Question about taking advantage of AA

[myfriendtoldmeimkeen]

This is for my friend, not me, and we were wonderig what some random people on the internet thought about this:

My friend will be applying to law school this coming cycle and has a 3.7+ GPA, and is testing in the mid 160's for the LSAT. He's looking at top 50 law schools. Well, he just found out he is is like 1/67 (or some random fraction) Native American. From our understanding, he can apply as a URM even with the small %. So, would it be unethical for him to apply as a URM?

On the hand he figures he should use every advantage he has in such a competitive process, even though his numbers give him good shots at a lot of places, being a URM would put him over in a lot of places (we think). On the other hand, he is as white as anybody. In other words, he does not identify with "Native American culture". But, we know a Spanish kid who is very wealthy (his dad is at BIGLAW) and has had every advanatge (from elite high school to private LSAT tutor) and will be able to use AA. SO that begs the question, what is AA inteneded to do?


If you don't feel like reading all that, basically, my friend found out he was a small % NAtive American and was wondering if he should use the URM status to his advabatge

[myfriendtoldmeimkeen]

Also, I can't promise I'm completely sober so sorry for any mistakes in my post. 

[Bulldog86]

Lots of people have Native American blood in them. Because of that, I think that's one ethnicity that does get questioned a lot, especially if he doesn't identify at all with it or have any sort of tribal ID or anything.

Your friend is probably, what, 1/2 or more Hispanic? Not the same as your grandmother's grandmother being an Indian. (I think mine was, in fact, but it would be beyond ridiculous for me to make the claim that I deserve -- or could get -- any special privilege from it.)

You can argue all day about what AA is "intended to do", but that doesn't matter. Plenty of poor white people don't get it while rich black people do. That doesn't make your friend any more of an Indian!

[BobWatson]

No, he shouldn't.  That's total BS and you know it.  AA as it's done (by race and NOT by socioeconomic factors) is not fair and it's especially not fair when used by people who know they're not disadvantaged.  He can get into a good school just fine as a white kid; tell him to spend more time writing his essay and less time trying to find an easy way into law school.

[myfriendtoldmeimkeen]

Actually, depending on what you mean by "disadvanataged", he has had a less than easy time economically and other wise. And he already wrote his essay, it's not like he was looking for a cheap way into law school. He found out he was part Native American from a family member, not from his own research. Thanks for your opinion though. He's ultimately decided to go ahead and register as a Native American because he thinks it will give him an edge...

[BobWatson]

Did he have a harder time economically to the point where his schools didn't teach him how to read at all?  Or to the point where he couldn't afford a place to shower and all his teachers failed him because he smelled?  Because law school admissions are mostly based on LSAT and GPA, and being just plain regular kind of poor isn't going to make you disadvantaged.

[myfriendtoldmeimkeen]

1) No he didn't go to a school where he didn't learn at ALL.
2) Yes, at points in his life he couldn't find a place to shower... But his teachers certainly didn't fail him for it (as far as I know).

[chunkylover53]

He should use every advantage he gets to! I would say 99.99% of the people, if they were in your friend's shoes, would try their best to get their URM status. It's part of the education process. You can't blame the individual but only the system if it really pisses people off.

[BobWatson]

He should use every advantage he gets to! I would say 99.99% of the people, if they were in your friend's shoes, would try their best to get their URM status. It's part of the education process. You can't blame the individual but only the system if it really pisses people off.

Yeah, you can blame the individual.  It's the individual who puts it on the application.

Also, testanxiety, yes, you can find loopholes and fine print.  I guess some people go into law to sneak their way around the law, and some people get into law to do what's right for the world.

[myfriendtoldmeimkeen]

your friend is clever. as future lawyers, finding loopholes and reading the fine print is everything, and if he believes he fits the "qualifications" to be a Native American, then by all means, he should use it to his advantage.

that being sad. i can assure you that when he takes the bar exam, they will see that he identified his race as Native American. they will look at all applications, do a complete background check on your friend to ensure there are not discrepancies and flaws in his integrity. though i do not know what they will think about being 1/67th Native American, i can tell you that they have prevented people from taking the bar because of misrepresenting ethnicity on applications.

We haven't heard about not being able to take the bar because of that, so thanks for mentioning it... With that said he's going with chunkylovers attitude i think, which is "@#!* the system, you can work for it or you can make it work for you." Although we are going to do more research to see if this is something he should really do.