If and how to note facts about family on AMCAS

[philosonista]

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Notice I did not title this thread, "How to claim disadvantaged status." Nobody get out the tiny violins to poke fun at me. I'm not looking for sympathy where none should be given. I'm just looking for information.

The following is true of my family:

- My father, who hasn't been in my life past the 4th grade, has a college degree.
- Neither my stepfather nor mother, who serve for all practical purposes as my parents, have a college degree.
- Despite these facts, my family is upper middle class.
- My parents have not paid for my college education, yet their income also disqualifies me for all financial aid, putting me in several tens of thousands of debt and causing me to nearly drop out at one point.
- Out of four kids for whom my mother and step-father serve as parents, I am the only one who will have a college degree. The rest are older than me, and have no intentions to go to school. They work in sales or construction.

My perspective on the matter:
- I don't feel my economic class speaks to the culture I was in as a kid. Thus, I don't want ADCOM's to look at my household income and brand me with preconceived notions. I had no idea what I was getting into going into college. I wasn't even aware there was a college in my hometown until I was a senior. Although I would say my application is ultimately pretty good, a few slow years in the beginning were due to my complete lack of awareness, and the fact that I wasn't yet a pre-med.

Should one mention these things in AMCAS? If so, how?

 

[philosonista]

Just write in the comments, "I am exactly like a million other students in the United States."

Oh, good. It started.

So no one makes note of such things in their AMCAS?

I'm looking for straight answers. Not snark.

 

[el_duderino]

I'm not sure that going into debt by taking out loans is a very good excuse for "nearly dropping out." Most students take loans, and you will be taking much bigger ones for med school.

I think that if you can work some of this into your personal narrative in the personal statement, as a brief backdrop, it might fit in. Otherwise... Your family doesn't sound that unusual, you don't sound particularly disadvantaged, and no one likes a first world sob story.

 

[philosonista]

Makes note of what? What you describe is nothing more than a typical upbringing.

I suspect most people who had my upbringing didn't come from a wealthy family at the same time and I don't think I'm wrong that many people presume things of the wealthy that are not true of me that would influence how one views an application.

Every single thread that asks about how to list socioeconomic details either becomes a practice in accusing the OP of unwarranted disadvantaged status or a fight about affirmative action. Jesus christ. Is it possible for this to be done without snark?

 

[philosonista]

I'm not sure that going into debt by taking out loans is a very good excuse for "nearly dropping out." Most students take loans, and you will be taking much bigger ones for med school.

I think that if you can work some of this into your personal narrative in the personal statement, as a brief backdrop, it might fit in. Otherwise... Your family doesn't sound that unusual, you don't sound particularly disadvantaged, and no one likes a first world sob story.

NOTICE: First line of post: "Notice I did not title this thread, "How to claim disadvantaged status.""

I would not list myself as disadvantaged. I'm wondering whether this is something one mentions in a secondary or some such thing.

 

[philosonista]

@Goro @LizzyM

An ADCOM's answer and I will be done.

 

[HybridEarth]

If you are talking about financial struggles even though your parents were moderately well off, do you have many employment hours to back up the fact that you supported yourself? If not, I can't see why you would want to list this on an application. In the grand scheme of things, what you're saying is not unusual by any means, respectfully.

 

[philosonista]

If you are talking about financial struggles even though your parents were moderately well off, do you have many employment hours to back up the fact that you supported yourself? If not, I can't see why you would want to list this on an application. In the grand scheme of things, what you're saying is not unusual by any means, respectfully.

I have about $40,000 in loans and growing to pay for a state school to back it up.

Thank you for the respectful answer.

 

[philosonista]

This really isn't that unique....

I lived at home. The loans were not for housing.

 

[el_duderino]

I'd estimate that half or more of my class came in with that much in loans. I have almost twice that after one year of medical school.

What kind of answer are you looking for? You basically want to shoehorn "I was raised middle-class and paid for my college degree with loans" somewhere into your app where it doesn't belong so that adcoms can think you had it rough and grant you some leeway for something?

 

[GonnaBeADocOneDay]

I lived at home. The loans were not for housing.

So it seems that you have your answer. Please don't be one of those people who posts looking for a particular answer, then argues with everyone who gives you a different answer than you desire.

You situation is not unique. You would be better served using your word count on your secondaries to highlight the things that make you a strong candidate, as opposed to looking like you are making excuses for your shortcomings.

 

[philosonista]

A quick google search tells me AMCAS asks what education your parents have, and how college was paid for in addition to your parental income.

I should have just asked Google.

Goodnight.

 

[el_duderino]

Please don't be one of those people who posts looking for a particular answer, then argues with everyone who gives you a different answer than you desire.

This.

 

[LizzyM]

A quick google search tells me AMCAS asks what education your parents have, and how college was paid for in addition to your parental income.

I should have just asked Google.

