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AMCAS Statement of Disadvantage Examples

Reading some AMCAS statement of disadvantage examples will help you understand this baffling section of the AMCAS application . Understanding the different AMCAS sections and questions will help you understand how to prepare your med school application . A statement of disadvantage is a tool which can keep your application in the potentials pile by providing context of your personal situation and any barriers you face when applying to med school. If your application has any weak points, a statement of disadvantage can provide the necessary background information to explain them, leading to a better chance of being accepted to your chosen school. In this blog, we’ll look at what AMCAS considers a disadvantaged applicant, how applying as a disadvantaged student will affect your application and how to write a statement of disadvantage. You can also read some AMCAS statement of disadvantage examples to use as a guide.

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Article Contents 7 min read

What is a “disadvantaged” amcas applicant.

Preparing your application to medical school through the American Medical College Application System (AMCAS) is a lengthy process, and the application asks many detailed questions about your education, your most meaningful experiences , extracurriculars or hobbies , work activities as well as biographical and demographical questions. One question that might confuse students is about writing an AMCAS statement of disadvantage. The AMCAS application form asks students if they consider themselves disadvantaged, and to explain why.

AMCAS has replaced the self-reported \"disadvantaged\" question in its application with a question about \"other impactful experiences\" relating to your application. Visit the AMCAS website for details. ","label":"NOTE","title":"NOTE"}]" code="tab2" template="BlogArticle">

But what does being a disadvantaged AMCAS applicant mean? Should you mark yourself as disadvantaged? How will it affect your candidacy?

The explanation of being disadvantaged on the AMCAS website is a little vague, but essentially it is asking if there are personal circumstances or experiences you want the medical school admissions board to consider when reviewing your application. A disadvantage is any circumstance, barrier or obstacle which presented a roadblock to your schooling, academic development or ability to successfully apply to medical school. A statement of disadvantage is different from a diversity secondary essay or an AMCAS personal statement in that it outlines how you have overcome a hardship or difficulty in your life to apply for medical school or receive a formal education.

Marking yourself as a disadvantaged student will not otherwise affect your application or your time at your chosen medical school. If anything, it may help you get into the school of your choice even if your application has some weak points. A statement of disadvantage is designed to give student with barriers a fair shot at being accepted to the school of their choice. To qualify as a disadvantaged student, you’ll need to be able to explain in detail why your circumstances affected you and how you overcame them. For the statement of disadvantage on the AMCAS application, you’ll have just over 1,300 characters to write, so use as much space as you have available to explain your disadvantage.

A medical school advisor can assist you with a medical school application if you plan to apply as a disadvantaged student but aren’t sure what to include or what school resources there are to help you. An advisor will also know what medical school admission requirements (MSAR) are for your chosen schools. That way, if your application falls short in some way, for example your scores a below the average accepted threshold or your GPA is too low, they can advise you on how to get a better chance of applying as a disadvantaged student.

For example, if you are submitting a late medical school application because you have responsibilities at home which include caring for ill family members, as well as working a full-time job and applying to medical school, you can consider explaining these circumstances in a statement of disadvantage. It’s a good idea to have a medical school application timeline so you can begin putting together your application early, but of course this isn’t always possible.

Other options for disadvantaged medical school applicants who feel they cannot or don’t want to pursue traditional routes in the medical field can explore an application to AACOMAS instead with a DO school application to osteopathic medicine . You can always weigh the advantages of DO versus MD and decide which career path suits your situation.

Writing a good statement of disadvantage means writing clearly, to the point and with sufficient detail. You’ll only have about 250 words or so to explain your disadvantage, so keep to the facts and provide as much detail as you can on your situation. Keep your answers focused on the barriers you experience throughout your life which have presented obstacles to you getting into med school. Be sure to end your statement on a high note and include how you have worked to overcome your disadvantages and how you have risen above your circumstances.

Below we’ve included some important tips to keep in mind when writing your AMCAS statement of disadvantage.

Avoid veering off track by talking about your parents\u2019 struggles as immigrants or low-income earners. Don\u2019t talk about your siblings\u2019 illness extensively. Focus on how you weren\u2019t able to dedicate enough time to studying because you were caring for your sick sibling or how you worked a full-time job alongside your parents to help provide more money for the family. Be sure to highlight how you personally were affected by your disadvantage, not others around you. ","label":"Don't tell other's stories","title":"Don't tell other's stories"}]" code="tab1" template="BlogArticle">

Below are three examples of AMCAS statement of disadvantages. We’ll take a look at three different disadvantages students might experience which present barriers to pursuing a medical education. Each example is under the 1,325-character limit AMCAS imposes, but be sure to use as much space as you are able when writing your own statement of disadvantage.

