disadvantaged status?

[stressedout]

---

Members do not see this ad.

HI You Guys,

I am debating about whether or not to apply as a disadvantaged applicant and would appreciate some input from others who have decided for or against it...

Basically, I have had to financially support my family since I was 16 (my father left our home and provided no alimony since I was 12 and my mom worked as a housekeeper which obviously didn't give us too much money) but I have lived in a nice area and went to a good middle and high school.

I did have to struggle financially from when I was 12 until after I graduated from college? Is financial disadvantage enough???

Thanks so much for anyone's help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dstn2bmd]

Hi-

I am claiming disadvantaged status....my family (i.e. my mother and my brother....where's dad? You mean it takes two people to have a baby?) was on welfare for most of my life and when I was 15 I had to leave home because my mom was "not a very good mother". So I was a ward of the state and in foster care for two years. I became a legal adult at 17 and have had no contact with my mother since, that was 12 years ago. My life continued to be very difficult....etc.

Anyways, how did your financial situation interfere with your academic pursuits and do you have documentation to support your claim? What did you learn from your experience?

Heb

 

[Chronotropic]

If you feel that you have a legit reason then apply disadvantaged and let the adcoms decide.

 

[stressedout]

I am not sure whether I can be considered disadvantaged and that's why I am asking others...
I don't want to put myself in a category where maybe I shouldn't be

Anyone's elses input would be great. thanx

 

[Eraserhead]

I had the same question about a month ago and responses varied from "no, you shouldn't do it because your hardship was not as great as X, Y, or Z situation" to "wow, you've really come a long way from what you started with and i'm very impressed by your perserverance and motivation and this will help make you a better, more caring physician." So, what I"m trying to summarize here is that everyone will have a different reaction to your story. And, each school will not only have a different committee with different reactions, but also a different policy. I've heard that UofM and UC schools (and others) take this much more seriously, while other schools might not care at all (depending on the situation and facts and how you present them in essays and interviews).

So, I decided to claim myself as disadvantaged and let the ad comms decide where I am on that scale of severity or whether or not it should change how my credentials are viewed. and that's what I think everyone should do if they are not sure. There's obviously a gradient of disadvantage, and you are surely on it somewhere, but even for those who aren't high on the scale, things like distance traveled (economically, socially, etc.) due to a lack of support, guidance, encouragement, role models, or opportunity are taken into account and should not be left out. You might not get a chance to discuss these factors in an interview unless you point them out on the application somewhere and the computerized admissions process won't be able to read your essay and mark you as disadvantaged. Unless you are misleading the ad comm or providing false informaiton, how can this do you harm? I would do it for sure.

Kevin 🙂

 

[stressedout]

Thanks to everyone for their input, especially Doctor Kevin for all the info!!!🙂

 

[voltron77]

If you apply as disadvantaged and have valid reasons justifying this, then go do it. It is pretty subjective and there are different circumstances/experiences that can place an applicant into the disadvantaged classification. Adcoms know this and realize that there are so many reasons why applicants may apply as disadvanatged. Whatever you do, good luck!!!

 

[stressedout]

thanx for the info voltron 🙂
i did end up applying as disadvantaged...we'll see what happens.

 

[meanderson]

It really doesn't take a genius to figure out why the UC's place so much importance on the disadvantage distinction- it's a way for them to increase the # of urm students. Schools in other states don't have to operate under such a restriction as they can simply employ a more open form of AA.

Considering this, I'm pretty sure urm applicants in the disadvantaged group are treated far differently than non-urm applicants in the disadvantaged group. So basically, whether to apply disadvantaged in california is probably a much more important decision for urm applicants than non-urm applicants. I'm guessing that UC schools want most all borderline disadvantaged urm applicants to apply disadvantaged, and really don't care whether non-urms do.

It would be interesting to see the breakdowns of % accepted urm disadvantaged applicants vs. % accepted non-urm applicants for UC schools. I bet it would be prety striking.....