Is my sister considered Disadvantaged?

[Magyarzorag]

My families and her lifestyle is pretty good now. She drives a brand new 2017 Mazda CX-5 SUV she got for her graduation gift from my parents, studied abroad for a semester in France, wears designer clothes, and doesn't receive any financial aid. However, according to AMCAS, she may be able to qualify as disadvantaged given:

Her mom was on food stamps and WIC while she was born and she was on medicaid for like the first 5 years of her life
(My dad was still a graduate student so our income was very low for the first half of our child hood and my mom worked odd jobs trying to make ends meet).
English wasn't widely spoken at home
Although the high school she went to was ranked in the top 500 nationally, 48% of students at that school received free or reduced lunch.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[LizzyM]

Was she academically behind fellow students when she started college, or did she delay attending college due to socio-economic barriers?

What the disadvantaged check box is getting at is identifying students who started college well behind the starting line and had to work all the harder to catch up and those who are non-traditional applicants because college was not possible at the time they graduated high school.

Your sister needs to assess this for herself. Claiming it when it seems to be something that did not have a detrimental effect on her entry into higher education will not get her brownie points and can be seen as trying to garner "an advantage" that doesn't seem justified. These attempts generally fall flat and can even bias a reviewer against an applicant.

 

[Magyarzorag]

By the time she graduated high school, my family was doing pretty well and they financially support her. The only "academically behind" was that she did not start pre-school like many other children and may have been a little behind in kindergarten but caught up quickly and was in a gifted class by middle school. It was just during the early years like before age 8, when my family faced some economic hardships and we were on government assistance for a while. AMCAS considers being on government assistance during any point in your life as disadvantaged though.

 

[OneTwoThreeFour]

My families and her lifestyle is pretty good now. She drives a brand new 2017 Mazda CX-5 SUV she got for her graduation gift from my parents, studied abroad for a semester in France, wears designer clothes, and doesn't receive any financial aid. However, according to AMCAS, she may be able to qualify as disadvantaged given:

Her mom was on food stamps and WIC while she was born and she was on medicaid for like the first 5 years of her life
(My dad was still a graduate student so our income was very low for the first half of our child hood and my mom worked odd jobs trying to make ends meet).
English wasn't widely spoken at home
Although the high school she went to was ranked in the top 500 nationally, 48% of students at that school received free or reduced lunch.

Like many things in life, there's a could and there's a should.
Could she check the box? Probably.
Should she check the box? Her choice if she feels disadvantaged.
When I've seen the box checked I go back and try to figure out why. If it seems like someone is trying to game the system I do not think highly of that person.

 

[DNAJB6]

My families and her lifestyle is pretty good now. She drives a brand new 2017 Mazda CX-5 SUV she got for her graduation gift from my parents, studied abroad for a semester in France, wears designer clothes, and doesn't receive any financial aid. However, according to AMCAS, she may be able to qualify as disadvantaged given:

Her mom was on food stamps and WIC while she was born and she was on medicaid for like the first 5 years of her life
(My dad was still a graduate student so our income was very low for the first half of our child hood and my mom worked odd jobs trying to make ends meet).
English wasn't widely spoken at home
Although the high school she went to was ranked in the top 500 nationally, 48% of students at that school received free or reduced lunch.

She's definitely underprivileged... All of the rich kids get a Lexus, Audi, or Cadillac SUV....

 

[Magyarzorag]

Ok. Thanks! I will probably recommend she check the box but very clearly explain that it was only during her early childhood! I know the SAT generates a privelege score now based off a variety of factors, some of which may not necessarily indicate underpriveleged (For example, I have a friend whose parent were millionaires but lived in a rural farm in Wyoming most of her life and drives a Range Rover as a first car).

 

[gyngyn]

Ok. Thanks! I will probably recommend she check the box but very clearly explain that it was only during her early childhood! I know the SAT generates a privelege score now based off a variety of factors, some of which may not necessarily indicate underpriveleged (For example, I have a friend whose parent were millionaires but lived in a rural farm in Wyoming most of her life and drives a Range Rover as a first car).

