disadvantaged status

enthalpy said:

Does anyone know if this really helps?

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You shouldn't base this decision on what helps or not... if you truthfully came from a disadvanataged background, then by all means, put it down and let the adcoms know what's up. Definitely won't hurt you and some schools (grab a copy of the latest MSAR) put an emphasis on such factors. Of course if you list disadvantaged status as a way to get a heads up in the admissions process and your reasoning is unjustifiable (i.e. I grew up 3 blocks down from the hood, or some other BS answer just so you could qualify), then I'm pretty sure adcoms will grill you somethin fierce during the interview. So tell the truth and come across sincere, adcoms will notice.

I applied disadvantaged last year, and I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference as far as giving you any kind of leg up in admissions. That doesn't mean you shouldn't designate this on your app, though, if you truly believe you qualify. I didn't designate myself this way to help with admissions--I wasn't expecting it to make much difference, and I don't think it did. However, the main reasons I applied this way were: 1.) family/childhood comes up frequently in interviews, as mine was particularly unusual (foster care, etc) I figured it would be easier to be upfront about this in the disadvantaged essay and let interviewers decide how to approach it v. lying about it or dropping this akward bomb during the interview; 2.) I have a genuine interest in working with disadvantaged populations, which I have done extensively in paid and volunteer capacities throughout my adult life, and my background is obviously a relevant part of that motivation; and 3.) there are scholarships specifically set aside for disadvantaged students at many schools, and you will likely only be eligible for these if you designate this status when you apply--it would look kind of strange to suddenly claim this status later, and your school may not even advertise these scholarships to the general student population but offer them specifically to students who are disadvantaged based on the info they get from your app.

Even though I don't think it helped me as far as getting in to a school, I don't think it hurt me anywhere either, and I don't regret applying this way. Besides the above reasons, I am proud to have made it this far given where I came from; genuinely socio-economically disadvantaged students really are a minority in med school but not so much in the general population, and having more docs who give a crap about people in these difficult circumstances because they've actually been in their shoes can only help the profession. I grew up ashamed to tell my friends in school that I lived in a group home or foster home or with my aunt or wherever it was that year because it made me different--the last thing you want when you're 5, or 12, or in high school for that matter; now that I've moved beyond all that I think it's healthy to be able to talk about it when appropriate, and I do think it was appropriate in my med school app because they want to know who you are, where you came from and why you want to be there, and my background was relevant to all of those.

THAT SAID, and I'm not trying to be the disadvantaged nazi or anything here, but you really do need to think about why you feel it is appropriate for you to apply this way and talk to others who will give you honest feedback of their assesment of your app. The key here is the significance of your disadvantage(s), how they affected your educational opportunities, and how they impacted your decision to go into medicine and/or specific interests in medicine. Your essay should address all of those points, and unfortunately if your "disadvantage" is that your parents got divorced and your dad liked his new family better or you went to a school without nutritious lunches or some garden-variety problem along those lines, you should realize that applying disadvantaged for those reasons will do more harm than good as it will make you look, at best, insensitive or ignorant and at worse, manipulative and deceitful. Everyone has obstacles to overcome in their life, and if yours were of the more common variety the personal statement is a good place to address those; applying disadvantaged is only advantageous in any sense of the word if your circumstances were above and beyond divorce, paying for college yourself, etc. AMCAS doesn't define this and certianly no one can tell you not to apply disadvantaged for those reasons if you feel like it, but I can't see it helping and can definitely see it hurting if it is one of the above type of scenarios. Use common sense and discuss it with people you trust--not just family and friends but professors and/or advisors who are more objective and willing to give honest feedback. Also anything discussed in your app is of course fair game for the interview, so you should be aware of and prepared for this. If your circumstances were such that you applied disadvantaged, it should be clear from your essay as to why and you shouldn't need to "justify" this to most interviewers, but you may be asked to discuss and clarify your background as well as explain how it relates to your med school ambitions. This turned out really long, but anyone with more questions about applying disadvantaged can feel free to PM me.

For those of y'all who decided in the end not to put down disadvantaged status, did you write anything in spots where schools gave you space to discuss any additional obstacles?