DISADVANTAGED STATUS (am I one?)

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2PacClone23

2PacClone23

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My mother lost her job (only source of income) a few years back, and I wrote about how that affected me. Is this considered disadvantaged? And also, do dental schools look negatively on this? like "oh if he's so disadvantaged, then how is he going to pay back all of his loans???"


thx
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2PacClone23 said:
And also, do dental schools look negatively on this? like "oh if he's so disadvantaged, then how is he going to pay back all of his loans???"
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Are you serious? Of course not, that's ridiculous.
 
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A lot of people's parents lost their jobs in this recession. Personally, I would not consider that disadvantaged.
 
2PacClone23 said:
My mother lost her job (only source of income) a few years back, and I wrote about how that affected me. Is this considered disadvantaged? And also, do dental schools look negatively on this? like "oh if he's so disadvantaged, then how is he going to pay back all of his loans???"
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It might not help when ds find out she has a few mills in her 401K. It isn't likely to draw much sympathy from adcoms that hold a pink slip.
 
all snarky comments aside (and unneccessary, people), disadvantaged means things like you were the first in your family to go to college, or your family was on food stamps your whole life, or you had a single parent who worked multiple jobs to support the family, or were an orphan, or lived in a underserved/inner city/rural area.
they're looking for long standing hardship, not just recent.
 
Really/? your mom lost her job so you think your disadvantaged? No, get inot dental school through the front door and work hard like everyone else, don't look for the easy backdoor entrance that doesn;t apply to you
 
omg. you are so disadvantaged. how are you going to pay back your loans?
 
30isthenew20 said:
all snarky comments aside (and unneccessary, people), disadvantaged means things like you were the first in your family to go to college, or your family was on food stamps your whole life, or you had a single parent who worked multiple jobs to support the family, or were an orphan, or lived in a underserved/inner city/rural area.
they're looking for long standing hardship, not just recent.
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So how rural does it have to be to qualify as disadvantaged?
 
I think this depends a lot on your mother's income.
 
SeattleRDH said:
So how rural does it have to be to qualify as disadvantaged?
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there's a specific designation to qualify as underserved. i can't remember the exact ratio, but it has to do with numbers of residents vs numbers of dentists. for example my husband's family has to drive 45 min to get to a dentist. their entire county is qualified as underserved. but the town that has the dentist isn't underserved because there are multiple dentists in that town.

regarding "rural", there's a difference between rural-scraping-to-make-ends-meet and rural-we-moved-out-to-the-lake-because-we-were-tired-of-our-mansion-in-the-city.

the question comes down to: where does your family's income land in the range of incomes for your area/cost of living/family size, what did you family have to do to make ends meet and how difficult was your life due to that. if your family lives on a farm, but is raking it in because they invented tomacco (simpsons? anyone?) i really don't think that qualifies as disadvantaged, even if the area is underserved.
 
30isthenew20 said:
there's a specific designation to qualify as underserved. i can't remember the exact ratio, but it has to do with numbers of residents vs numbers of dentists. for example my husband's family has to drive 45 min to get to a dentist. their entire county is qualified as underserved. but the town that has the dentist isn't underserved because there are multiple dentists in that town.

regarding "rural", there's a difference between rural-scraping-to-make-ends-meet and rural-we-moved-out-to-the-lake-because-we-were-tired-of-our-mansion-in-the-city.

the question comes down to: where does your family's income land in the range of incomes for your area/cost of living/family size, what did you family have to do to make ends meet and how difficult was your life due to that. if your family lives on a farm, but is raking it in because they invented tomacco (simpsons? anyone?) i really don't think that qualifies as disadvantaged, even if the area is underserved.
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No, I don't think underserved communities (in dentistry) count as disadvantaged status under the AADSAS.

I believe they are looking for rural as far as educational opportunities. Like I grew up in a small town on an island in Alaska. There was only one highschool and no AP courses available. I don't think I qualify as a disadvantaged rural applicant because my dad is a dentist and we lived in one of the biggest houses in town but it's not like I went to private school or had a tutor.

