How much does URM status really matter?

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>With reading through this board, I have noticed so many exceptions to the convention of GPA/LSAT expectations granted one's URM status. As a pre-law URM student, I'm wondering how much of an edge I will really have when applying to law schools.</p>

<p>A little background: I'm a male Hispanic, first-generation college student, studying Public Policy at USC (U. Southern California) with many Philosophy classes sprinkled in (will likely receive a minor in the subject). I will be a junior this Fall and will be applying to top-20 schools, and some in-state, lower-ranked backups.</p>

<p>What GPA-LSAT range will get a student like me a decent chance at the top-20?</p>

2

<p>Here, play around with this:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-content/uploads/Law-School-Predictor-Full-Time-Programs.htm[/url]”>http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-content/uploads/Law-School-Predictor-Full-Time-Programs.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>BDM? Stacy? Jonri?</p>

4

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/727257-low-gpa-columbia-what-my-chances.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/727257-low-gpa-columbia-what-my-chances.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>So with your post about Hispanics getting about 5-7 points boost on the LSAT, the OP would have to get around a 3.8/166 to get into all of the T14, save HYS which would depend on other factors like the time the application was sent in, the cycle, etc.?</p>

<p>And I’m curious to find out why, if you know, it is that Hispanics are receiving less and less of an AA boost. Do you mind providing a link or brief explanation!</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

6

<p>I don’t think a 3.8/171 gets one into CCN, but that’s nitpicking on my part.</p>

<p>While explicit quotas are illegal under Bakke, most schools do under-the-table set basic ranges for racial balance that they’d like to achieve. Over time, they’ve found that they can meet those goals with respect to Hispanics with smaller and smaller compromises to their other standards.</p>

<p>If memory serves, the sources where I saw these attributed this to rising achievement by Hispanics. This strikes me as the correct explanation. There are alternative explanations that one could invent, but they all require significant assumptions.</p>