Should I apply as disadvantaged?

[LACMA]

General outline:

When i was a kid my dad started getting seizures and is technically disabled. Our family of four's main source of income is my dad's social security income. We also get medicaid, food stamps, and other assistance. My mom takes care of my dad and barely speaks english so she has had trouble finding a job. Throughout high school I went house to house teaching piano to help support my family instead of studying so my grades weren't the best. In college, my mom got breast cancer, further impacting our financial stability. In college however, I worked really hard and got a great GPA.

Basically, I'm just poor. I can't spend a lot of money and I work a part time job. It's not that sad or bad. I'm not unhappy with my life. I feel weird saying I'm disadvantaged though. Should I still apply as disadvantaged?

@Goro @gyngyn @DokterMom or anyone else... I really appreciate any kind of tips you could give me.

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[LACMA]

@LizzyM

 

[freak7]

Our family of four's main source of income is my dad's social security income. We also get medicaid, food stamps, and other assistance.

Basically, I'm just poor.

This says it all. The answer is yes.

I feel weird saying I'm disadvantaged though. Should I still apply as disadvantaged?

OP I had a hard time admitting I was disadvantaged too. I don't think it comes from a place of denial or anything like that. I didn't feel poor because we made it work. Looking back on it now, I can't help but think "holy **** we were poor." Apply disadvantaged. You shouldn't feel ashamed about it because it's true.

 

[COMMANDER CLOWN]

Food stamps and Medicaid are government proof that you grew up in a disadvantaged home.

 

[LACMA]

So can i just say that my family is on that government aid stuff and just leave it at that? Or do I have to tell some sob story? Because I don't have one. Just like @freak7 said, I've just made it work. I don't know anything different...

 

[tiramisucheese]

So can i just say that my family is on that government aid stuff and just leave it at that? Or do I have to tell some sob story? Because I don't have one. Just like @freak7 said, I've just made it work. I don't know anything different...

Following.

 

[freak7]

So can i just say that my family is on that government aid stuff and just leave it at that? Or do I have to tell some sob story? Because I don't have one. Just like @freak7 said, I've just made it work. I don't know anything different...

Just stick to the facts. Your dad started having seizures when you were a child. Your family lost their main source of income. Your mom is your dad's main caretaker and can't get a job. You worked part time to help support the family. Your family qualified for SNAP, and ACA coverage. Something like what you wrote above would be fine, except for maybe omit the part about your mom not speaking English very well since being a caretaker is hard work enough.

 

[bbbcccppp]

Compelling background. The piano teaching especially caught my eye. Maybe elaborate on that. The details may be interesting to a reader. Personally I would include everything you mentioned


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[bbbcccppp]

Just one minor addition. If your
Dad is legally disabled I would not use the qualifier of technically. It may mitigate in the wrong direction.


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[LACMA]

Thank you so much for your responses!

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Compelling background. The piano teaching especially caught my eye.

Agreed.

While the OP feels uncomfortable saying the word disadvantaged, telling the story about dad's seizures and disability, mom caretaker with cancer, and OP teaching piano to bring in money IS THE STORY. The reader will know that the OP is disadvantaged without actually saying, "hey, we were poor and I didn't have the easier life my classmates had."

 

[LizzyM]

Agree with above. I would omit any mention of poor HS grades in that short essay. There is no doubt you started college behind your peers even though you felt as if your family made it work.

 

[LACMA]

Thank you for your responses. Should I mention that I excelled academically and remained accountable to my commitments? Or is that evident in my application and not necessary?

 

[Gilakend]

Food stamps and Medicaid are government proof that you grew up in a disadvantaged home.

Wait, just being on those qualifies as "disadvantaged"? Not saying it shouldn't or anything, just asking for the information. Does applying disadvantaged help or is it supposed to be an explanation of poor performance?

When I think of disadvantaged I think of things that forced students to not go to school or not knowing English, something like OP's story. I wouldn't have assumed that being on government assistance was enough to qualify for that. Or am I missing something?

 

[LizzyM]

Wait, just being on those qualifies as "disadvantaged"? Not saying it shouldn't or anything, just asking for the information. Does applying disadvantaged help or is it supposed to be an explanation of poor performance?

When I think of disadvantaged I think of things that forced students to not go to school or not knowing English, something like OP's story. I wouldn't have assumed that being on government assistance was enough to qualify for that. Or am I missing something?

Growing up in poverty is considered to put students at a disadvantage compared to peers who did not grow up in poverty. Being on means tested government assistance such as Section 8 housing, Medicaid or food stamps would be evidence of a child living in poverty.

While poverty might help explain a slow academic start in college because poor k-12 schools are correlated with poverty, it could also explain why someone didn't go straight into college or dropped out.

