reapplying and writing disadvantaged essay in AAMC

[naproleon]

I'm likely to not get in this cycle, and I was wondering if there's any stigma/stupidity in writing a disadvantaged essay for this upcoming cycle when you didn't last cycle. My reasoning is that I have a gap year clinical experience I want to focus on in my new PS, while this cycle's PS was focused on my early childhood struggles. Would med schools think poorly of this? I just want more space to expand upon myself.

For reference, my childhood struggles were growing up a with mother having a chronic disorder (MS + depression) and having to take care of her + my little sister after school while dad worked overtime. She died when I was in middle school and we downsized to an apartment.



To be honest I don't even know if this is considered "disadvantaged" since there was never really extreme economic hardship. Honest feedback appreciated.

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[Mr.Smile12]

No stigma.

 

[Proudfather94]

I'm likely to not get in this cycle, and I was wondering if there's any stigma/stupidity in writing a disadvantaged essay for this upcoming cycle when you didn't last cycle. My reasoning is that I have a gap year clinical experience I want to focus on in my new PS, while this cycle's PS was focused on my early childhood struggles. Would med schools think poorly of this? I just want more space to expand upon myself.

For reference, my childhood struggles were growing up a with mother having a chronic disorder (MS + depression) and having to take care of her + my little sister after school while dad worked overtime. She died when I was in middle school and we downsized to an apartment.



To be honest I don't even know if this is considered "disadvantaged" since there was never really extreme economic hardship. Honest feedback appreciated.

They won't care if you were comfortable sharing the information this cycle but not last cycle. This information is optional for you to share and not mandatory. The goal of the disadvantaged section is to talk about issues that likely had an impact on your college GPA and ability to do other parts of your application. If you didn't do well in middle and high school and this effected your college experience down the road definitely mention that. Talk about how it effected you in college as well.

The disadvantaged section is basically saying "I had extraordinary circumstances happen that effected my college experience, please consider this when comparing me to my peers."

 

[WildWing]

SDN published an article about how to approach the disadvantaged essay a couple of years ago:

Factors to Consider When Applying as a Disadvantaged Applicant - SDN

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