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I am going to apply to med school this June, and after a lot of thought and discussion with my pre-med adviser and others I have decided to apply as a disadvantaged applicant. I know this doesn't make a big difference in how your application is viewed or treated by adcoms, but I feel that it is a part of who I am and what my motivations to be in medicine are. I did struggle with it a bit though, as I have never tried to "take advantage" of my disadvantaged background before (tee hee, couldn't help being a little punny), and I didn't want to be perceived as doing so now. I have worked hard to do well in college and have a fairly strong application overall, so I didn't want applying as disadvantaged to overshadow my accomplishments, just put them in a different light. Anyway, I would really like to hear about other applicants who have applied as disadvantaged and what they thought of their experience in doing that, or from people who plan to do so as I do. Why do you consider yourself disadvantaged? What impact has it had on the application process, interviews, etc. (if you have gotten that far)? Do you feel like it has helped you, hurt you, or neither? How did/will you approach writing the additional essay for AMCAS explaining your disadvantage(s)?
I'll get the ball rolling: I guess I consider myself disadvantaged for financial and social reasons. I am from a single parent household (dad disappeared completely from my life at age 5), my mom is an HS graduate only who worked intermittently throughout my childhood (so obviously we weren't exactly rich growing up). Between the ages of 3 and 16, I was taken out of my mother's custody and made a ward of the state several times, so I bounced around in different foster homes and group homes and also living with different family members throughout my childhood. I don't know how I am going to write the disadvantaged essay yet, but I think I'll just stick to facts and talk a little about the positive effects of these experiences (increased maturity at a young age), and also how going through all of that has obviously impacted my desire to serve others who are socioeconomically disadvantaged as I was (am?).
Although I'm still not 100% comfortable with applying disadvantaged--I've met so many people who had it much worse than I did growing up--I've come to realize that my background is pretty atypical for a med school applicant (I've never met another former foster child in college, let alone applying to med school, although I'm sure they're out there). Even answering some of the questions on the AMCAS app are difficult; for example, when it asks what my avg, household income was growing up, which household do I use? I grew up in so many different households and institutions, but obviously AMCAS assumes (safely, for the most part) that people grew up in just one household that they can answer that question for. Anyway, I'm sure others have similar stories, which I hope they will feel comfortable sharing so I and others can learn from them.
I'll get the ball rolling: I guess I consider myself disadvantaged for financial and social reasons. I am from a single parent household (dad disappeared completely from my life at age 5), my mom is an HS graduate only who worked intermittently throughout my childhood (so obviously we weren't exactly rich growing up). Between the ages of 3 and 16, I was taken out of my mother's custody and made a ward of the state several times, so I bounced around in different foster homes and group homes and also living with different family members throughout my childhood. I don't know how I am going to write the disadvantaged essay yet, but I think I'll just stick to facts and talk a little about the positive effects of these experiences (increased maturity at a young age), and also how going through all of that has obviously impacted my desire to serve others who are socioeconomically disadvantaged as I was (am?).
Although I'm still not 100% comfortable with applying disadvantaged--I've met so many people who had it much worse than I did growing up--I've come to realize that my background is pretty atypical for a med school applicant (I've never met another former foster child in college, let alone applying to med school, although I'm sure they're out there). Even answering some of the questions on the AMCAS app are difficult; for example, when it asks what my avg, household income was growing up, which household do I use? I grew up in so many different households and institutions, but obviously AMCAS assumes (safely, for the most part) that people grew up in just one household that they can answer that question for. Anyway, I'm sure others have similar stories, which I hope they will feel comfortable sharing so I and others can learn from them.