Borderline cases that attempt to explain their disadvantage almost never break even.

 

[premed20172017]

Like many things in life, there's a could and there's a should.
Could she check the box? Probably.
Should she check the box? Her choice if she feels disadvantaged.
When I've seen the box checked I go back and try to figure out why. If it seems like someone is trying to game the system I do not think highly of that person.

I wouldn’t. I was in a similar situation where I could go either way based on a variety of experiences and factors. I chose NOT to check the box. Instead, I addressed it in some of my secondaries to paint a more complete picture of who I am as a person and an applicant. I would urge her to err on the side of caution.

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

I would lean towards not checking the box unless there was something that happened to her in her early childhood that affected her in high school or college. While this is probably not the case, things like unaddressed health issues could theoretically have impaired her high school and college career. It seems like she had a rough early childhood but in middle and high school she was very much not disadvantaged. Trying to game the system is looked upon fairly poorly.

 

[OfMiceAndWomen]

Was she academically behind fellow students when she started college

Is this dependent on the specific undergrad? Like, if you attended a mediocre public high school (which would be considered good at local colleges), then attended a top college where the majority of students went to private schools or well-funded public schools.

 

[diasterdream]

Is this dependent on the specific undergrad? Like, if you attended a mediocre public high school (which would be considered good at local colleges), then attended a top college where the majority of students went to private schools or well-funded public schools.

I wouldn't consider getting into top schools from a public school background a disadvantage. Sure you may experience imposter syndrome and anxiety, but that's not solely tied to your public school background.

 

[diasterdream]

Ok. Thanks! I will probably recommend she check the box but very clearly explain that it was only during her early childhood! I know the SAT generates a privelege score now based off a variety of factors, some of which may not necessarily indicate underpriveleged (For example, I have a friend whose parent were millionaires but lived in a rural farm in Wyoming most of her life and drives a Range Rover as a first car).

I wouldn't. I think explaining this in a secondary would benefit her more. Checking that box brings more attention than it's worth if you don't fit the traditional image of being disadvantaged. At best, it will get glanced over, but at worst, you may be accused of trying to game the system.

 

[LizzyM]

Is this dependent on the specific undergrad? Like, if you attended a mediocre public high school (which would be considered good at local colleges), then attended a top college where the majority of students went to private schools or well-funded public schools.

I'm talking about coming out of HS so poorly prepared that one needs to take remedial English and math before being ready for calculus (a course some students take in HS). Sure, some local colleges may cater to students who come out of high school poorly prepared and need of remedial coursework and those are often students who could self-identify as disadvantaged (from a family on public aid or working class; first generation college student, and/or born to a teen mom). If someone gets into a top college despite attending a low resourced public school, it might be because their family had the ability to make up what was lacking in the HS. Private tutors, Saturday enrichment programs, etc can make up for what might otherwise put a student at a disadvantage.

 

[Sosaveli]

Sounds like she was doing fine by the time she was in high school. Well....more than fine. If designer clothes, studying abroad and a car for graduation doesn't scream privilege, at least at the time of application, I don't know what does.

 

[Tiberius_Claudius_Caesar]

But 48% of her highschool was on reduced or free lunch. She had to be around those poor creatures. Def disadvantaged /s

 

[DNAJB6]

But 48% of her highschool was on reduced or free lunch. She had to be around those poor creatures. Def disadvantaged /s

Well a Prada handbag could buy a lot of school lunches... maybe she felt she had to watch her back.

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

Well, if the school was so rough that students were occasionally being carried out on stretchers or even in body bags...that might or might not count as disadvantaged. Had a mentor of mine that went to a school like that, lots of gang activity. Don't know whether he checked the disadvantaged box or not; he grew up in a middle class family. Probably better to explain something like that on secondaries though.