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[LizzyM]

That sounds like a reasonable approach.

 

[LizzyM]

Did your family income rise (that's natural as the heads of the family mature and get more years of experience)? You could just list income at age 18. I'd say that this is particularly relevant if your parent(s) were in training when you were young and are now in their peak earning. it always seems odd to see someone list 2 parents who are MDs or JDs or PhDs and claiming annual income of $50,000 which actually reflects what they were making as post-docs 20 years ago.

No one is making a decision on financial aid, etc based on this information but is getting a hazy picture of, let's say, a family with an income of 300,000/year (2 parents working as physicians, let's say), compared with a working class family in an income bracket of $30,000/yr. There are those unusual situations such as parent who has a professional degree but who is disabled and familiy income is far less than you'd expect for someone wiht a professional degree. That could be a reason to check the disadvantaged box so as to have the opportunity to add an explanation (e.g. "my father was injured in 2004 and has been unable to work. My mother is his full-time caregiver. Our family income is limited to his disability check. The financial struggle has made us a stronger family.") I've also seen situations where a parent leaves (or is forced out of) a good paying job, and goes back to school or takes a very low paying job. That might be a situation to describe in the disadvantaged section, particularly if the income dropped and your opportunities were curtailed while your family lived with a "new normal".

Keep in mind that this is optional and if it seems to complicated or gives a biased view of your household, just leave it blank.

 

[LizzyM]

I'd say list the maximum number who lived in your household at any given time. it is the same as someone who had a certain number in the family and then had siblings born or died thus changing the number in the household. Frankly, no one looks at this too closely... it is just to get a sketch of the household... two parents, one sibling being a different situation than 10 or 12 kids, etc.

 

[username1000]

I have a similar question about listing where I grew up from 0 to 18. I lived in 7 states and 10 cities during that span, none for over 2 years. So, I am not sure what to put?

 

[LizzyM]

@LizzyM Thank you for the detailed writeup. Without getting too deep into it, I think my situation might fall under what you mentioned. Basically my parents were teenagers in college when I was born, both from middle class. They both eventually got their degrees, with one pursuing a graduate degree and the other doing odd jobs before settling in a career (so there was not much money at all for the first half). They have made solid middle class wages since then, but ended up with eight kids between them (i.e. why the number of people in household is also complicated). They are separated and repartnered, as you might be able to glean from that, which adds more complications. Also income goes down in certain years due to taking time off for pregnancy / unpaid maternity leave / caring for kids. This whole section has been a headache for me...

Keep in mind that you may list your parents names, (including step-parents if applicable), their highest education acheived their profession, and whether they are still alive. I can recall one situation where an applicant asked to be considered disadvanatged because his early years were in married graduate student housing and his family didn't have money for educational toys. At the point where the applicant was applying, the parent with a PhD was a professor at a very prestigious university.

 

[username1000]

I have a similar question about listing where I grew up from 0 to 18. I lived in 7 states and 10 cities during that span, none for over 2 years. So, I am not sure what to put?

@LizzyM what should I do in this situation?

 

[LizzyM]

@LizzyM what should I do in this situation?

Curiously, AMCAS offers no guidance on this topic of what to do if you've lived a nomadic life in 10 different cities in 7 states over 18 years with no more than 2 years in any one city. Just pick one... no one really cares.