So for the past three years I've had to commute to UCSD on an hour long bus (one hour is one-way commute) to save money, as both my brother and I are attending UCSD the same time, and to not accrue that much debt before med school. Because the last bus leaves campus at 7:15 PM, i have been unable to get any significant hours into clubs because most club meetings start 7-8PM and I never had a car to drive to campus. My friends have told me that I shouldn't include it as disadvantaged status on AMCAS, but since i'm submitting my application within this week I just wanted to get another opinion from you guys.
Commuting list as disadvantage?
- Thread starter DOCthms4
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Uh. No.
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No. I commuted 3 hours a day for 2 years, and still was able to manage school, volunteering and work fine.
I'd add that it isn't really important at all for you to have been involved in clubs. You could have gotten involved in EC's (arguably more important ones) around your area. Were there no nursing homes, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, big brother/sister mentoring programs, any other volunteering opportunities in your area? Even if you were disadvantaged in the fact that you couldn't be as involved in student clubs, that's no excuse for not doing something meaningful in your community.
Glad to hear you didn't let your EC's slip. Like I said before, who cares if you were part of a premed club or w/e club? The only benefit you may have is if you were an officer in the club, and even that is likely extremely minimal unless you were really doing some good things there. But you could have just as easily organized soup kitchen activities or something else and imo that would be much more meaningful and significant than getting pizza for a club meeting.
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Commuting is absolutely and in no way disadvantaged. Hell, you were even on a bus- that's two hours of guaranteed homework time every day. I had to do my awful commute five days a week in a car; what I wouldn't give to have had that time to crack open a book instead of drive.
