Disadvantaged Status on AMCAS

[blahblahpremeds]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi all,

I'm in a bit of a dilemma as to whether or not to claim as being disadvantaged on my AMCAS application. Besides appealing unique to adcoms, does this carry any advantages or disadvantages, especially in terms of financial aid? Below is my story. Please take a look and let me know if it's worth mentioning in my app.


During my senior year in high school, my father passed away due to a heart attack. Since then, my family and I have been in a financial crisis. In order to support my mother with the household expenses and pay for my education, I have been working throughout my undergraduate years at several different places including X University, a tutoring service, a gas station, a local law office and a local pediatric office. Though my mother works full time and I also contribute to the monthly expenses, my family relies largely on state assistance to help us fulfill the financial obligations for each month. My mother cannot entirely communicate in English; therefore, I am often also responsible for physically paying the bills and handling any bureaucratic matters such as auto insurance and filing taxes for the year. Moreover, I have also handled the responsibilities of my younger brother, who has required emotional and social help with his school life as he has grown up in the past few years.

 

[Crayola227]

no. diadvantaged looks at the bulk of your life 0-18, and on the financial side of things they ask if during that time you received/were eligible for income based federal/state aid like foodstamps

great challenges to write about in your secondaries though

 

[Catalystik]

does this carry any advantages or disadvantages, especially in terms of financial aid?

During my senior year in high school, my father passed away due to a heart attack. Since then, my family and I have been in a financial crisis. In order to support my mother with the household expenses and pay for my education, I have been working throughout my undergraduate years at several different places including X University, a tutoring service, a gas station, a local law office and a local pediatric office. Though my mother works full time and I also contribute to the monthly expenses, my family relies largely on state assistance to help us fulfill the financial obligations for each month. My mother cannot entirely communicate in English; therefore, I am often also responsible for physically paying the bills and handling any bureaucratic matters such as auto insurance and filing taxes for the year. Moreover, I have also handled the responsibilities of my younger brother, who has required emotional and social help with his school life as he has grown up in the past few years.

There's another part of the application where you can communicate how you paid for college.

The disadvantaged section isn't used to determine eligibility for need-based financial aid.

 

[LizzyM]

There's another part of the application where you can communicate how you paid for college.

The disadvantaged section isn't used to determine eligibility for need-based financial aid.

And your jobs should be listed in the experience section . It puts everything in perspective when the adcom sees how much time you worked on top of your coursework and you might get a little leeway on volunteerism.

 

[blahblahpremeds]

Thank you so much for the advice everyone! Much appreciated!!