Urgent! Am I disadvantaged?

Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine
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Januine

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For AMCAS purpose:

According to federal guidelines, my family's income fall under the low-income level. However, my parents work in a foreign country so they are not under federal assistance programs. I also grew up in a poor neighborhood.
But then my single parent mother worked hard to support us, and was especially encouraging towards my education. So I only worked part-time and my income is only for my own expenses.

Since we are nonetheless still of low-income according to federal low-income level guidelines, do you think I should enter myself as disadvantaged? I do not want to sound like I am asking for pity... if my circumstances clearly do not qualify as being disadvantaged... What do you think? PM me if you want to know more, but this is the gist of my background. If I am borderline case, or if they ultimately do not consider me as disadvantaged, would this hurt my application?

Thanks.
 
Do you feel like the circumstances of your upbringing put you at a disadvantage to the average applicant to medical school?? Just answer the question.
 
I don't want to say that I am any less competitive in terms of the ECs I have built up. But it is nonetheless possible that if my parents had more money, I may had better opportunities, e.g. returning to America sooner to prepare myself better academically, especially in terms of language and college preparations.
That doesn't really answer your question though does it, cos I am still uncertain..
 
Were you homeless as a kid? did you grow up in East New York? were you raised in an orphanage? [No offense to anyone who did grow up in East NY, I am just saying it's a rough place to raise yourself.]

If you had a regular childhood with no real trauma or whatever, but maybe you just didn't have much money then I might just somehow put that in your essay - if you feel it made a difference. I have know people with no money as a kid, but tons of love and emotional support and then I have also know people who were raised rich, but their parents were no where to be found. Do a search on the pre-allo forum and see what other people put down and then judge your own life from there.
 
You don't sound disadvantaged especially since your family is not well off in another country, where they actually may have an average lifestyle. Disadvantaged status, as Paws said, has to be something more serious. Adcoms probably don't take it well if it's used for just not having that much money.
 
[/QUOTE]If you had a regular childhood with no real trauma or whatever, but maybe you just didn't have much money then I might just somehow put that in your essay - if you feel it made a difference. I have know people with no money as a kid, but tons of love and emotional support and then I have also know people who were raised rich, but their parents were no where to be found. Do a search on the pre-allo forum and see what other people put down and then judge your own life from there.[/QUOTE]

I went through something similar while applying and ended up just using it as a topic in my essay and interviews. I'm from a rural, "economically disadvantaged" county and could've gotten money and maybe special treatment in the admissions process. I had to work to put myself through school, pay for clothes and housing, etc. But I felt like I had enough of the tools to make it, the same things others had, so that I couldn't call myself disadvantaged and keep my integrity.
 
Tic said:
integrity
Click to expand...

integrity. yes.

Now I know it's more circumstancial-based.

I think my situation is very similar to you, Tic. So perhaps that's what I should do then.



Thanks for all of your responses!!
 
I know a girl who claimed disadvantaged status despite the fact she was:

1. Not a URM
2. Grew up in a white neighborhood in one of the best school districts in the area
3. Her parents had a six figure income most of her life
4. Never worked a day in her life (mom and dad put her through college)

Apparently she felt she deserved the status because once when she was in middle school some boys made fun of her because she isn't white.

She now goes to a top 5 school.

My point: nobody cares about that part of the application, so just write whatever you want.
 
getianshi said:
I know a girl who claimed disadvantaged status despite the fact she was:

1. Not a URM
.
Click to expand...

umm you don't have to be a URM to be disadvantaged.
 
Noeljan said:
umm you don't have to be a URM to be disadvantaged.
Click to expand...

Nor was I implying that, but many URMs do come from disadvantaged backgrounds (and plenty of non-URMs).

My point was that an Asian kid who grew up in a rich white suburb and went to college and travelled the world on mommy and daddy's ticket doesn't qualify as as disadvantaged in my book. But as I said before the person in question now goes to a top 5 school so obviously they didn't see her as a "whiner" as some suggested.
 
getianshi said:
Nor was I implying that, but many URMs do come from disadvantaged backgrounds (and plenty of non-URMs).

My point was that an Asian kid who grew up in a rich white suburb and went to college and travelled the world on mommy and daddy's ticket doesn't qualify as as disadvantaged in my book. But as I said before the person in question now goes to a top 5 school so obviously they didn't see her as a "whiner" as some suggested.
Click to expand...


My point exactly though, there are plenty non URMs who have it worse off than many others.
on another note, IMO
The OP seems neither rich nor advantaged, and in my opinion actually seems to had a tougher time than many.
 