Does anyone know where I could look up where my highschool ranks on a national scale?
 
Do we have to fill out the disadvantaged part of the application?
 
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SeattleRDH said:
No, I don't think underserved communities (in dentistry) count as disadvantaged status under the AADSAS.
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they specifically ask if the area in which you grew up was considered medical or dentist-underserved.

quote from aadsas application
" In what area did you spend the majority of your life from birth to age eighteen?

Do you believe that this area was medically/dentally underserved?

Have you or members of your immediate family ever used federal or state assistance programs?

What was the income level of your family during the majority of your life from birth to age eighteen?

Did you have paid employment prior to age eighteen?

Were you able to contribute to the overall family income (as opposed to working primarily for your own discretionary spending money)?

How many people lived in your primary household during the majority of your life from birth to age eighteen?"
 
The disadvantaged status question is difficult. I could answer yes to all the questions...Grew up in poor urban area, was the first to go to college, received reduced lunch while in school, had food stamps, section 8 housing...but beacuse of this help I was able to graduate from college in 2008 and get a good job. I have been working for two years with a salary, even though my mom still only makes less than 20,000 a year. I got accepted to start school in the fall, but my school did not consider me disadvantaged because my income for 2009 was too high. I don't know. I think the system is kinda flawed. There is a definition given by the the department of health and human services:

An individual from a disadvantaged background is defined as one who comes from an environment that has inhibited the individual from obtaining the knowledge, skill, and abilities required to enroll in and graduate from a health professions school, or from a program providing education or training in an allied health profession; or comes from a family with an annual income below a level based on low income thresholds according to family size published by the U.S. Bureau of Census, adjusted annually for changes in the Consumer Price Index, and adjusted by the Secretary, HHS, for use in health professions and nursing programs.
 
So you're actually given 4500 characters to describe your situation in this section.. I was wondering, how long of a description should we write?? Do adcoms prefer to see a short/concise section here or a long detailed description?
 
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I wrote 1200 characters about what I described in the first post.
 
2PacClone23 said:
I wrote 1200 characters about what I described in the first post.
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If you haven't submitted your application yet, you ought to remove all 1200 characters...

I don't think adcoms are going to wonder whether you'll be able to pay your loans back or not, I think they'll wonder why a 21 year old college junior thinks he's disadvantaged because their mom lost her job.
 
Maybe because we had to declare bankruptcy? (my dad doesn't work). Maybe because I felt horribly bad asking for money from my parents? i went without books for much of this time....
 
is transferring schools for immigration considered disadvantaged?
 
2PacClone23 said:
Maybe because we had to declare bankruptcy? (my dad doesn't work). Maybe because I felt horribly bad asking for money from my parents? i went without books for much of this time....
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Could you have taken out federal loans to help you pay for your undergraduate education? Lots of people put themselves through college, regardless of family circumstances.

I really think being a disadvantaged student is aimed at finding out about your childhood, not your parent's financial troubles in your adult life. That's why they ask about where you grew up, if you had food stamps, if you lived in government subsidized housing, if you received discounted lunch meals, etc.

By the way, I'm not trying to be rude or judgmental at all. I don't want you to get that impression. I am certain that what you and your family experienced was awful. But I really don't think it meets the requirements to be considered a disadvantaged student.
 
supertank said:
by the way, i'm not trying to be rude or judgmental at all. I don't want you to get that impression. I am certain that what you and your family experienced was awful. But i really don't think it meets the requirements to be considered a disadvantaged student.
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+1
 
+1
 
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Lol wow Jenkim is finally banned!

She's just been posting bitter statements everywhere and pretending to be a medical student...

Nice!
 
sfoksn said:
Lol wow Jenkim is finally banned!

She's just been posting bitter statements everywhere and pretending to be a medical student...

Nice!
Click to expand...

Well she probably was a real med student. Just a really rude one. I feel for her patients in the future...if she gets that far haha
 
What if you came from a thrid-world country, moved to America later where you had some difficulties, but parents worked hard and became successful later? Would you be considered disadvantaged or not? There's not really a fine line to that.

