Medical How rare are 1st-gen college student applicants and is it a suitable topic for a diversity prompt?

[tantacles]

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I grew up in an ethnic bubble with much of the population being immigrant or young children of immigrants. When I was in grade school, the vast majority of my friends, acquaintances, and people I know of who went to college were the first in their family, including myself. This seemed to be the case across all ethnicities at my school. I always thought this was something very common. Even in college, although to a lesser extent compared to my environment growing up, many of my friends were first in their family to go to college. I read a comment mentioning it was pretty rare (~10%?, I can't find the comment) for first-generation college graduates to be in the applicant pool or to be accepted. Is this true? If so, that'd be news to me.

Related to that question. Is being a first-generation college student a viable topic to discuss on the diversity prompts on the secondaries of many schools? If so, is there advice or caution when going about this? Something I need to prove? I am ORM, child of immigrants, if that makes a difference.

Going further, under what circumstances would it be an appropriate topic for the disadvantage statement? Reflecting on my experiences, I definitely faced challenges that a 2nd/3rd generation college student might not have, but one can always think of someone who might have life circumstances worse than their own, and I am no exception.

First generation college student status is a wonderful aspect of your application to discuss in a diversity prompt. There is nothing you need to prove, but your essay should ideally be insightful and tell how your status has informed your experience.

As far as the disadvantaged statement, to plagiarize from the AAMC:

"Disadvantaged Status: This subsection asks you if you wish your designated medical schools to consider you a disadvantaged applicant. You might consider yourself disadvantaged if you grew up in an area that was medically underserved or had insufficient access to social, economic, and educational opportunities. If you answer Yes, you’ll have 1,325 characters to explain why you consider yourself a disadvantaged applicant."

If you fit into one of the categories in the paragraph above, I would check the box and write your essay. If not, I would leave it alone. It's up to you to determine whether you fall into the category, but the prompt is sufficiently vague to allow you to self-identify based on a number of factors.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Yes, first-generation college is also an element of diversity that has largely gone underappreciated until recently. Because we do not explicitly ask for that information in the application, any insight is self-disclosed by the applicant and by the schools upon enrollment. There are definitely challenges that come with being first-generation which may include language, acclimatization to educational culture, financial resources, and social connections. I would use the essay in AMCAS or similar applications upon prompting (including school-specific applications) to describe your learning environment in school, employment to support family finances where applicable, and adjustments or resources you needed to use especially upon transitioning to college or beyond.