Goodnight.

You don't have to list your father on the application. You can just list your mom & stepdad. You will list there occupation and highest level of education completed. You will list the ages of your siblings. You will list the proportion of the college that was paid by loans, parents' funds, your funds, scholarships, grants, other. You may choose to list your household annual income when you were growing up or you can list "prefer not to answer" or something like that. Many people do skip that item.

The vast majority of Americans do not have a college degree but the vast majority of medical students have parents with advanced degrees (MD, DO, DDS, JD, MBA in particular). It is worth listing and AMCAS now classifies students according to parental socioeconomic status based on education and employment.

 

[Goro]

As the wise LizzyM has pointed out many times, the box for checking disadvantaged is for your circumstances from age 0-18, primarily affecting your education before college. As in, "are you the first one in your family to go to college?"


- I don't feel my economic class speaks to the culture I was in as a kid. Thus, I don't want ADCOM's to look at my household income and brand me with preconceived notions. I had no idea what I was getting into going into college. I wasn't even aware there was a college in my hometown until I was a senior. Although I would say my application is ultimately pretty good, a few slow years in the beginning were due to my complete lack of awareness, and the fact that I wasn't yet a pre-med.

There are prompts is secondaries that ask for "what's your greatest challenge?" or "Is there anything else you want to tell us?"
That's where you can mention it.


Should one mention these things in AMCAS? If so, how?

 

[Inventor of Post-Its]

A quick google search tells me AMCAS asks what education your parents have, and how college was paid for in addition to your parental income.

I should have just asked Google.

Goodnight.

Or, you know, actually looked at the AMCAS application before you start asking where you should include all this information in your AMCAS application...

 

[crossingthefingers]

For what it's worth, I didn't list myself as disadvantaged (raised by single mother with a college degree but makes under 40k a year) even though I could have. Although I'm pursuing things beyond the scope of what my family knows, they've always been supportive, and I didn't want to minimize the experience of people who don't have that support.

I did bring my family situation up in interviews, and I think that the interviewers appreciated hearing where I was coming from. It would have felt not genuine to use it to try to make myself stand out on a primary application, because I know people who have had to work a lot harder than me, but I did eventually acknowledge that I was trying to enter a very different world with a family who was largely unable to support me financially/through connections.

 

[LizzyM]

For what it's worth, I didn't list myself as disadvantaged (raised by single mother with a college degree but makes under 40k a year) even though I could have. Although I'm pursuing things beyond the scope of what my family knows, they've always been supportive, and I didn't want to minimize the experience of people who don't have that support.

I did bring my family situation up in interviews, and I think that the interviewers appreciated hearing where I was coming from. It would have felt not genuine to use it to try to make myself stand out on a primary application, because I know people who have had to work a lot harder than me, but I did eventually acknowledge that I was trying to enter a very different world with a family who was largely unable to support me financially/through connections.

I see that you were admitted to an MD/PhD program and your strategy might have been best for that path because there is a sincere hope by the adcom for the MD/PhD that you will not be going back to your community, or a community like it, to serve as a primary care doc. Also, it draws attention away from the thought that you were choosing MD/PhD for financial reasons (tuition and stipend) and helps put the focus where it belongs on your scholarly work (research) and potential as a scientist which is unrelated to growing up in poverty. It does mean that you don't highlight "distance traveled" but I've never seen MD/PhD programs make that a focus whereas some adcom members and interviewers do.

 

[philosonista]

Or, you know, actually looked at the AMCAS application before you start asking where you should include all this information in your AMCAS application...

Who said I was applying this cycle?

Not me.

 

[philosonista]

I see that you were admitted to an MD/PhD program and your strategy might have been best for that path because there is a sincere hope by the adcom for the MD/PhD that you will not be going back to your community, or a community like it, to serve as a primary care doc. Also, it draws attention away from the thought that you were choosing MD/PhD for financial reasons (tuition and stipend) and helps put the focus where it belongs on your scholarly work (research) and potential as a scientist which is unrelated to growing up in poverty. It does mean that you don't highlight "distance traveled" but I've never seen MD/PhD programs make that a focus whereas some adcom members and interviewers do.

Okay, wow. So there's differences between MD and MD/PhD in this case.

I'm actually pre-MD/PhD.

I don't have any intention to list myself as disadvantaged. I just don't see myself as disadvantaged in the sense that others who have listed themselves as disadvantaged seem to be. But listing the education and employment of my parents, and the source of my college funds... would that hurt a pre-MD/PhD app? I would hope any thoughts that money is my primary concern would be circumvented by my LOR's and the fact that I chose to be an undergrad for six years full time rather than move on to things that would make money (and, if possible, the assumption that I'm smart enough to do the math to show you lose money in the long run as an MD/PhD).

 

[GonnaBeADocOneDay]

Okay, wow. So there's differences between MD and MD/PhD in this case.

