Being a URM *PLEASE READ*

[hopeful1985]

As an URM, Puerto Rican male, I was wondering what influence, if any, this would boost my chances of being accepted into law school. I never had any 'hardships' (financially or otherwise) and Im not trying to spark a heated debate but to what extent can this cover a relatively weak (below the median) lsat score?

Also, is this something that I should subtly mention in the PS (that I am a URM) or just let it show itself on the application?

Thanks guys

[TimMitchell]

It will help tremendously... I'm not sure if I would mention it in your PS if you haven't had any hardships, though. 

[hopeful1985]

Thank you for the feedback Tim!  That makes me happy to hear considering my LSAT score really sucks.

Anyone else?

[meggo]

well from just breezing through my just purchased Richard Montauk book, I think different levels of URM count for different things. This is what admissions deans were saying so it's not completely out of nowhere, but being an African American URM counts more than being a Hispanic URM in terms of how much further they'll let your LSAT score slip. Most Dean's seem to allow for a 10 point LSAT dip from their median and about 5 for Hispanic applicants. About 10 again for international students from non-English speaking nations (places like China or Malaysia) and only a couple of points for international students from non-English speaking nations with a lot of English exposure (places like Germany or France). Will it help? Yes. To what extent? It depends. It would probably help more if you wrote a DS though....

[hopeful1985]

im sorry, what's a DS? thank you so much for your insight!

[meggo]

diversity statement. Even if you haven't suffered through economic hardship, I would think it could only help your application to talk about how being Puerto Rican has affected you. Perhaps even the stereotype that all URM's come from an economically disadvantaged backgrounds and how you differ from that stereotype or how that has affected you. I'm sure there is at least one thing about being Puerto Rican that is important to you or has shaped you in some way.

[econtutorNV]

well from just breezing through my just purchased Richard Montauk book, I think different levels of URM count for different things. This is what admissions deans were saying so it's not completely out of nowhere, but being an African American URM counts more than being a Hispanic URM in terms of how much further they'll let your LSAT score slip. Most Dean's seem to allow for a 10 point LSAT dip from their median and about 5 for Hispanic applicants. About 10 again for international students from non-English speaking nations (places like China or Malaysia) and only a couple of points for international students from non-English speaking nations with a lot of English exposure (places like Germany or France). Will it help? Yes. To what extent? It depends. It would probably help more if you wrote a DS though....

OT- Meggo, how helpful would you say Montauk's book is? Any thing in there that makes the process make more sense?

[meggo]

I posted in the Books thread as well but thus far it seems to be pretty helpful. I'm not going to go through it properly until I finally am done school mid-August and begin my "vacation" but I think it'll really help me with creating my resume and some of my essays and stuff. You also get a lot of quotations from deans or adcomm's at top schools which I found pretty helpful. The stuff near the beginning about studying for the LSAT, teaching methods, etc. is for me, not that useful but there's also a little tracker at the back to right down things about yourself which I think could be useful. Like remember little things you forget or don't really realize their importance

[lreadl]

Most Dean's seem to allow for a 10 point LSAT dip from their median and about 5 for Hispanic applicants. About 10 again for international students from non-English speaking nations (places like China or Malaysia) and only a couple of points for international students from non-English speaking nations with a lot of English exposure (places like Germany or France).

Says who? Source?

[Lindbergh]

PR's get a bigger boost than most hispanics.  Make a big deal about it in your PS, and pretend you were really poor/disadvantaged/shat on by whitey.  Adcoms eat this sh*t up.