Some schools will take "disadvantage" into account when choosing to interview applicants. AMCAS also has a rubric for classifying parents educated in the US into socioeconomic strata and that is visible on the application that reviewers see.

 

[tiramisucheese]

Growing up in poverty is considered to put students at a disadvantage compared to peers who did not grow up in poverty. Being on means tested government assistance such as Section 8 housing, Medicaid or food stamps would be evidence of a child living in poverty.

While poverty might help explain a slow academic start in college because poor k-12 schools are correlated with poverty, it could also explain why someone didn't go straight into college or dropped out.

Some schools will take "disadvantage" into account when choosing to interview applicants. AMCAS also has a rubric for classifying parents educated in the US into socioeconomic strata and that is visible on the application that reviewers see.

@LizzyM, I realize this probably varies per school, but what do reviewers do when the SES classification is listed as "unknown" by AMCAS?

 

[LizzyM]

@LizzyM, I realize this probably varies per school, but what do reviewers do when the SES classification is listed as "unknown" by AMCAS?

Move on to review the rest of the information on the application. I don't know about other adcoms but I might look at the parents' education and occupation to see if this couple are foreign medical grads practicing medicine in the US (one scenario) or immigrants who never finished HS abroad and never attended schools in the US (another possibility).

 

[Gilakend]

Growing up in poverty is considered to put students at a disadvantage compared to peers who did not grow up in poverty. Being on means tested government assistance such as Section 8 housing, Medicaid or food stamps would be evidence of a child living in poverty.

While poverty might help explain a slow academic start in college because poor k-12 schools are correlated with poverty, it could also explain why someone didn't go straight into college or dropped out.

Some schools will take "disadvantage" into account when choosing to interview applicants. AMCAS also has a rubric for classifying parents educated in the US into socioeconomic strata and that is visible on the application that reviewers see.

Thank you for the clarification.

How is it viewed if a student is "technically disadvantaged" such as being first generation college, growing up on medicaid, single parent, poor HS performance, all that jazz but has a decent college GPA, such as a 3.7. Is it worth putting it then since the GPA shows the student really wasn't that disadvantaged?

My parent would usually go without so we wouldn't have to. I never had to miss school to work or do anything crazy like that such as OP did. I never felt disadvantaged at all. Such as @freak7 said, we were dirt poor and didn't have extravagant holidays or birthdays or go on vacation but I never starved. I went to a normal public HS so I wasn't deprived of any education, I was just an idiot who didn't do anything.

I guess my question is would it look weird for a student being in the "EO1" bracket on AMCAS but not listing disadvantaged because they never felt disadvantaged or showed any signs of being disadvantaged in college?

Thank you in advance, sorry for such a specific post.

 

[cactusman]

Thank you for the clarification.

How is it viewed if a student is "technically disadvantaged" such as being first generation college, growing up on medicaid, single parent, poor HS performance, all that jazz but has a decent college GPA, such as a 3.7. Is it worth putting it then since the GPA shows the student really wasn't that disadvantaged?

My parent would usually go without so we wouldn't have to. I never had to miss school to work or do anything crazy like that such as OP did. I never felt disadvantaged at all. Such as @freak7 said, we were dirt poor and didn't have extravagant holidays or birthdays or go on vacation but I never starved. I went to a normal public HS so I wasn't deprived of any education, I was just an idiot who didn't do anything.

I guess my question is would it look weird for a student being in the "EO1" bracket on AMCAS but not listing disadvantaged because they never felt disadvantaged or showed any signs of being disadvantaged in college?

Thank you in advance, sorry for such a specific post.

Put down disadvantaged. The fact that you performed well doesn't mean there weren't more obstacles.

 

[Gilakend]

Put down disadvantaged. The fact that you performed well doesn't mean there weren't more obstacles.

I'm entering my junior year so I don't actually apply till next year but I'll keep this is mind. My main fear was 1. being able to talk about it when asked since I didn't really feel disadvantaged or 2. listing it but an adcom thinking that due to normal college performance I wasn't disadvantaged, since most people say it is meant to show why there was a certain performance. I feel like someone seeing that you listed disadvantaged but then not thinking you were actually disadvantaged looks 10x worse than listing it and them agreeing you were disadvantaged would help you.

Thank you for the response.

 

[LizzyM]

You don't have to list disadvantage if you don't want to. The AMCAS classification tells us which category an applicant falls into although some applicants can be EO-1 but have parents who are not economically disadvantaged in the least (e.g. there are professionals in the performing arts , tech and professional athletics who never finished college but those families would be EO-1 despite high net worth).

 

[freak7]

since most people say it is meant to show why there was a certain performance

I would think most people say it is meant to show that you were disadvantaged.