I'm actually pre-MD/PhD.

I don't have any intention to list myself as disadvantaged. I just don't see myself as disadvantaged in the sense that others who have listed themselves as disadvantaged seem to be. But listing the education and employment of my parents, and the source of my college funds... would that hurt a pre-MD/PhD app? I would hope any thoughts that money is my primary concern would be circumvented by my LOR's and the fact that I chose to be an undergrad for six years full time rather than move on to things that would make money (and, if possible, the assumption that I'm smart enough to do the math to show you lose money in the long run as an MD/PhD).

Why would you "decide" to be an undergrad for 6 years? Did you graduate with a double major or something comparable from undergrad? Otherwise, I am not sure that an extended time in undergrad will look all that positive to adcoms as a reason you are not motivated by money. That is a bit of a stretch.

Concentrate on your GPA, MCAT and ECs if you are interested in getting into medical school, and to a different level if you aspire to MD/PhD. You can focusing on entirely the wrong thing and this thread is ongoing evidence of your issue.

The saying is "you can't see the forrest for the trees."

 

[LizzyM]

Okay, wow. So there's differences between MD and MD/PhD in this case.

I'm actually pre-MD/PhD.

I don't have any intention to list myself as disadvantaged. I just don't see myself as disadvantaged in the sense that others who have listed themselves as disadvantaged seem to be. But listing the education and employment of my parents, and the source of my college funds... would that hurt a pre-MD/PhD app? I would hope any thoughts that money is my primary concern would be circumvented by my LOR's and the fact that I chose to be an undergrad for six years full time rather than move on to things that would make money (and, if possible, the assumption that I'm smart enough to do the math to show you lose money in the long run as an MD/PhD).

I dont' see where listing info about your parents and your source of college funds would be detrimental in any way. If anything, it helps put flesh on the bones of your application.

 

[philosonista]

I dont' see where listing info about your parents and your source of college funds would be detrimental in any way. If anything, it helps put flesh on the bones of your application.

Thank you!

 

[philosonista]

Why would you "decide" to be an undergrad for 6 years? Did you graduate with a double major or something comparable from undergrad? Otherwise, I am not sure that an extended time in undergrad will look all that positive to adcoms as a reason you are not motivated by money. That is a bit of a stretch.

Concentrate on your GPA, MCAT and ECs if you are interested in getting into medical school, and to a different level if you aspire to MD/PhD. You can focusing on entirely the wrong thing and this thread is ongoing evidence of your issue.

The saying is "you can't see the forrest for the trees."

What I write quickly on the internet is not what would appear in my PS, or what would appear from the scope of my entire application, and I needn't explain it to the internet. I'm so sorry I don't tear my hair out perfecting how I come off in a forum.

Thanks for the information to the few who helped.

 

[mehc012]

You don't have to list your father on the application. You can just list your mom & stepdad. You will list there occupation and highest level of education completed. You will list the ages of your siblings. You will list the proportion of the college that was paid by loans, parents' funds, your funds, scholarships, grants, other. You may choose to list your household annual income when you were growing up or you can list "prefer not to answer" or something like that. Many people do skip that item.

The vast majority of Americans do not have a college degree but the vast majority of medical students have parents with advanced degrees (MD, DO, DDS, JD, MBA in particular). It is worth listing and AMCAS now classifies students according to parental socioeconomic status based on education and employment.

Wait, do you not have to list parents who have been out of the picture for most of your life? Because that would be...awesome!

 

[LizzyM]

Wait, do you not have to list parents who have been out of the picture for most of your life? Because that would be...awesome!

You can list whom you wish or list no one. I've seen people list only one parent when I know they have 2 parents who are still in the picture. Just be prepared to answer a question if it comes up. I tend not to go there during interviews but, as always, YMMV.

 

[GonnaBeADocOneDay]

What I write quickly on the internet is not what would appear in my PS, or what would appear from the scope of my entire application, and I needn't explain it to the internet. I'm so sorry I don't tear my hair out perfecting how I come off in a forum.

Thanks for the information to the few who helped.

You said you have been in undergrad for 6 years. That is not something optional to report and will be blatantly obvious to anyone who reviews your application. My point was that trying to spin that fact into "I was in undergrad for 6 years because I did not want a job and therefore am not motivated by money" just doesn't make any sense. I would advise that you not try this tactic on your app.
Just like, as I said above, you would be wasting valuable PS space to explain that you took loans, my family is not really disadvantaged but... blah, blah etc. It would be a better use of the space to show more compelling reasons to admit you to medical school, like highlighting research, volunteering experiences or healthcare shadowing/working experiences.

Please remember that you came here for advice and take ALL of the things said in this thread into consideration. Being defensive will only hurt you, as no one has a personal vendetta or has any want/need to bring you down. It is all said out of love, so don't be mad if you don't hear what you want to hear.