis wrote:Thanks for your guidance. Those categories make no sense to me. Geographical location should not predicate what race one is. North Africa is racially diverse with many north Africans having Sub-Saharan roots, especially the further south one goes where the population gets increasingly browner. I now have a better sense on how to approach this. I'll check AA and submit a diversity statement highlighting the nuances of my pan-African background i.e. being a moor w/Arab and black roots, possibly Spanish too, but that's another conversation.
There are many aspects of the law school admissions process that don't make much objective sense. Like the myopic focus on LSAC GPA (why shouldn't schools consider GPA trends? why shouldn't GPA be considered relative to the applicant's school's/major's average GPA?). The dramatic differences in outcome that turn on single point differentials in LSAT score. The cliff-edge drop-offs in placement power between the T13 and the T20, the T20 and the T1 (are Georgetown students actually that much less qualified than Cornell students? I really doubt it).

But it is what it is.

nixy

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Re: URM Question

Post by nixy » Mon Dec 31, 2018 3:23 pm

littleparis wrote:Thanks for your guidance. Those categories make no sense to me. Geographical location should not predicate what race one is. North Africa is racially diverse with many north Africans having Sub-Saharan roots, especially the further south one goes where the population gets increasingly browner. I now have a better sense on how to approach this. I'll check AA and submit a diversity statement highlighting the nuances of my pan-African background i.e. being a moor w/Arab and black roots, possibly Spanish too, but that's another conversation.
They’re not strictly geographic categories. African-American/Black is defined (by the feds, for recording demographics) as “having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.” (I’ve seen some definitions that specify sub-Saharan Africa.) That definition would include a North African with sub-Saharan roots. It’s not contingent on where you live now. (But it’s also true that trying to create categories that neatly fit everyone’s backgrounds is virtually impossible and many people struggle with where they best fit.)

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