I checked the Disadvantage Status on AMCAS. Now I'm not sure that was the right call.

[banano]

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Hello. I have applied twice before and didn't check the Disadvantaged AMCAS section. This year I did. I explained my situation, saying I'm part of a very small ethnic and religious minority (Assyrian Christian/Chaldean) who's people were/are being persecuted in the Middle East. I also explained my first-gen immigrant parents had to learn English, take low-paying jobs not related to their fields, and waited 10 years before they were financially stable enough to have me.

I'm worried about medical schools looking at that section skeptically, and thinking I'm trying to game the system since I didn't check it before. The vagueness of what qualifies as "Disadvantaged" didn't help because I've straddled that line for most of my life. I'm not trying to game the system or anything, I wrote this just to provide some context. I already submitted my primary.

Am I raising a red flag? Is there anything I could do to address this? Either by contacting AMCAS or explaining my misreading of the question in secondaries, like the "Anything else" essays?

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Not a red flag

 

[gyngyn]

It will be open to interpretation.
I don't advise contacting anyone.

 

[Moko]

Hello. I have applied twice before and didn't check the Disadvantaged AMCAS section. This year I did. I explained my situation, saying I'm part of a very small ethnic and religious minority (Assyrian Christian/Chaldean) who's people were/are being persecuted in the Middle East. I also explained my first-gen immigrant parents had to learn English, take low-paying jobs not related to their fields, and waited 10 years before they were financially stable enough to have me. I'm worried about medical schools looking at that section skeptically, and thinking I'm trying to game the system since I didn't check it before. The vagueness of what qualifies as "Disadvantaged" didn't help because I've straddled that line for most of my life.
Am I raising a red flag? Is there anything I could do to address this? Either by contacting AMCAS or explaining my misreading of the question in secondaries, like the "Anything else" essays?

From your post, it seems that you grew up here in the US.

1. Did you ever experience persecution yourself? In what way(s) has your ethnic/religious identity negatively impacted your "social, economic, and educational opportunities"?
2. Since your parents did not conceive you until their financial situation improved, did you personally experience the effects of poverty or financial hardship? When you were growing up, did your family ever need to rely on state or federal assistance programs such as food stamps, housing assistance, etc.? If not, in what way(s) did your family's financial situation lead to "insufficient access to social, economic, and educational opportunities" for you?

If the answers to these questions are 'no'/'none', then I would not consider you to be socioeconomically disadvantaged. I hope that you made a compelling-enough case for your designation.

Regardless, there is nothing you can do now as you have already submitted your application. AMCAS will not let you do a do-over (refer to their applicant guide). If you erroneously marked yourself as disadvantaged, you should not bring further attention to this error in your secondaries. Just my thoughts.