Disadvantaged Status

[BlitzSleep]

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AMCAS states:

Underserved: Do you believe, based on your own experiences or the experiences of family and friends, that the area in which you grew up was adequately served by the available health care professionals? Were there enough physicians, nurses, hospitals, clinics, and other health care service providers?

The town that I live in still does not have a hospital (closest hospital is 30 miles). They have, however, recently built a 'medical plaza' but has received the nickname of 'death valley'. Would this be considered living in an underserved community?

And what about being raised by a single parent? Could that be considered economically or even socially disadvantaged?

 

[jla314]

From the AMCAS Notes and Explanations:

Next to County Names, you may see an indicator (R),(U). AMCAS maintains federal data on areas considered Rural or Medically Underserved that are reported to your designated medical schools along with your application. An indicator of (R) next to a County indicates that the county is considered Rural. An indicator of (U) indicates that the County is considered Medically Underserved. An indicator of (R)(U) indicates the County is both Rural and Medically Underserved.

AMCAS automatically determines if your county is considered underserved. There is no check box for listing your community as underserved.

Disadvantaged status is self-reported. You can do an SDN search for posts by LizzyM on this topic.

 

[BlitzSleep]

From the AMCAS Notes and Explanations:


AMCAS automatically determines if your county is considered underserved. There is no check box for listing your community as underserved.

Disadvantaged status is self-reported. You can do an SDN search for posts by LizzyM on this topic.

I don't see where it says R or U. Is there a list somewhere?

 

[jla314]

I don't see where it says R or U. Is there a list somewhere?

I didn't realize my county was considered underserved until I filled out my AMCAS and went to print a copy of it; on the printable AMCAS you'll see the letter(s) next to your county.

 

[ThaliaNox]

I didn't realize my county was considered underserved until I filled out my AMCAS and went to print a copy of it; on the printable AMCAS you'll see the letter(s) next to your county.

I've looked at many applications, and you would be suprised which places get a "U." There is another checkbox on the disadvantaged page where you personally check if you think you grew up in an underserved area.

If the OP grew up in a single parent family, that might be considered disadvantaged. If you think you were, OP, then write why. If your single parent was a lawyer, doctor or dentist, you might be called on it, but otherwise it will probably seem reasonable.

 

[LizzyM]

Counties that have too few primary care providers for the population are tagged on AMCAS. Manhattan (New York County) is underserved despite having four medical schools within its boundaries.

Applicants who self-identify as "disadvantaged" are asked to make their own assessment of whether or not their community was/is underserved. Clearly there are instances where the county may have sufficient resources but a community (geographically or cultural) may be underserved.

There is the hope (and some data to support the idea) that the physicians most likely to work in underserved communities are those who, themselves, came from underserved areas.

 

[adele87]

Does anyone know how they decide which counties are "underserved" on AMCAS? I was born in Fairfield County (CT), which I believe is among the top 10 wealthiest counties in the US. I was shocked when I saw the (U) next to the county name. I would classify the county as a whole as "overserved". Though it does contain the relatively impoverished city of Bridgeport, so maybe that is taken into account. Just curious.

 

[LizzyM]

Does anyone know how they decide which counties are "underserved" on AMCAS? I was born in Fairfield County (CT), which I believe is among the top 10 wealthiest counties in the US. I was shocked when I saw the (U) next to the county name. I would classify the county as a whole as "overserved". Though it does contain the relatively impoverished city of Bridgeport, so maybe that is taken into account. Just curious.

It is determined by the federal gov't in determining eligibility for federally funded services.

You can learn more here:

http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/shortage/

For Fairfield County, the areas lie in parts of B'port, Danbury, Stratford, & Stamford,

 

[familyaerospace]

Oh cool! Thanks Lizzy!

I just found out the county I live in counts as underserved. However, the county I grew up in (age 0 to 17) only became officially "underserved" in 2002 when I was 21. So close! I remember living there, we were pretty underserved back then too.

 

[LizzyM]

If you self-identify as disadvantaged, you are asked to give your own assessment of the availability of health care services in the community. It need not match the federal designation for your county or community.

 

[BlameItOnTheOH]

I grew up in a single parent home and am debating claiming disadvantaged status.

AMCAS asks the average income of your household growing up....ours would have been about 20K a year for my mom, sister, and I. However, my Dad paid child support until we were 18 which is what we lived on (which was a lot bc he made about 80K a year). Is it still ok to put 20K down as the household income, and then just explain in the space provided?

