AMCAS 2024: “Disadvantaged Applicant” Question Revised to Broader Adversity Question

The AMCAS “disadvantaged applicant” question is no more. This year’s AMCAS application has introduced a new question in its place that asks more broadly about an applicant’s “impactful experiences.” 

The 2024 AMCAS application will now include the following question and guidance: 

Other Impactful Experiences 

To provide some additional context around each individual’s application, admissions committees are interested in learning more about the challenges applicants may have overcome in life. The following question is designed to give you the opportunity to provide additional information about yourself that is not easily captured in the rest of the application. 

Please consider whether this question applies to you. Medical schools do not expect all applicants to answer “yes” to this question. This question is intended for applicants who have overcome major challenges or obstacles. Some applicants may not have experiences that are relevant to this question.  Other applicants may not feel comfortable sharing personal information in their application.  

o Yes o No 

Please use the space below to describe why you selected “yes.” [This text and the textbox only appear if “yes” is selected for this question.] 

In a pop-up box, AMCAS provides some helpful examples. It reads:

The following examples can help you decide whether you should respond “yes” to the question, and if so, what kinds of experiences you could share. Please keep in mind that this is not a fully inclusive list and any experiences you choose to write about should be ones that directly impacted your life opportunities. 

Example Experiences 

• Family background: serving as a caretaker of a family member (e.g., siblings, parent/guardian), first generation to college 

• Community setting: rural area, food scarcity, high poverty or crime rate, lack of access to regular health care (e.g., primarily used urgent care clinics or emergency room, no primary care physician) 

• Financial background: low-income family, worked to support family growing up, work-study to pay for college, federal or state financial support 

• Educational experience: limited educational opportunities, limited access to advisors or counselors who were knowledgeable/supportive of higher education requirements 

• Other general life circumstances that were beyond your control and impacted your life and/or presented barriers (e.g., religion) 

Why the change?

The AAMC made the revision in response to “limitations” identified with the previous question, which asked a candidate if they wished to identify themself as a “disadvantaged applicant.” Research into the text found that applicants found the question ambiguous, and that many had a negative reaction to the use of the term “disadvantaged applicant.” 

However, AAMC’s research also found that both applicants and admissions officers found value in the intent of the question, which was “to provide rich contextual information about an applicant’s journey and how their lived experiences align with schools’ missions and/or the communities they serve.” 

The revised question and associated guidance was piloted using the Summer Health Professions Education Program and the supplemental Electronic Residency Application Service. And both the question and guidance received “generally positive feedback” from administrators and applicants. 

Should I respond to this question?

As with the question that preceded it, this question text states that not all candidates are expected to respond. Rather, it is intended for those who have had “major challenges or obstacles.” 

That being said, this updated question provides applicants with a broader scope for responses. So, we urge you to consider any significant challenges that you have faced, using the following questions:

1. Did this experience impact my life in such a way that it provides meaningful context to my application? 

Examples of such adversity include: Facing a significant health challenge such as cancer or a disability; serving as the guardian to your younger siblings, while also attending classes (likely, negatively impacting your resume); living in an underserved medical community that made it difficult to gain shadowing or clinical experiences, but also inspired your interest in rural medicine. 

Alternatively, more typical experiences that likely do not represent significant adversity (but potentially belong in your personal statement or secondary essays) include: Breaking a bone during high school athletics and going through a difficult recuperation process; facing a life-impacting food allergy, the dissolution of a romantic relationship, a domestic move, and/or your parents’ divorce. While these experiences likely impacted you greatly, they may not belong in this response. 

2. What did I learn from the experience? 

Your essay response should detail the adversity, but should center on what you learned from going through the experience. Did this experience provide you with an “ah-ha!” moment that changed your perspective and impacted your life? If the take-aways from the adversity do not feel relevant to your application (i.e., your learnings do not clearly make you a stronger candidate for a medical school), you should reconsider the take-aways or including the experience.

3. Have I already spoken to this experience in my personal statement? 

You will want to avoid redundancy by sharing different stories and anecdotes in this essay and your personal statement. If you fully explored the experience in your personal statement, do not feel compelled to re-write about the experience here. Not all applicants are expected to have responses to this question. 

