Educationally disadvantaged?

[VanillaBear]

This is a question I keep seeing on some med school secondaries:
"Do you consider yourself to be educationally disadvantaged? If Yes, please explain."
--->What do you guys think the med schools are really asking/looking for when they present this question on the app?

I know it seems like a pretty straightforward question, but I think there's more than one way to interpret this question. Thanks for all those that reply.....much love

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[TheRealMD]

I usually think having to work during college to pay for tuition and that starts to cut into study time. Or perhaps you're the first person in your family to go to college. Lots of things really.

 

[JRockdown]

I would not take this as having to work through college. If that were true 50% of grads would be educationally disadvantaged. First, to college could be argued for. Other things may include poor scholastic opportunity or available resources through life. Learning disorder. Possibly, an unhealthy addiction to grey's anatomy and or House.

Good Luck....

 

[proclivity]

I would not take this as having to work through college. If that were true 50% of grads would be educationally disadvantaged. First, to college could be argued for. Other things may include poor scholastic opportunity or available resources through life. Learning disorder. Possibly, an unhealthy addiction to grey's anatomy and or House.

Good Luck....

Having to work because you want money and having to work for livelihood are two completely different things. I am not saying this to insult you. I just think that this is what the OP meant to say.

To the OP, if you had a unique experience while going through undergrad, mention it. If it is substantial, it will shine through and not sound petty. If it does sound petty it will also shine through, hopefully before you send in the application.

@ JRock, i dig the blog.

 

[JRockdown]

Having to work because you want money and having to work for livelihood are two completely different things. I am not saying this to insult you. I just think that this is what the OP meant to say.

To the OP, if you had a unique experience while going through undergrad, mention it. If it is substantial, it will shine through and not sound petty. If it does sound petty it will also shine through, hopefully before you send in the application.

@ JRock, i dig the blog.

Agreed, little extra assumption and misstatement on my part. 50% of ug's probably work because they want money, not many for a living. If you are supporting a family that is definitely a hardship.

I guess I look at myself...someone who worked about 25-35 hours a week every year from sophomore year to my second senior year. Usually about 3 jobs at a time. This definitely changed a lot of my grades in the process, but I still would not consider myself "educationally disadvantaged." Even though I needed the money to buy food, apartment, what not. It was a choice of how I wanted to pay for school instead of loans etc.

 

[alwaysaangel]

I'd say its more secondary education than college. They want to know if you were disadvantaged to the point that you struggled through college because your secondary education didn't properly prepare you for it (either because you were working full-time to support your family or you lived in a ghetto where only 10% of students graduate, etc. etc. etc.)

It could also mean if you were the sole supporter of your family in college and were working 40+ hours a week to make ends meet. But working part-time for spending money or even working part-time to pay your own way through college isn't educationally disadvantaged.

 

[deleted103644]

If any of your classes resembled these...

Or this was a page out of your biology textbook....

Then you qualify as educationally disadvantaged.

 

[powerful_squib]

I'd say its more secondary education than college. They want to know if you were disadvantaged to the point that you struggled through college because your secondary education didn't properly prepare you for it (either because you were working full-time to support your family or you lived in a ghetto where only 10% of students graduate, etc. etc. etc.)

I agree with this. My secondary education didn't prepare me at all for college.

 

[VanillaBear]

I should have mentioned this in my original post, but the secondary asks BOTH:

1)"Do you consider yourself to be Economically disavantaged? If yes, please explain"
2)"Do you consider yourself to be Educationally disadvantaged? If yes, please explain"

So this is why it really confused me bc a lot of the reasons you would think for putting under being educationally disadvantaged also fall under being economically disavantaged. You don't want to sound repetative, but you want to make sure you answer both fully. What to do u guys think?

 

[alwaysaangel]

I should have mentioned this in my original post, but the secondary asks BOTH:

1)"Do you consider yourself to be Economically disavantaged? If yes, please explain"
2)"Do you consider yourself to be Educationally disadvantaged? If yes, please explain"

So this is why it really confused me bc a lot of the reasons you would think for putting under being educationally disadvantaged also fall under being economically disavantaged. You don't want to sound repetative, but you want to make sure you answer both fully. What to do u guys think?

They are different though. You could be educationally disadvantaged because you grew up in Bum****, Nebraska. Where you had everything you ever needed but schools were less than stellar. Or even grown up in East LA - in a nice house but a terrible school district. (Educationally disadvantaged)

Or you could be someone who was lucky enough to have parents who already owned a house in one of the best school districts of the country but then was always on food stamps and school assistance programs even if you went to stellar high schools. (Economically disadvantaged)

There is definitely a lot of overlap but there doesn't have to be.