underprivileged applicant?

[squeaky]

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.Hello,

I am a long time SDN lurker, first time poster. I have a question that I am hoping to get some insight. I'm not sure if I should identify myself as an underprivileged applicant. I'm not exactly sure what aamc's definition is.

My dad has schizophrenia, it's something I grew up with but I never opened up to anyone. My family received so much discrimination from relatives who look down on us because of my father's illness. I have always been afraid of the social stigma of mental illness. Growing up, my father's illness was fairly well controlled by medication; occasionally he would be off his med's resulting in one of his "episodes". I must credit my mother for protecting me and my sister through our childhood. I've always loved to learn and my mom kept me focused on academics and music. I am a pretty normal person (I'm a bit biased for myself). I graduated last year with a bs in science, I currently work full time as a research assistant, and I have friends. My friends would say I'm as a bit jumpy as I have a bit of anxiety, but other than that I'm pretty normal. I've always known my father was "sick" in the head, but my mom didn't tell me he was mentally ill until I was about 13. My father's illness became worse towards the end of my high school years. Unbeknownst to us, my father stopped taking his meds, and went month's without medication. He eventually left us and went awol. We hear from him sporadically. Upon my high school graduation, I decided to attend the local university as I just couldn't leave all the turmoil. I paid for my degree through scholarships and part time jobs; as a byproduct, I amassed a lot of work and research experience. My gpa from my first two years were mediocre, but I improved dramatically in my third and fourth year.

I have met people who went on to successful lives despite growing up with a mentally ill parent. But, I have never met a doctor who grew up with a schizophrenic parent. I guess in some ways, I experienced a bit of a disadvantage compared to the average applicant, but we all have our hardships and I don't want to come off like I'm trying to profit from my father's illness. My experience with a mentally ill parent led me to pursue a career in psychiatry, and is such an integral part of my life. But I'm uncertain as to whether I want to identify myself as a child of a mentally ill parent or mention my childhood experience in my personal statement; it's a sensitive topic and I don't want to be interrogated during interviews. I fear that my emotions and experiences would be dissected by the admission committee. I feel empowered by my experience, and it made me the strong person I am today. I guess in some ways, I want credit on my applicantion that it happened but I fear the repercussions.😕 .

 

[Disinence2]

yeah.. u just answered your own question. Only you can decide if that impacted u and made you disadvantaged! U could always use it for you personal statment!

If u use it as a disadvantaged applicant u better have a great answer for it! Cause im sure it will come up. If the interviewer feels like your trying to use your parents disability as an advantage...that could be bad!

Best of luck

 

[alwaysaangel]

Like they said above, its ultimately your choice.

But if I were you, I wouldn't put it. Disadvantaged tends to be like "I grew up with one parent, raising my 4 other siblings, living off my mother's 20k a year salary." I'm not trying to marginalize your hardship, and you should definitely mention it in your PS as it has affected who you are, but I would not apply as disadvantaged status.

 

[GIGATT]

Our definition of disadvantaged: A life situation that prevents you from being sucessful or prohibits you from obtaining an education. Being disadvantaged is like having an absolute road block that can you can not overcome.


The way I see it- your father's mental disorder IS your advantage. You can take that story and turn it around. Look at the amount of compassion and understanding it has implanted in your life. As difficult as it was growing up like that YOU can choose to make it positive. They want to see that you can take a situation and learn from it-not use it as a crutch.

 

[NervousNed]

Like they said above, its ultimately your choice.

But if I were you, I wouldn't put it. Disadvantaged tends to be like "I grew up with one parent, raising my 4 other siblings, living off my mother's 20k a year salary." I'm not trying to marginalize your hardship, and you should definitely mention it in your PS as it has affected who you are, but I would not apply as disadvantaged status.

dont listen to this person at all, that is a signifigant hardship, and its clear you were disadvantaged, i would put it down if i were you, and its very clear you have a good explanation behind it

 

[melissainsd]

Post your question to the ADCOMS in the Semi-solicited advice thread. I would tend to think "no", but what do I know...

 

[lilnoelle]

It depends on what you mean by underprivaleged. I'm not sure how AMCAS defines underprivaleged (for application purposes) but my institution defines it as living below 200% of the povery line or coming from an area with a very poor education system (defined as less than a certain amount of students from your high school going to college or lower than a certain average ACT/SAT score).
So my instinct is that you shouldn't mark underprivaleged in your application. However, you do have a very interesting story and should have a great personal statement. This will be great for interviews and med schools seem to love taking in students who have been successful in spite of the odds.
I think your experiences will work in your favor and you shouldn't be ashamed of them (but obviously avoid coming off whiny). Good luck!

 

[samgeez]

I think there are two interrelated issues here that you need to address. 1) Whether your situation should permit you to list yourself as disadvantaged and 2) whether you should bring up the mental health of your family at all (ie: on your personal statement, interviews, etc.)

I was/am in a similar situation. My mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when I was 8. I never met my father so I was forced to live with my cousin. My mother then had another child when I was 10 (who lived with my cousin and I) who suffered from a musculoskeletal disorder and eventually died when I was 15. My mother currently lives in a mental care facility. By most standards, my experiences growing up, economic status, cultural background (I am an African American male) and other factors would permit me to list myself as disadvantaged by I still feel that there are people that overcome far worse to become successful doctors. In many ways I feel that my mother's condition has been more of an advantage (as GIGATT stated), but that is ultimately your call on how you feel that it affected your life. I would recommend that you do not list yourself as disadvantaged.