Statement of Disadvantage Example #1 – Economic

I grew up in an economically depressed area, where there were few work opportunities for the adults and the nearest school for me and my siblings was over an hour-long bus ride away. My parents both worked at one of the only factories still open in the area that paid enough to provide for the family. When I was old enough, I also began applying for work to help bring in supplementary income. Because of the long commute to and from school, and then to my part-time job, I had less time for homework and studying than my peers. My grades did slip, as I had to prioritize working over schoolwork. I managed to complete my high school courses, though with a lower GPA than I had wanted to achieve. Despite this, I started preparing for college applications and chose to apply to the schools I thought I had a reasonable chance of being accepted to with my GPA and test scores. My college required me to move into dorm living, and I wasn’t able to stay at my part-time job any longer. I found a new position in the same area as my college so I could continue to send money home to my family while I studied at college. I am happy to say that I completed my degree despite having to work long hours to achieve my goals.

My high school education was delayed in the middle of my junior year thanks to a tornado tearing through our community and destroying countless homes, including our own. For over a year, we moved from place to place, staying with family or friends or even in motels when we could afford it. This also meant my sister and I weren’t able to attend school regularly, if at all. Between my sister and I, we were temporarily placed in 5 different schools. I was enrolled in online schooling for a brief period when it became too difficult to move from school to school and I was missing large pieces of the curriculum. As a result of missing so many classes, I was held back and graduated almost 2 years after my peers did. Because of my age and falling behind in my coursework, I faced some difficulties in applying to college with a low GPA and late applications, and I started later in the year than the other students. Our housing situation has thankfully been stabilized, but I will not be able to recover the year of missing out on school. I have been able to attend college regularly and have made a commitment to not miss any classes. This is a promise I have kept for myself as I do not want to miss any more opportunities for my education.

Statement of Disadvantage Example #3 – Social

My parents moved our family to the US when I was 13 years old. Although we were living in a largely immigrant populated community, and I could speak some English, it was still quite isolating when I started middle school. Learning in another language sometimes presented challenges for me, but socially it was even more difficult as I tried to make friends and learn about my new home. I still have troubles connecting with my peers at times or relating to them if I don’t understand the cultural or linguistic significance. My language barrier has also been an issue when applying for job positions or internships to gain some medical experience. I applied for a clerical position at a local medical center, which I did get accepted to. However, I still sometimes struggle when communicating with patients and my peers. Working at the medical center is providing me the opportunity to practice my language and communication skills, but again it has been somewhat isolating on a social level. I can communicate effectively in a professional setting when I need to, but socially it can still be challenging. I have wanted to be a doctor since before our family moved to the US, and I knew that I would need to learn to communicate in English, so I have joined a group of fellow students like myself to practice our conversational English to prepare me for the challenges of med school.

An AMCAS statement of disadvantage is an optional short essay where students can explain any circumstances where they experience a disadvantaged situation or circumstance in applying to medical school.

Disadvantages are considered any economic, educational or social hardships a student might face in getting their medical education or in applying to med school.

No; a statement of disadvantage is designed to aid students who experience barriers to their education to have a fair chance at being accepted to medical school.

For an AMCAS statement of disadvantage, be clear and keep to the facts of your situation. Also be sure to include details instead of just a summary of your barriers or disadvantages. AMCAS provides 1,325 characters for your statement.

Disadvantaged students are medical school applicants who have experienced any barriers or obstacles to their education or a lack of access to the same opportunities and resources as their peers.

Yes; writing a statement of disadvantage can help explain any gaps or weaknesses on your application and the admissions board will take these disadvantages into account when reviewing your application.

Yes; if you experience more than one disadvantage you can provide further information in your AMCAS application.

Disadvantages can include anything from parental unemployment to personal health problems, housing instability or lack of access to resources or healthcare facilities. Any significant barrier in your life to getting a formal education can be considered a disadvantage. 

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Meaning of Disadvantaged Med School Applicant

For those who may consider themselves disadvantaged, here's what an important AMCAS change means.

Disadvantaged Medical School Applicants

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The AMCAS statement is vague to many applicants, and you must really consider your circumstances to determine if you should apply disadvantaged to your situation.

There are so many steps in applying to medical school , and the AMCAS application is one of the first and most significant.

In addition to a personal statement and extracurricular activities, AMCAS, or the American Medical College Application Service , asks various biographical and demographic questions. Prior to the 2023-2024 application cycle, AMCAS included a question regarding if an applicant identified as disadvantaged, which was an opportunity for the applicant to include details about life circumstances that could affect their application.

