Med school applicants from rural areas are among those who can claim disadvantaged status.

Many premedical students have encountered some form of hardship. So when medical school applicants see the category "Disadvantaged status" on the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS), they may wonder what a disadvantaged status really means.

Officially, AMCAS states that applicants determine whether to designate themselves as disadvantaged. Each medical school has its own policies on how it handles applicants who self-declare the disadvantaged status, or whether it treats those applications differently. AMCAS also provides certain categories for guidance in determining status:

Underserved: If you grew up in an underserved or rural area up until the age of 18, AMCAS states that you can identify yourself as a disadvantaged applicant. When you generate your AMCAS application, you can mark your county of residence as rural (R), medically underserved (U), or both.

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Immediate family: If you have a situation involving your immediate family that affected your educational opportunities or social circumstances, you can self-designate as disadvantaged.

State and federal assistance programs: If your family received state and federal assistance because of socioeconomic other circumstances, it would be considered appropriate to self-designate as disadvantaged by AMCAS.

If you think there are other circumstances that have contributed to your disadvantaged statues that are not listed on the AMCAS page, don't feel constrained by the above. In addition to requesting family financial data, AMCAS provides the opportunity for a 1,325 character statement explaining why you feel you should be considered a disadvantaged applicant.

In June 2009, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) published a compendium of examples of disadvantaged applicant statements, as well as other data that characterized admissions statistics of that group.

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Go here to see the original:
What It Means to Be a ‘Disadvantaged’ M.D. Applicant