And AADSAS asks question about the type of setting your live in up until the age of eighteen? What if you went to a decent high school where a lot of people did graduate or lived in a decent setting, but you family was broke and you were to first to attend college? I don't think I can sum up my life with a couple of questions from AADSAS so they can judge if I was disadvantage or not in a nut shell. I'm not disavantaged now, but I had a hard past. What can I say to that?
 
chimm said:
Well she probably was a real med student. Just a really rude one. I feel for her patients in the future...if she gets that far haha
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The system is broken...I hope MD will all like my PI and all DDS will all like the dentist I am shadowing right now...:D. They are really care about their patients...

Not just every high-score-talkative guy/gal can go to med/dental school:thumbdown:
 
hausee said:
The system is broken...I hope MD will all like my PI and all DDS will all like the dentist I am shadowing right now...:D. They are really care about their patients...

Not just every high-score-talkative guy/gal can go to med/dental school:thumbdown:
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I am really confused... what were you trying to say?
 
SeattleRDH said:
So how rural does it have to be to qualify as disadvantaged?
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Input your address here: http://datawarehouse.hrsa.gov/GeoAdvisor/ShortageDesignationAdvisor.aspx

That's the quick and dirty way to find out if you're disadvantaged.... (yes, that's what she said)

Also, OP... The short answer is probably no as it mostly has to do with your upbringing. If your mom lost her job when you were 2 and had to resort to living on gov't assistance programs like section 8, medicaid, TANF, etc. then it would most likely count.
 
destinedsirius said:
What if you came from a thrid-world country, moved to America later where you had some difficulties, but parents worked hard and became successful later? Would you be considered disadvantaged or not? There's not really a fine line to that.

And AADSAS asks question about the type of setting your live in up until the age of eighteen? What if you went to a decent high school where a lot of people did graduate or lived in a decent setting, but you family was broke and you were to first to attend college? I don't think I can sum up my life with a couple of questions from AADSAS so they can judge if I was disadvantage or not in a nut shell. I'm not disavantaged now, but I had a hard past. What can I say to that?
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This sounds a lot like my situation as well. What do you mean by "some difficulties?". If it's something like relying on welfare/food stamps for 10+ years, I would put it down. If you really had a hard past, then by all means this is the section to take advantage of it.

However, what strictly constitutes disadvantaged from otherwise is purely a judgment call. If you feel like you were, then write it down.
 
sfoksn said:
Lol wow Jenkim is finally banned!

She's just been posting bitter statements everywhere and pretending to be a medical student...

Nice!
Click to expand...

She turns me on... Is that bad?
Jokes aside, I think OP went through a lot, however I also don't think that's disadvantaged, I think writing in the disadvantaged section when you are no where near it shows a sign of weakness and a lack of understanding for the current society. So... I advise against filling out that section, try working/volunteer w/ the disadvantaged, then you'll really appreciate all you have. (afterall, you are applying for dschool, have access to app fee(I assume) and have Internet)
all the best in ur app process
 
I just read your post about disadvantage status on Dental applications. I am categorized as a disadvantage student as having ADHD where ADA.org have also confirmed it. I am contemplating on putting it on my application or letting schools know because I am unsure if that would put me more at a disadvantage.

My GPA isn't high as well as my DAT but I am trying. Its a 3.2 overall and a 3.0 bcp, dat = 17AA,17TS.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks!
 
hbsurfer714 said:
I just read your post about disadvantage status on Dental applications. I am categorized as a disadvantage student as having ADHD where ADA.org have also confirmed it. I am contemplating on putting it on my application or letting schools know because I am unsure if that would put me more at a disadvantage.

My GPA isn't high as well as my DAT but I am trying. Its a 3.2 overall and a 3.0 bcp, dat = 17AA,17TS.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't put that anywhere near your application, talk about it on interviews or even think about doing either of those two things while you're in a city that has a dental school. For right or wrong, ADHD is HIGHLY stigmatized in higher education.
 
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