However, AMCAS recently removed that question and replaced it with an optional section for the applicant to include "other impactful experiences." With this new terminology, the Association of American Medical Colleges, which provides the AMCAS service, hoped to remove any potential negative connotations with the term "disadvantaged" and to provide additional clarity on how to answer the prompt.

What Are the Specifics of Other Impactful Experiences?

Here's the specific prompt included on the AMCAS application: "Have you overcome challenges or obstacles in your life that you would like to describe in more detail? This could include lived experiences related to your family background, financial background, community setting, educational experiences, and/or other life circumstances."

To remove some of the ambiguity that was associated with disadvantaged, AMCAS offers additional guidance, including some examples that can be shared about experiences that directly affected the applicant's life opportunities:

• Family background, such as being a first-generation college student or serving as a caregiver to a family member.
• Community setting, such as living in a rural area or experiencing food scarcity, high poverty or crime rate, or lack of access to regular health care.
• Financial background, such as being from a low-income family, having worked to support your family, needing work-study to pay for college or having depended on federal or state financial support.
• Educational experience, such as limited access to advisers or counselors who were knowledgeable about higher education requirements.

Other general life circumstances that were beyond your control and presented barriers.

The instructions ask applicants to consider whether the question is relevant to them and notes that med schools don't expect all applicants to answer “yes.” The question is intended for applicants "who have overcome major challenges or obstacles," and it acknowledges that "some applicants may not feel comfortable sharing personal information in their application." Applicants who decide to answer the question are allotted 1,325 characters to explain the situation to medical schools.

How Do Medical Schools Use This Information to Evaluate an Application?

Though every medical school evaluates applicants differently, admissions committees use this additional information to contextualize an application.

For instance, perhaps an applicant who lived in a medically underserved area has fewer clinical activities than competing applicants. Admission committees tend to take that into account when reviewing the application. They realize that with fewer available opportunities, one applicant’s extracurricular activities may look different than those of similar applicants.

Including other impactful experiences in no way unlocks a secret door into medical school, but it can help the admission committee evaluate an applicant’s total application – including hardships or special circumstances they may have faced.

Should an Applicant Answer This Question?

Whether a med school applicant should include details here totally depends. They should be introspective and think about how their circumstances may have affected their education, social interactions, extracurricular activities and finances.

Often, if an applicant can’t readily identify a situation that they consider applicable here, then it is probably best not to add information. But for applicants with extenuating circumstances and hardships, providing this additional context allows them to explain the circumstances to medical schools and hope that admissions committees will take the information into account when reviewing the entire application .

What Should Be Written in the Allotted Space?

The applicant should use the space to discuss why they consider themselves disadvantaged and significant challenges they overcame .

It is important to not try to garner pity from the admissions committee. Instead, contextualize the circumstances and application. Avoid repeating the personal statement or theorizing about how things may have been different if an event had not occurred. The statement should help readers understand what the applicant has gone through and how it has affected their life and preparation for medical school.

As difficult as it can be to make the decision about whether to select disadvantaged, a draft of the statement is difficult to write, as well. If an applicant is unsure how to go about putting the situation on paper, work with an adviser to fully articulate the specific circumstances.

Opportunities for Students With Challenges in Their Application

An additional challenge for some students is they often cannot afford the same level of tutoring, advising and coaching as advantaged students. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, only about 22,500 students matriculated in medical school in 2022 from more than 55,000 applicants – only about four in 10 getting accepted. For students with financial or social challenges, their odds can be even lower due to their lack of resources and support systems.

Students who get one-on-one coaching can boost their exam scores and the application presentation, which is likely to substantially increase their odds of acceptance. For example, MedSchoolCoach offers a PreMed Scholarship for bright and deserving students who can benefit from medical school tutoring and advising, but for whom cost is prohibitive.

For disadvantaged students fortunate enough to get accepted but who may need help paying for medical school, organizations like online resource Fastweb provide students with connections to scholarships and financial aid.

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Need a guide through the murky medical school admissions process? Medical School Admissions Doctor offers a roundup of expert and student voices in the field to guide prospective students in their pursuit of a medical education. The blog is currently authored by Dr. Ali Loftizadeh, Dr. Azadeh Salek and Zach Grimmett at Admissions Helpers , a provider of medical school application services; Dr. Renee Marinelli at MedSchoolCoach , a premed and med school admissions consultancy; Dr. Rachel Rizal, co-founder and CEO of the Cracking Med School Admissions consultancy; Dr. Cassie Kosarec at Varsity Tutors , an advertiser with U.S. News & World Report; Dr. Kathleen Franco, a med school emeritus professor and psychiatrist; and Liana Meffert, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine and a writer for Admissions Helpers. Got a question? Email [email protected] .

