How much is affirmative action present in law school admission?
How much lower scores can minorities have in order to get into top law schools?
Law schools can’t set quotas or create formulas, like African American = 10 LSAT points, according to Bakke and Grutter v. Bollinger. Law schools are allowed to consider an applicant’s race or ethnicity for the purposes of "diversity," though.
URMs–underrepresented minorities–include African Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Native Americans. The operative word here is "underrepresented." For example, even though Asians and Jewish people are technically minorities, they’re not necessarily "underrepresented" in universities, and thus receive no boost.
The boost isn’t really quantifiable, but there clearly is one if you look at websites like LawSchoolNumbers.com. A lot depends on how the URM packages him- or herself. Checking a box isn’t always enough. URMs should write personal statements or diversity statements that highlight how being [insert race/ethnicity here] has impacted their lives, shaped their viewpoints, etc.
The general consensus is that the top law schools prefer GPA splitters rather than LSAT splitters. Obviously, they’d prefer both numbers to be high, but you’re more likely to be accepted to Harvard as a URM if your GPA is very high and your LSAT is lower, rather than the inverse. The reasons are complicated, but basically URMs tend to do poorly on the LSAT, and some law schools feel that the test is inherently biased or, at the very least, an unfair representation of a URM’s potential.
There is not always a set formula. I believe any white person who is for this should be required to sell their house to a minority at half price or be labeled a racist.
References :
Law schools can’t set quotas or create formulas, like African American = 10 LSAT points, according to Bakke and Grutter v. Bollinger. Law schools are allowed to consider an applicant’s race or ethnicity for the purposes of "diversity," though.
URMs–underrepresented minorities–include African Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Native Americans. The operative word here is "underrepresented." For example, even though Asians and Jewish people are technically minorities, they’re not necessarily "underrepresented" in universities, and thus receive no boost.
The boost isn’t really quantifiable, but there clearly is one if you look at websites like LawSchoolNumbers.com. A lot depends on how the URM packages him- or herself. Checking a box isn’t always enough. URMs should write personal statements or diversity statements that highlight how being [insert race/ethnicity here] has impacted their lives, shaped their viewpoints, etc.
The general consensus is that the top law schools prefer GPA splitters rather than LSAT splitters. Obviously, they’d prefer both numbers to be high, but you’re more likely to be accepted to Harvard as a URM if your GPA is very high and your LSAT is lower, rather than the inverse. The reasons are complicated, but basically URMs tend to do poorly on the LSAT, and some law schools feel that the test is inherently biased or, at the very least, an unfair representation of a URM’s potential.
References :