My dad completely stopped helping at all after age 18...so id guess that for the last 5 years i would definitely qualify.

 

[BlameItOnTheOH]

I grew up in a single parent home and am debating claiming disadvantaged status.

AMCAS asks the average income of your household growing up....ours would have been about 20K a year for my mom, sister, and I. However, my Dad paid child support until we were 18 which is what we lived on (which was a lot bc he made about 80K a year). Is it still ok to put 20K down as the household income, and then just explain in the space provided?

My dad completely stopped helping at all after age 18...so id guess that for the last 5 years i would definitely qualify.

 

[Lacheln]

I grew up in a single parent home and am debating claiming disadvantaged status.

AMCAS asks the average income of your household growing up....ours would have been about 20K a year for my mom, sister, and I. However, my Dad paid child support until we were 18 which is what we lived on (which was a lot bc he made about 80K a year). Is it still ok to put 20K down as the household income, and then just explain in the space provided?

My dad completely stopped helping at all after age 18...so id guess that for the last 5 years i would definitely qualify.

Disadvantaged status typically applies to your life prior to age 18 - ie. difficulties that could have affected your college preparation.

Child support is income that is required to be reported as part of the needs analysis process. You yourself say that you lived on the child support your father provided, it's household income.

 

[BlameItOnTheOH]

Does disadvantaged status really only apply strictly to prior to age 18, or is that just a guess?

So for the household income part, should I find out from my mom how much we received from him exactly and add it to the household income total? Or should I just explain in the space provided?

I'm well aware of what I said, I'm not trying to trick AMCAS...just trying to figure out what to put where, or if any of this matters at all. Id rather annoy all of you with my anal questions than the amcas people 🙂

 

[Lacheln]

Does disadvantaged status really only apply strictly to prior to age 18, or is that just a guess?

So for the household income part, should I find out from my mom how much we received from him exactly and add it to the household income total? Or should I just explain in the space provided?

I'm well aware of what I said, I'm not trying to trick AMCAS...just trying to figure out what to put where, or if any of this matters at all. Id rather annoy all of you with my anal questions than the amcas people 🙂

It's not a guess. Basically the disadvantaged section serves two purposes from the perspective of the med school - #1 it identifies people who statistically might be more likely to work with underserved populations, and #2 it provides an opportunity aside from your PS to give some additional context. Just as one example, if you had to work prior to age 18 in order to help support your family, perhaps you weren't as well prepared for college classes as your more fortunate peers, and therefore an upward trend in college would be that much more understandable. You wouldn't have to waste space in your ps explaining that. Things that happen post-dependent status are well documented in the rest of your application via work/ps/college info.

As for collecting the data, it doesn't have to be an exact number, something within a few grand is fine.

🙂 Good luck.

 

[BlameItOnTheOH]

gotcha...don't think I'll be claiming disadvantaged. Thats true - they'll obviously be able to tell from the ridiculous amount of hours i worked through college what was going on...

 

[familyaerospace]

Lizzy, if that's the case, I wish there were more characters allowed for the disadvantaged "essay" since even if I just did bullet points on how I count as ED, I max out the character limit!

 

[lilazyballer]

Hi, can anyone read my explanation for the disadvantaged section? PM me. Thanks!!

 

[Excelsius]

I am a bit surprised by this thread. I know people who applied and claimed disadvantaged status because they come from third world countries. They often had no food growing up. Medical care was non-existent. Have been victims of violence. In the US, their family received refugee status, food stamps, welfare, etc, etc.

If I was claiming "disadvantaged" mainly because I didn't have a local hospital, or some other similar reason, I would ask myself why am I making that claim. If it is to gain advantage in admissions, I would compare myself to the rest of the people who are claiming disadvantaged status and realize that my case really doesn't even come close. Furthermore, I would question how my claim would be viewed by the adcoms when they compare my case to someone who didn't even have running water growing up and those many other students who didn't apply disadvantaged even though they didn't have a local hospital. I don't know, but there is certainly food for thought here. The best analogy I can come up with is when in the US we get upset during a 30 minute blackout. Compare it to many years of black out in some countries!

 

[zombymush]

Obviously if you ever compare the lowest status of living in the United States to that of any 'Third World' (I think it's technically un-pc'ed now... hmm I'll look it up later), the single mother living on food stamps trying to raise her 4 children seems wealthy compared to the starving children in a developing nation. However, I think the whole point of the AMCAS including that question is to scout out those who would more likely return to those underserved populations within the United States after medical school to serve that particular community. -- I could be wrong.

