low-income housing

[sdnstud]

I grew up living in low income housing in Asia and I want to write about it in my secondaries to stress my underprivileged background. however, I think it is very difficult to provide written proof that I in fact did live in low income housing (because it is outside of US and stuff). do you think med schools will ask me for proof after I get accepted?

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[twicetenturns]

That sounds highly unlikely. They might ask about it in interviews though. If you grew up in the slums of Jakarta and your interviewer has been to Indonesia, it will probably be a focus of conversation.

 

[schoolgirl]

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[Khenon]

I would be shocked if they asked for such evidence, unless they really felt like you were lying. There is alot we put on our applications that adcom's just have to believe. I mean, how do you prove you're a minority or URM? It's based on self-identification. I also have that I came from an underprivileged environment, and I never even considered how I would prove it. Granted it was in the US, and when I listed my home county on AMCAS it automatically came up as "rural" and an "underserved" area. I guess maybe that's some proof. But that doesn't prove that my family was living under poverty income, or that we were on welfare for some of that time. I don't know. I just don't think it would come up. It seems like a very controversial thing to ask you to prove you came from an underprivileged community and lived in low income housing. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Even if you're asked about your upbringing, you'll sound knowledgeable enough, so that should be confirmation that you are telling the truth.

 

[sdnstud]

i heard uc davis rejected a guy post-acceptance last year because he couldn't provide evidence that he came from an underpriviledged background. i'm not worried so much about proving my underpriviledged background because my parents keep all their tax forms. but, if i need to provide evidence that I lived in government housing, it would be impossible since it was overseas and over 15 years ago.

 

[Khenon]

i heard uc davis rejected a guy post-acceptance last year because he couldn't provide evidence that he came from an underpriviledged background. i'm not worried so much about proving my underpriviledged background because my parents keep all their tax forms. but, if i need to provide evidence that I lived in government housing, it would be impossible since it was overseas and over 15 years ago.

I'm positive there had to be more to that story. There must have been something questionable about his claim, or something else that made Davis feel they needed proof. And then to recind his acceptance . . . that's huge! Davis needed some serious proof of their own to pull that off, so I'm guessing they were much more justified in their decision than just "well, he couldn't find ambiguous government records from overseas that probably never existed in the first place." That's a lawsuit waiting to happen. I'm sure you've only heard one small portion of that situation. Assuming you're an honest person, I'm sure any doubt they have about your situation will get dissapated at the interview. I really think you're worrying too much about this.