Help! Question on family income from birth-18?

[frutiaspice]

Hi everyone,
I'm not exactly sure how to answer the question: What was the income level of your family during the majority of your life from birth to age eighteen?
From birth to around 10-11 years old, my family made 20-30k but after that time, my family income was >80k. Should I average the values or should I report one over the other?

Thanks!

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[kcin]

Hi everyone,
I'm not exactly sure how to answer the question: What was the income level of your family during the majority of your life from birth to age eighteen?
From birth to around 10-11 years old, my family made 20-30k but after that time, my family income was >80k. Should I average the values or should I report one over the other?

Thanks!

It asks for the income level during the majority of your life from birth to 18. Answer the question it's asking, not what you think it should be asking.

 

[Web MD]

Your income level was 2.5, congrats on levelling up when you hit your teens

 

[cowsgomuon]

Hi everyone,
I'm not exactly sure how to answer the question: What was the income level of your family during the majority of your life from birth to age eighteen?
From birth to around 10-11 years old, my family made 20-30k but after that time, my family income was >80k. Should I average the values or should I report one over the other?

Thanks!

Average the values. My family had a similar situation when my parents moved to a better industry when I was 14. I just did a weighted average of salary * number of years at that salary.

 

[gravitywave]

Average the values. My family had a similar situation when my parents moved to a better industry when I was 14. I just did a weighted average of salary * number of years at that salary.

i agree with kcin, who said folks should not do this.

 

[frutiaspice]

So I should put down 20-30k since that was my situation for 10/18 years of my life? That doesn't seem like much of a majority to me :/

 

[Stewabeet]

I think the argument for not averaging the salaries is this:
Earning 20-30k and then switching to 80k is not the same as earning 50k throughout ages 0-18. I think this is why AMCAS asks for salary from the majority of the time rather than the estimated average salary over 18 years. I agree that 10/18 years isn't a great majority compared to 8/18 years, but no system of asking these sorts of questions is perfect. I'd still just give AMCAS what it is asking for: the 20-30k, since it governed most (more than half) of your childhood.

 

[Iso4ane]

I think the argument for not averaging the salaries is this:
Earning 20-30k and then switching to 80k is not the same as earning 50k throughout ages 0-18. I think this is why AMCAS asks for salary from the majority of the time rather than the estimated average salary over 18 years. I agree that 10/18 years isn't a great majority compared to 8/18 years, but no system of asking these sorts of questions is perfect. I'd still just give AMCAS what it is asking for: the 20-30k, since it governed most (more than half) of your childhood.

I may have to disagree, my father started working in a growing industry and makes a lot more now than when I was 10 or 5. But lifestyle-wise, even though we can relax a little bit more about money than before, we don't spend to our limits and there are parts of the old lifestyle that still find their way through so I'm okay with averaging, if not bumping the number a little lower (but 25-30K is too low and kinda unfair. Say maybe 40-45K).

 

[drfancypants]

Hi everyone,
I'm not exactly sure how to answer the question: What was the income level of your family during the majority of your life from birth to age eighteen?
From birth to around 10-11 years old, my family made 20-30k but after that time, my family income was >80k. Should I average the values or should I report one over the other?
Thanks!

I just declined to answer; it's a rather simplistic question and doesn't take split families into account, nor drastic changes like yours. This goes for lots of the other biography questions as well. It's hard to imagine adcoms actually caring what you say here, unless you want to make the case that you were economically disadvantaged.

 

[blizzah]

I don't really like this question.

Do AdComs look at this as part of your application, or is this for AMCAS?

 

[frutiaspice]

Hrm, yeah, I may just not answer it since it's slightly annoying to answer...

 

[Joker88]

This is definitely a strange question. Its hard to average my dad's income for the last 18 years. Theres been a lot of ups and downs. Should i try to throw out an estimate, or say I dont know or decline? I just dont want to make a mistake in answering the question...

 

[ponyo]

I have this same problem... I moved to the US when I was 12 and obviously the income levels from before and after are rather drastically different (my parents made about $2000, maybe less, a year, in China in the 90s). 12 out of 18 years is definitely a majority but it just seems weird because we are doing pretty good now...

 

[Joker88]

bump anyone?

 

[KLycos]

So I should put down 20-30k since that was my situation for 10/18 years of my life? That doesn't seem like much of a majority to me :/

YES, how is 10/18 not a majority?????????? Herp Derp

 

[LizzyM]

I think that this is more for AMCAS than for adcoms. It is the first year that it is being asked so I don't yet know how the adcom members will react to the information.

AMCAS is interested in socioeconomic status (SES) as a predictor of poor outcomes so that students "at risk" can be provided with support services to improve the likelihood of graduation. Awhile back they used "one parent or more with a college degree" as a proxy for SES. I guess they figured that income would be even better at distinguishing among students.

 

[lerm89]

I struggled with this question as well... Moved to US at age 9 from a disadvantaged country where my parents made only about $15 dollars a month (granted the cost of living was much lower there). When we arrived, we were on welfare for a year. Then my dad got a job with an entry salary of 30,000, and by age 18 it rose to about 40,000. I guess I'll put down less than 5,000 and if anyone asks I'll explain what I meant..

 

[tkhan180]

Can you just answer 'don't know' or is it something that matters a lot? I don't understand why they can't just ask for present income...

 

[LizzyM]

Can you just answer 'don't know' or is it something that matters a lot? I don't understand why they can't just ask for present income...

The relevance relates to the quality of the grade schools attended, quality of enrichment activities (travel, camps, music & dance lessons) and so forth that you enjoyed as a kid. The idea was/is to understand that some applicants, of any race, may come from family situations of deprivation and that might be something to consider in looking at the student's performance in college, particularly in the transition from HS.

Present income?? Whose? For those who are 5 years out of college, is parents' current income relevant? Maybe parents are now retired and getting along on a lower income as the kids are out of college & out of the house. Maybe the non-trad student is making $100,000/yr (I've interviewed at least one applicant in that circumstance) -- is that relevant? It may bear no relationship to one's childhood experience.