Unsure if I should mark that I am Disadvantaged!

[Timespace12]

My situation is somewhat unique in that I essentially went from rather disadvantaged to quite the opposite during the span of my childhood.

From my birth to about age 13 I would definitely say I was disadvantaged. During that time my family lived very close to the poverty line. Getting food on the table was not a huge issue, but anything outside of the essentials were usually a stretch. My parents divorced when I was around 8 years old and due to a lot of legal issues and other circumstances I ended up in a homeless shelter with one of my parents for two years. We moved from place to place for a while until I turned 13, which is when I moved in with my dad after all of the legal troubles were settled. At that time my dad had his own business which started out very slowly, but eventually became pretty large. Since that point we have lived well above where we used to--I'd say upper-middle-class at least.

I don't want to milk the system so I just wanted to get some outside opinions.

Also, neither of my parents have college degrees and my mom only has a middle-school degree equivalent (grew up outside of the US).

Thank you all in advance!

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[BOAO523]

Adcoms on here will have better advice but I would recommend marking disadvantaged and explaining that the circumstances applied up until the age of 13 in your paragraph/write-up.

 

[Goro]

My situation is somewhat unique in that I essentially went from rather disadvantaged to quite the opposite during the span of my childhood.

From my birth to about age 13 I would definitely say I was disadvantaged. During that time my family lived very close to the poverty line. Getting food on the table was not a huge issue, but anything outside of the essentials were usually a stretch. My parents divorced when I was around 8 years old and due to a lot of legal issues and other circumstances I ended up in a homeless shelter with one of my parents for two years. We moved from place to place for a while until I turned 13, which is when I moved in with my dad after all of the legal troubles were settled. At that time my dad had his own business which started out very slowly, but eventually became pretty large. Since that point we have lived well above where we used to--I'd say upper-middle-class at least.

I don't want to milk the system so I just wanted to get some outside opinions.

Also, neither of my parents have college degrees and my mom only has a middle-school degree equivalent (grew up outside of the US).

Thank you all in advance!

Leaning towards no

 

[LizzyM]

Did your education suffer due to the poverty and homelessness? Did this put you at a disadvantage through HS and onto college despite the improvement in economic circumstances?
Given that your parents have not completed college, you will be classified as EO-1 which is lower socio-educational status on the AMCAS application so even if you don't identify as disadvantaged, you will be identified as being part of the group that, on average, has a harder time of college due to having parents who did not have college educations. On the other hand, if your parents completed school outside of the US, you won't have that identifier.
Being in a homeless shelter for 2 years is an automatic "disadvantaged", in my book. Others' opinions may vary so proceed at your own risk.