Noeljan said:
My point exactly though, there are plenty non URMs who have it worse off than many others.
on another note, IMO
The OP seems neither rich nor advantaged, and in my opinion actually seems to had a tougher time than many.
Click to expand...

Agreed, you'll get no argument out of me on both those points.

Though my story is anecdotal, I've also talked to plenty of people on my school's admissions committee. Most people just glaze over that section of AMCAS. They focus more on the personal statement. Obviously if where you grew up made a big impact on your life it would be a great thing to write about in your personal statement.
 
Ok! Submitted. Without it. There's no way that i could have enough time to rewrite the PS now and work enough detail into it. I mentioned it briefly using half a line though, hopefully I have a chance to talk about it at interviews...


Thanks again for all of you who responded. 😉
 
Northerner said:
Aren't you a mod? And isn't this a pre-allo thread? What's going on here?
Click to expand...

Where did you get the impression that moderators do nothing but moderate? We're members of the SDN community first, and moderators second. Most of our posts are participation, not moderation.

And, as it happens, this isn't a pre-allo thread...it's in the allo forum.
 
KentW said:
Where did you get the impression that moderators do nothing but moderate? We're members of the SDN community first, and moderators second. Most of our posts are participation, not moderation.

And, as it happens, this isn't a pre-allo thread...it's in the allo forum.
Click to expand...

Your posts as a member of the SDN community are just as valuable as anyone else's (more than most), and your role as a moderator is respected. But just posting without moving it the appropriate forum is like a cop pulling a drunk driver over, taking the booze out of his hand for a swig, handing it back to him and sending him on his merry way.

It's commonplace for moderators to move threads based on topic or appropriateness of forum/subforum. This is clearly a pre-allo thread (which have been moved to pre-allo in the past), and really doesn't have anything to do with allopathic medical school. Further, leaving it here would be doing a disservice to the OP. While certainly those posters who frequent the allo forum know a little about applying, there are lots of people who know more and are expecting to talk about application intricacies in the pre-allo forum. He would likely get better advice there. I am guessing this is the very reason we have two separate forums. For what it's worth, if the implication is that the OP wanted medical student advice (which is not necessarily better, in this instance) people in allopathic medical school also go over to the pre-allo forum to peruse and offer advice. That's all I'm saying.
 
Northerner said:
It's commonplace for moderators to move threads based on topic or appropriateness of forum/subforum. This is clearly a pre-allo thread (which have been moved to pre-allo in the past), and really doesn't have anything to do with allopathic medical school.
Click to expand...

I'm not the Allo forum moderator, so I can't move the thread.

If you feel that a thread is in the wrong place, you can click the "Report Post" button to alert the forum mod. They'll take a look, and act accordingly.

The OP seems to have gotten good responses to their inquiry in this forum, so I'm not really sure what moving it would accomplish at this point. Just my opinion.
 
KentW said:
I'm not the Allo forum moderator, so I can't move the thread.

If you feel that a thread is in the wrong place, you can click the "Report Post" button to alert the forum mod. They'll take a look, and act accordingly.

The OP seems to have gotten good responses to their inquiry in this forum, so I'm not really sure what moving it would accomplish at this point. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

You want to hang out sometime? My mom got me Mortal Kombat for my birthday.
 
Northerner said:
You want to hang out sometime? My mom got me Mortal Kombat for my birthday.
Click to expand...

I'm afraid my video game skills have degenerated significantly since residency. You'd rip my head off (literally, if I remember that game correctly.) 😉
 
KentW said:
I'm afraid my video game skills have degenerated significantly since residency. You'd rip my head off (literally, if I remember that game correctly.) 😉
Click to expand...

Will you move this thread to the video game forum? It longer pertains to allopathic medical school.
 
KentW said:
Clearly you've never been in a med student or resident lounge... 😉
Click to expand...

Medical school and residency does not pertain to allopathic medi....

...you win this round.
 
Yes! Clearly you should put it down on the disadvantaged section in the AMCAS application. And don't waist space putting it in the personal statement. You only have so meny words in the personal statement why waist them on the disadvantaged stuff when they give you extra words in the disadvantaged section? I would definately write about it. It gives the committee another dimention of who you are. Worst case, they will just not care, but there is no way anyone is going to say, "oh this person told us about their disadvantage, but it isn't bad enough. I mean I wonder if they had more love in their home then some rich kid." And maybe there are schools that completely ignor the disadvantaged section of the application (I hope there arn't) but even so, I am sure that it is looked at when it comes to the waiting list. So in my oppinion you would have to be CRAZY not to put it down. Good times.
 
Shouldn't this be in the pre-allopathic forum???

maybe there's other students there who are filling out AMCASes now who could answer...
 
I luckily came across this through thread-hopping. Please place in appropriate forum.
 
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