Applying as Underprivileged

[am19]

Hi,

I have decided to apply as a disadvantaged. I want to know if this is a good idea. Please let me know what you think.

First, I would like to tell my story. I immigrated to the US 8 years ago and did not speak English. My family was on welfare for the first 5 years. I entered 8th grade. I entered ESL and in high school, during my senior year I took AP Eng Comp. I had a good GPA and many extracarriculars in high shool. Currently I am a UCLA undergradute. High school was easy comapred college. I did not know what to expect and how to manage my time. Since neither of my parents went to college, I did not have any guidance in college and encountered a language barrier. I still have problem with vocabulary, but I have started to read more. This is my lat college year. My academic progress has improved scince freshman year, as I adapted to the intesity of the coursework and got a handle on time managment. I have been doing considerably better these last quarters of school.

My GPA is 3.0 and I took the MCAT this April (scores not our yet). I did well on the science (10, 11, and 12) sections of the practice MCATs, but I most of the time I would get low verbal scores.

If you have any advice, please don't hesitate to tell me. And if you need more info, please let me know.

Thanks,

AM

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[sejin8642]

Hi,

I have decided to apply as an underprivileged. I want to know if this is a good idea. Please let me know what you think. First, I would like to tell my (short) story. I immigrated to the US 8 years ago and did not speak English. I entered 8th grade, went to high school, then applied and got accepted to a 4 year university. My family was on welfare for the first 5 years. Neither of my parents went to college. I did not have any guidance in college and encountered a language barrier. If you have any advice, please don't hesitate to tell me.

Thanks,

AM

I seriously don't understand what you are asking and want to know.

 

[Bleurberry]

I withdraw my question.

 

[DrBowtie]

How do you APPLY as underpriveledged? I don't get it.
Seriously, how?

The term is disadvantaged and there are criteria on the AMCAS application.

 

[pennybridge]

I seriously don't understand what you are asking and want to know.

the OP has clearly confused SDN with a place of guidance and nurturing.

For this reason my advice is to stay far, FAR away from SDN until all of your interviews are over.

SDN is a place for pseudo-anonymous internet entities to disseminate assumptions, lies, and made up statistics.

 

[Bleurberry]

zapped.

 

[Bleurberry]

The term is disadvantaged and there are criteria on the AMCAS application.

What are the criteria?

Thanks for bringing clarity.

 

[lilnoelle]

Hi,

I have decided to apply as an underprivileged. I want to know if this is a good idea. Please let me know what you think. First, I would like to tell my (short) story. I immigrated to the US 8 years ago and did not speak English. I entered 8th grade, went to high school, then applied and got accepted to a 4 year university. My family was on welfare for the first 5 years. Neither of my parents went to college. I did not have any guidance in college and encountered a language barrier. If you have any advice, please don't hesitate to tell me.

Thanks,

AM

Based on the information you have given us, I think you definitely would be considered disadvantaged in your application and therefore you should apply as disadvantaged. That option was made for people like you.

 

[lilnoelle]

What are the criteria?

Thanks for bringing clarity.

I don't think there really is a criteria, but if someone applies as such, they better really be disadvantaged or else they'll come off as whiny.

It is important to try to remain positive in your application but if a person truly is disadvantaged and that fact explains problems with their application - then that is information the adcomm wants to know.

 

[am19]

Sorry, I was reading some post-bac requirements and confused the two words. I would appreciate any advice. If you don't have any, keep your opinions to yourself.

 

[termiz]

Do you know by any chance what the words bachsh and sir kaniz mean? If not then I am sorry.

 

[termiz]

Do you know by any chance what the words bachsh and sir kaniz mean? If not then I am sorry.

 

[termiz]

Do you know by any chance what the words bachsh and sir kaniz mean? If not then I am sorry.

 

[am19]

thank you for your reply lilnoelle

 

[lilnoelle]

Do you know by any chance what the words bachsh and sir kaniz mean? If not then I am sorry.

educate me

 

[am19]

I would be surprised if you knew the denotation of those words.

 

[Tired]

Do you know by any chance what the words bachsh and sir kaniz mean? If not then I am sorry.

WTF are you talking about?

 

[DrBowtie]

What are the criteria?

Thanks for bringing clarity.

Like Lilnoelle said, they aren't criteria per se, but they ask questions like:

Have you even been on government assistance?
Did you have to work and contribute to your family expenses?
Etc.

Basically you should be answering some of these questions yes to really be considered as disadvantaged.

 

[am19]

got it. thank you

 

[Bleurberry]

got it. thank you

I know that my experience of the whole process is really distinct from yours. I've had a really rocky road, too, that's how come it's only now that I'm turning 29 that I've found my way. But I've had it in mind from the day I found my passion for medicine to study Osteopathy... and I know this is a MD forum, but I guess I forgot that fact for a moment. Anyhow, I'm putting some of my challenges, if you will, into my personal statement, and will clarify only if they ask in the secondary and interview. But I don't want to highlight the issue too much... my point is though, with a lot of the top MD schools, they don't even see your application until its scrutinized by a process of automatic elimination, so I would in that case probably have to strongly recommend any sort of filing that kind of forces admin to look up and take notice. Good luck.
By the way, I had no clue until your post that there was such an explicit category.

 

[lilnoelle]

I know that my experience of the whole process is really distinct from yours. I've had a really rocky road, too, that's how come it's only now that I'm turning 29 that I've found my way. But I've had it in mind from the day I found my passion for medicine to study Osteopathy... and I know this is a MD forum, but I guess I forgot that fact for a moment. Anyhow, I'm putting some of my challenges, if you will, into my personal statement, and will clarify only if they ask in the secondary and interview. But I don't want to highlight the issue too much... my point is though, with a lot of the top MD schools, they don't even see your application until its scrutinized by a process of automatic elimination, so I would in that case probably have to strongly recommend any sort of filing that kind of forces admin to look up and take notice. Good luck.
By the way, I had no clue until your post that there was such an explicit category.

The allopathic schools may also notice a person as disadvantaged and take that into consideration even without applying as such. I didn't apply as disadvantaged although I probably could have. My stats weren't bad but they were below average (MCAT) and I had very little clinical experience, no research experience, and really not a ton of other frills. I believe that I was looked at as a disadvantaged applicant by the school that accepted me and so I was given a little "help".

LizzyM confirmed this on another thread (I tried to do a search but couldn't find it) When an applicant appears disadvantaged, even if not applying as such, her school takes that into consideration.

However - I think I was pretty lucky. I had an interviewer that came from a similar background and so he was very understanding. He probably had a lot to do with me getting in.
There were also portions of my application that were strong. My GPA was very good and I also came from a rural area (a plus for a school trying to turn out more rural doctors).

 

[Vano]

I could have easily applied as a disadvantaged student, but I didn't. With your GPA you might want to consider doing it though. As the poster above mentioned, it might get you past automatic elimination by a computer at some schools.