In regards to whether you should discuss it at all in your application/interview is another issue. I talked about the death of my sister in my personal statement because it was a big motivating factor in me pursuing medicine. My experiences with my mother have sparked my interest in human behavior and neurology (similar to you) but i did not include that in my statement. Since anything in your application is "fair game" during the interview, i never had to discuss it (expect when i choose to bring it up while have a candid discussion with the Dean for Drexel med). I originally planned on including my mother in my statement, but my uncle (Harvard med grad, Orthopedic Surgery chair at UVA, youngest person elected to the National Academy of Sciences, etc.), who's opinion I greatly value, recommended that I do not include my mother or my sister in my application because he felt that the admissions committee would be evaluating MY mental fitness for medicine and not whether I should be granted an interview/acceptance. I compromised by only including my sister, which was heavily discussed at some interviews and not at all at others. I felt that my statement would not be sincere if I did not include her. You always have the option of bringing it up in the interview if it is not included in your application. I would just try to sense out the interviewer and try to gauge how they would take the information; some interviewers like to get personal and some just want to talk about research and grades.

In summary, I don't think selecting yourself as disadvantaged would
be beneficial. I do think that it may be helpful to state how your father's condition motivated you to pursue medicine, but don't dwell on it. You need to make everything in you application sound as positive as possible. Also, you should downplay whether you have "chosen" a career in psychiatry, since admissions committees expect that you have not had enough clinical experience to make that decision already. I hope this helps and good luck.

 

[searun]

I did not list myself as disadvantanged. But I did discuss the situation in my personal statement in terms of how it affected my decision to pursue medicine. The topic was discussed at several of my interviews.

 

[Skelfie]

Hi Squeaky!

I also have a dad who's schizophrenic. I didn't list myself as disadvantaged/underprivileged on my application, but I did talk about my father in a few of my application essays when the questions seemed appropriate for the subject. It came up in one interview, but the interviewer was very respectful about it and not pushy (though, I suspect that this could vary depending on the interviewer). I feel that coming to terms with my father's illness and its significant impact on my life has been a source of strength for me, and I made that clear in the interview. I got accepted to that school, so it seems that the admissions committee didn't see my having a mentall ill parent as a hinderance to becoming a doctor...

Anyway, best of luck with the application process! 🙂

 

[IckeyShuffle]

.Hello,

I am a long time SDN lurker, first time poster. I have a question that I am hoping to get some insight. I'm not sure if I should identify myself as an underprivileged applicant. I'm not exactly sure what aamc's definition is.

My dad has schizophrenia, it's something I grew up with but I never opened up to anyone. My family received so much discrimination from relatives who look down on us because of my father's illness. I have always been afraid of the social stigma of mental illness. Growing up, my father's illness was fairly well controlled by medication; occasionally he would be off his med's resulting in one of his "episodes". I must credit my mother for protecting me and my sister through our childhood. I've always loved to learn and my mom kept me focused on academics and music. I am a pretty normal person (I'm a bit biased for myself). I graduated last year with a bs in science, I currently work full time as a research assistant, and I have friends. My friends would say I'm as a bit jumpy as I have a bit of anxiety, but other than that I'm pretty normal. I've always known my father was "sick" in the head, but my mom didn't tell me he was mentally ill until I was about 13. My father's illness became worse towards the end of my high school years. Unbeknownst to us, my father stopped taking his meds, and went month's without medication. He eventually left us and went awol. We hear from him sporadically. Upon my high school graduation, I decided to attend the local university as I just couldn't leave all the turmoil. I paid for my degree through scholarships and part time jobs; as a byproduct, I amassed a lot of work and research experience. My gpa from my first two years were mediocre, but I improved dramatically in my third and fourth year.

I have met people who went on to successful lives despite growing up with a mentally ill parent. But, I have never met a doctor who grew up with a schizophrenic parent. I guess in some ways, I experienced a bit of a disadvantage compared to the average applicant, but we all have our hardships and I don't want to come off like I'm trying to profit from my father's illness. My experience with a mentally ill parent led me to pursue a career in psychiatry, and is such an integral part of my life. But I'm uncertain as to whether I want to identify myself as a child of a mentally ill parent or mention my childhood experience in my personal statement; it's a sensitive topic and I don't want to be interrogated during interviews. I fear that my emotions and experiences would be dissected by the admission committee. I feel empowered by my experience, and it made me the strong person I am today. I guess in some ways, I want credit on my applicantion that it happened but I fear the repercussions.😕 .

my mother had dissociate identity disorder so i can understand your situation. I didnt use it as disadvantage status but definately talked about it in my intereview and personal statement. if you have more questions PM me.

 

[squeaky]

Thank-you all for your input and support! It is interesting to get different perspectives on the situation. Getting words of support from fellow aspiring/current med students is truly heartfelt.

I never seriously considered identifying myself as underprivileged. If anything, it would be a disservice to my mom who worked so hard to make sure I had a normal childhood.

Samgeez brought up an excellent point, which is whether citing my mentally ill father would cause the adcom committee to focus more on my mental fitness. I'm mentally fit and healthy, as certified by my family doctor. I have also been told by a family friend to not bring up the topic if I ever wanted to apply to medical school. But I feel it is such an integral part of my childhood that my PS would not genuinely reflect who I am if I did not include it. I also have a lot of volunteer/work/research experiences which also led my decision to pursue a career in medicine. I think I will mention my experience with my father as a part of my experience, but I won't dwell or "whine" about it, but instead mention my experience objectively.