Your writing approach:

Overcoming adversity makes for a stronger medical school candidate and this is what you will want to emphasize in your response: Provide the reader background on the situation in the first 20 percent of the response. But the remaining 80 percent should be devoted to what you learned from the adversity.

How will your future classmates and patients benefit from the lessons you gained from the adversity? Keep in mind the qualities that medical schools are looking for in prospective students and show the reader how your experience improved your dedication to medicine and resilience and/or your abilities in leadership, teamwork, empathy, and critical and creative thinking.

Five Qualities Medical School Admissions Committees are Looking for in Applicants

Throughout your medical school primary and secondary applications, you will want to highlight the following skills and qualities. 

Leadership. This is a key quality that separates physicians from other members of a healthcare provider team. Throughout your application, you will want to showcase your ability to lead a team in order to accomplish a common goal. Consider the role you play within a group and how you help bring out the best in other team members. You don’t need to be the captain of a sports team or a club president to be a highly-effective and persuasive leader. Rather, you need to be able to articulate how your influence and openness promote the best outcome(s) in a collaborative environment. 

In what meaningful experiences did you show your leadership abilities? Did leadership come naturally to you, or did you work to get to this place? (Both things are great!) How did you support your team? Did you encourage collaboration or independence? Did you feel supported by your team? Did you experience any pushback, and how did you handle that if you did? What did you think about these things at the time? How did you feel? What did you learn that you will incorporate into your leadership style in the future?

Teamwork:  Medical school and the practice of medicine are often team endeavors. While we’ve encouraged you to showcase your ability to lead a team, you will also want to show your ability to work collaboratively and productively with others. Highlight instances where you have shown humility and elevated the voices of others. Think about your most effective team experiences and what you learned about yourself from working with those teammates. 

During what meaningful experiences did you work with a team or collaborate with others successfully? Were you working with people unlike yourself? Was there a struggle for balance in the beginning? Any confusion? What did you appreciate about your team members? How did they influence and impact you and your actions? Did one or two team members step up in a way you admired? What did you think about these things at the time? How did you feel? Have you had experiences with teams that were unsuccessful? What did you learn (remember: failures can provide great insight too!)?

Critical and creative thinking. The practice of medicine requires constant engagement with problem solving, from interacting with patients to coming to a diagnosis and treatment plan to driving research and innovation agendas. You will need to ask good questions and consider the interplay of multiple variables. Showcase the critical thinking skills you’ve already developed, as well as your ability to stay calm when faced with complicated issues.

In what meaningful experiences did you utilize critical thinking and problem-solving skills? How did you determine the best course of action? Did you approach something one way at first and then correct yourself? What did you think about these things at the time? What did you learn? How did you feel?

Intellectual curiosity. Medical school is academically rigorous, and schools want students who can not only handle the workload, but will elevate the classroom discourse by engaging deeply with the material. And, beyond school, medicine is an ever-evolving field. Throughout your career, you will be asked to take on new challenges and employ innovative thinking. Just demonstrating a record of academic success is not enough. Rather, you will want to show the admissions committee examples of situations where you went beyond what was required to better comprehend a topic. Keep in mind that you can demonstrate intellectual curiosity in an academic environment but also beyond it—at work or in your participation with a charity or hobby. 

In what meaningful experiences did you demonstrate intellectual curiosity? How have you gone above and beyond the expected to better understand a topic? In what ways have you pursued additional knowledge or sought out learning opportunities? How have you taken your interest to the next level? How did it make you feel? 

Empathy and the ability to connect with others: Medical schools are highly-attuned to the interpersonal capabilities of applicants. Share experiences where you demonstrate empathy, listening skills, and the ability to form connections. Showcase situations in your life where you overcame obvious differences with others to form a respectful relationship. Make it clear that you always treat others with humility and respect and that you will see your patients as full people, rather than as a set of symptoms or a puzzle to be solved. 

In what meaningful experiences did you empathize and connect with others? What effect did you have on others? What effect did they have on you? What did you think about these things at the time? How did you feel? What have you learned about how to find common ground with those who are different from you? Do you have any examples of times that forming a good relationship with someone else led you both to a better outcome?