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How to Write the Statement of Disadvantage

If you have experienced any form of social, economic or educational disadvantage—at any time in your life—you can apply to medical school as a disadvantaged applicant. To receive this designation means that you will need to complete an additional essay on the AMCAS application . The character limit for this short essay is 1,325. Examples of each of the three forms of disadvantage are listed below:

• Social: Being treated differently due to ethnicity, language, religion or sexual orientation.
• Economic: Receiving any form of government aid or growing up in a single parent household on one income that is below the poverty threshold.
• Educational: Overcoming a learning disability or attending low performing public schools.

What to include in a statement of disadvantage

It can be difficult to know what to include in the statement of disadvantage. I recommend approaching it by using the following strategies:

• Create a timeline that includes any forms of social, economic or educational barriers that you experienced, from the beginning of your life through college.
• State the facts, no need to express any emotions or to emphasize any details.
• End on a high note.

Be sure to include the details of the most significant obstacles that you have overcome to reach higher education. One benefit of applying to medical school as a disadvantaged applicant is that most medical schools will not reject your application until it has been reviewed by at least one admissions officer — no automatic rejections based on GPA or test scores.

It’s important to remember that your application will be treated with the utmost respect and that you are heroic for overcoming obstacles that would have prevented most people from applying to medical school. Congratulate yourself for making it to this point in your education!

Common disadvantage statement mistakes

When writing and editing your draft, there are some common errors people make that you can easily avoid. In the next section of this blog, I will cover what NOT to do in a statement of disadvantage.

Beware of making the following mistakes:

• DO NOT focus on unsubstantiated opinions, but rather on facts . Sharing your opinions here will not help to support or explain your status as a disadvantaged applicant. This paragraph allows you to state the facts of your experience. Did your family rely on food stamps? Did you live in Section 8 housing? Simply stating the facts will be the most helpful way to approach this area of the application. You may need to talk with family if you were too little to remember. Many families try to shield their children from this information. These details will simply provide the selection committee with the information that they need to understand just how hard you had to work to meet your educational goals. Listen: Facing Adversity as a Med School Applicant >>
• DO NOT focus on only one part of your life . You can include any details about your childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood that are relevant. Focusing only on college or not sharing information that may explain why you were not prepared to enter college, like attending low performing public schools that did not have enough materials for students, could hurt your application. You may need to start with your parents, especially if they immigrated to the U.S. before you were born or when you were a child. Any events that had a direct impact on the resources available to you should be included from before birth to graduation from college.
• DO NOT tell the story of parents or siblings . If the paragraph focuses only on the background and struggles of your parents or siblings, you may need to revise it to include more information about yourself. Many applicants prefer to write about other people. Did you work throughout high school to be able to afford applying to college? Stating what you did to advocate for yourself and how you found ways to be successful despite the obstacles will reveal your resilience. It’s heroic that you have made it this far in your application.
• DO NOT demonstrate bitterness . This short paragraph is not the space to begin to work through any family issues that you have not yet resolved. I don’t recommend complaining, accusing, or writing anything negative about other family members or people here. Those are valid emotions that you are experiencing, but journal about them elsewhere, go for a walk, or find other healthy ways to address them rather than sabotaging yourself by expressing them in your statement of disadvantage. Celebrate what has gone right or what you have been able to do despite the difficulties that have presented themselves.
• DO NOT elicit pity . The tone you establish in your essay will say a lot about your character. If the tone is one of gratitude, the selection committee may be impressed that you have found ways to thrive despite severe disadvantages. If you attempt to manipulate or elicit pity by exaggerating or telling the reader how to feel about the events of your life, the response will not be positive. Make conscious decisions about how you approach the tone of this essay.

Having read hundreds of these essays in over a decade of experience in admissions , these have been the most unsuccessful approaches that I’ve witnessed. Avoiding the common pitfalls listed above will help you provide the selection committee with the information that they need to give your application a fair evaluation.

It can be helpful to have another person review this essay to make sure that you have included all relevant information and avoided the pitfalls mentioned above.

Do you need help writing your statement of disadvantage or any other element of your medical school application? Explore our Med School Admissions Services and work one-on-one with an Accepted advisor who will help you create a strong, successful, admission-worthy application.

Related Resources:

• Ace the AMCAS Essay , free guide
• 4 Tips for Applying as an Underrepresented Applicant in Medicine
• Approaching the Diversity Essay Question

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