@ Excelsius: 👍 to the food for thought, a lot of people forget where we are compared to the rest of the world, having even this chance to reach such a level of education. But I think the adcom's aren't looking to judge whether or not we're comparing ourselves to underdeveloped nations.

And, I think the reason why American Medical Schools don't take as many international applicants, aside from the fact that not that many are international apps, is that the state is training doctors in the U.S to serve in the U.S. --Again, just my own speculation.

 

[Excelsius]

Obviously if you ever compare the lowest status of living in the United States to that of any 'Third World' (I think it's technically un-pc'ed now... hmm I'll look it up later), the single mother living on food stamps trying to raise her 4 children seems wealthy compared to the starving children in a developing nation. However, I think the whole point of the AMCAS including that question is to scout out those who would more likely return to those underserved populations within the United States after medical school to serve that particular community. -- I could be wrong.

@ Excelsius: 👍 to the food for thought, a lot of people forget where we are compared to the rest of the world, having even this chance to reach such a level of education. But I think the adcom's aren't looking to judge whether or not we're comparing ourselves to underdeveloped nations.

And, I think the reason why American Medical Schools don't take as many international applicants, aside from the fact that not that many are international apps, is that the state is training doctors in the U.S to serve in the U.S. --Again, just my own speculation.

What you say is true. Your first paragraph is every bit as disadvantaged as someone growing up in a third world country. Labels do not matter really. I think one of the aspects that adcoms are looking at is how your education might have been affected by your childhood (up to 18 yo). So if you grew up in a poor, gang-infested neighborhood, were on foodstamps, welfare, etc, that's definitely disadvantaged. It takes a character to overcome all those difficulties and reach even college, much less a medical school. However, not having a local hospital might not matter much. Lizzy mentioned that Manhattan is among those cities. What should an adcom think of a kid who grew in Manhattan and is applying disadvantaged? Or how about a single parent household where the child was provided for completely (mom was an attorney, a doctor, etc.)? That's what I am comparing the definition to.

As far as serving undeserved communities, that's correct as well. However, having an undeserved community is not congruent to missing a local hopital. Nor applying from an undeserved community means that you are going back to practice there, especially if you're not a minority. Furthermore, if it is this category you are hoping to play to, you'd probably have to make your intentions clear by desiring to go into primary care and having a track record of being heavily involved in your community, in which case a disadvantaged status would be apropos or at least serve some purpose for the applicant. Lizzy can correct me if I am wrong, but it makes sense that some adcoms might hold it against you if you apply disadvantaged under certain circumstances.

As for the international applicants, that's a different story. If the international applicant is actually in the US and has permanent residence or citizenship, that applicant has the "story" that we often discuss on SDN and that's a large advantage on the application trail. My experience is limited to undergrad admissions, but I know two people from my highschool with average grades who were admitted to Harvard and Stanford due to their background. This is likely true for medical school as well because it adds a rare diversity to the class. Of course, Lizzy knows better, at least for her school.

 

[ThaliaNox]

As far as serving undeserved communities, that's correct as well. However, having an undeserved community is not congruent to missing a local hopital. Nor applying from an undeserved community means that you are going back to practice there, especially if you're not a minority. Furthermore, if it is this category you are hoping to play to, you'd probably have to make your intentions clear by desiring to go into primary care and having a track record of being heavily involved in your community, in which case a disadvantaged status would be apropos or at least serve some purpose for the applicant. Lizzy can correct me if I am wrong, but it makes sense that some adcoms might hold it against you if you apply disadvantaged under certain circumstances.

In many underserved areas primary care is not the only shortage. Growing up, my mother worked at a nursing home and she often complained about the six month wait to see the dermatologist for her elderly residents, and the necessity of traveling over an hour to get to the ONLY dermatologist in a 200 mile radius. Dermatology is about as far from primary care as it gets, and I know we could sure use another one where I grew up! I'm not saying I personally want to be a dermatologist, but the concept is sound.

Overall, a disadvantaged status essay is just a way to get facts out there without the neccessity of working them into your personal statement. Relatively few applicants claim it, in my experience. It's not about looking for pity, it's about identifying experiences that make the class more diverse or people who fit the mission of the school.