Marking "Medically Underserved" this cycle but not last time I applied?

[and 99 others]

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I am a reapplicant and the last time I applied, for the question on AMCAS that asks if I believe that the area I grew up is medically underserved, I marked no. But since then, my conception and understanding of what that means has changed and I believe it really is underserved. If I mark yes this year, would schools even be able to see that I marked no last year? And if so, will that be seen as deceptive or like I'm trying to game the system? It's what I truly believe but I don't want it to backfire.

 

[ciestar]

I am a reapplicant and the last time I applied, for the question on AMCAS that asks if I believe that the area I grew up is medically underserved, I marked no. But since then, my conception and understanding of what that means has changed and I believe it really is underserved. If I mark yes this year, would schools even be able to see that I marked no last year? And if so, will that be seen as deceptive or like I'm trying to game the system? It's what I truly believe but I don't want it to backfire.

MUA Find

Explore data for Medically underserved Areas/Populations by state and counties

data.hrsa.gov

You can look this up too.

 

[gyngyn]

And if so, will that be seen as deceptive or like I'm trying to game the system?

Some will. Others won't look as closely.

 

[and 99 others]

MUA Find

Explore data for Medically underserved Areas/Populations by state and counties

data.hrsa.gov

You can look this up too.

Yeah I already looked it up on that database but it just shows a list of several nondescript "[COUNTY] Service Area" instead of the actual name of my town.

Some will. Others won't look as closely.

In this case, is it worth it to mark it as yes? It is corroborated by some of the activity descriptions I have for a clinical EC I did in that area.

 

[gyngyn]

In this case, is it worth it to mark it as yes? It is corroborated by some of the activity descriptions I have for a clinical EC I did in that area.

If it fits the rest of your application, the (modest) risk may be worth it. If not, I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[and 99 others]

If it fits the rest of your application, the (modest) risk may be worth it. If not, I wouldn't recommend it.

Yeah basically all my ECs have to do with working in medically underserved areas. All of them are in the same county but only one of them is near the town where I was raised (which I listed as a suburb if that changes anything). The rest are in the downtown urban area of a nearby city.

 

[meronebib]

I don’t think anyone actually cares about it. Lots of high profile places (like NYC) are technically medically underserved. Doesn’t say too much.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

were you directly impacted by growing up in this medically underserved area? Did you personally have difficulty getting your medical needs met? I probably wouldn't change it on your application if it didn't impact you directly, even if you've come to understand the general needs of your area differently. I doubt that changing this designation will have a truly significant impact on your application, your actual activities and experiences will be much more important.

 

[and 99 others]

were you directly impacted by growing up in this medically underserved area? Did you personally have difficulty getting your medical needs met? I probably wouldn't change it on your application if it didn't impact you directly, even if you've come to understand the general needs of your area differently. I doubt that changing this designation will have a truly significant impact on your application, your actual activities and experiences will be much more important.

I never needed medical care so no. But the question isn't asking about me.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

I never needed medical care so no. But the question isn't asking about me.

The question is asking about you, in the sense that it is asking for information about your life experience that can help the person reading your application understand the types of challenged you may have faced in your journey.

If you, personally, were not affected by the medically underserved nature of your community, especially if you didn't consider it to be underserved the first time you applied, what does it add to your application? Does it explain something about your journey to medicine, or are you just hoping to add an additional checkbox to get adcoms to take a second look at your application? I grew up in a large, urban county that is technically considered medically underserved - in fact, AMCAS automatically marked it as such on my application without me checking any boxes, as it will for you if your county is considered medically underserved - but my immediate community/family was extremely privileged in terms of access to care, and it would be disingenuous of me to check that box under the "Disadvantaged Status" or similar portion of the application just because i changed my understanding of the status of the area as a whole.

For reference, this is one way AMCAS suggests you determine it: "Based on your experiences or the experiences of immediate family and friends, you may believe that the area in which you grew up was “underserved” if there was an inadequate number of health care providers to meet the needs of the area"

In the end, I doubt it's a make or break aspect of your application. But I think it's important to consider what the intention of the question on the application is when choosing how to answer it. Your actual experiences working with a medically underserved population will speak louder than one checkbox.

 

[Campana]

Based on what you've said, I'm as close to certain as possible that you should not say you(r area) were (was) medically underserved. Risk outweighs benefit.

I filled out that question that NO, I was not medically underserved.

But, once submitted and completed (last app cycle), I can see that the system designation of my location showed that both where I grew up and where I live now are and were medically underserved.

I didn't perceive that I was personally medically underserved...even though one of my secondaries talked about being referred to a specialist that didn't exist within a several hour driving radius of my home and having to temporarily relocate for care.