Arabic People?

[sexygolfer]

Hi,
I'm Arabic and my parents are from Saudi Arabia but I was born in the U.S. and was wondering if I was considered a minority?  Should I talk about that in my personal statement?

[DESI]

you will not get URM (under-represented minority), but you can always talk about it to show how your diverse background has been reflected in your intellectual and social contributions to society

[TDPookie1]

you will not get URM (under-represented minority), but you can always talk about it to show how your diverse background has been reflected in your intellectual and social contributions to society

yup.  that's what i'm doing.  my parents are from iran, but i was born in CA.

[sexygolfer]

What did you write about Pookie?

[TDPookie1]

my personal statement only briefly mentions that i'm persian, but i'm writing a diversity statement about the balancing act of being part of two differing cultures.

[DLAW]

you will not get URM (under-represented minority), but you can always talk about it to show how your diverse background has been reflected in your intellectual and social contributions to society

I don't necessarily agree with you. I think it depends school to school, depending on the region. I contacted numerous schools and several stated explicitly that middle-easterners ARE considered URMs at their school. The only catch was almost all of the schools that did say this were Tier 3 and 4 (don't know why). Besides Brooklyn Law (which I think is Tier 2). Anyway, I think it will only make a substantial difference if you state how you can add to the diversity of the school.

[Haz]

The fact that you don't get URM status is BS!!  How can Middle Easterners not be an URM? The question should actually be "Are you one of the disenfranchised people of the United States?"

BS I tell ya

[eeniemeeniemineymoe]

can a person really be arabic? a language?  isn't that like mixing up a bengali and bengladeshi? 

The reason I ask is becuase I had this conversation today:

Cashier:  "Hey, you look arabic.  Is that where you're from?"
Me:  "No."
Cashier:  "Where are you from?"
Me: "Guess."
Cashier:  "I know.  You're Pakistanian."

yup.

[Sportseditor23]

salom pookie. halishoma, I'm brushin up on my farsi

[TDPookie1]

The fact that you don't get URM status is BS!!  How can Middle Easterners not be an URM? The question should actually be "Are you one of the disenfranchised people of the United States?"

BS I tell ya

i think it's about being under-represented in the legal field.  i'm persian.  out of my circle of close persian friends, ALL of them are in grad school.  7 in law school, 2 in med school, 1 in dental school, 2 in business school.  among my caucasian friends, the vast majority aren't going to grad school.  small sample size, yes.  but i think the percentage of all law students that are middle eastern is greater than the percentage of the general population that is middle eastern, which makes us OVER-represented.  i think the same is true of asians.  the opposite is true of hispanics and blacks and native americans.  thus, they are UNDER-represented.  it's not about being a minority.  it's about being under-represented as a minority.  i would say that white people are under-represented too, but the same reasoning, but they're not a minority.

salaam, akudiya.  khoobam, merci.  shomah khoobeen?