I know that this is a debatable topic, but I had not seen anyone with a similar situation (other than parents with addiction.) As such, I was wondering what other people think. Here is a rough description:
My older sister started using drugs at a young age and it stemmed into full-blown a severe? cocaine addiction by the time I was 13. This practically tore my family apart as there were constant heated arguments and fights, run-ins with the police, and ultimately we struggled financially. As a result, I lived in a very unstable household and I was often the sole caretaker for my younger brother. My parents were too proud to admit they needed help or needed financial assistance, leading to them working multiple jobs to try and make ends meet. Since my parents were largely absent, I would make sure my brother made it to school, helped him with his homework, made dinners, etc. all while I was trying to do well in school. (My days often started early and ended late, squeezing in schoolwork when I had a free moment) move to after discussing work. When a parent was present, I had to help them with work, usually doing manual labor on the weekends. In addition to this, I worked part time (often on weekends.) Eventually, my brother and I lived with an our aunt for a while when the situation at home was really dire and my sister was in jail. Despite my younger hardships, I was able to attend a division one university through an athletic scholarship (+loans, grants, etc.).
Any thoughts/feedback are much appreciated!
Everything I striked though is what I personally did not like in here because it either rubbed me wrong somehow, or was repetitive. If you use my edits, you will need to be sure to add in a few words to make this grammatically correct.
Even if you don't use this post, seeing others edit your work can help you with writing in the future.
What I saw came across to me with a tone of resentment towards your parents, which very well may not be what you intended and may be deserved, just saying what one poster thought.
It is fine to mention being your brother's caretaker and that tugged on my heartstrings, but then some of what you mentioned seemed like normal big brother behavior (or above and beyond) and coupled with what I thought was resentment toward your folks, sort of gave a tone that made me wonder if you resented caring for your brother. That is what guided my editing efforts.
I resented the caretaking I did in my family, so I am not getting on your case. It's normal and human. However, I made damn sure not to come across that way in my med school app process. Actually, learning to rephrase it for apps helped me reshape the experiences in my own mind. I resented all that stuff a lot less when it was an asset for gaining admission, and when I saw what it added to my practice. Couple that with a hefty dose of swallowing what evolutionary behaviorism, addiction science/medicine, and psychology have had to say to me on the topic, and I've found real peace with it all.
It will come across mature if you can be more matter of fact about your family and not passing judgement on them. Better that your app smacks of a little sadness or pride in dealing with difficulties than frustration, resentment, or anger.
Anyway, as a physician, I understand that you overcame a lot and how normal resentment in your circumstances is. However, for a physician it is important to come across like you are never resentful or taxed in dealing with the very very ill. You need to be able to act this way at all times at work, truly it is asked of you. Even better if it's how you really feel.
I believe maybe even more than the obesity epidemic, mental health & addiction to be biggest issues we face in medicine. Even if others on here don't agree, anyone on here will tell you that the average practice in almost any specialty will be full of just enough addicted patients to be a major PITA for you in your medical career, on almost a daily basis.
Look into transference/countertransference as a topic. When I discussed my personal history from my app with any interviewer, I could feel them probing me about this with their questioning.
Look up unconditional positive regard and the therapeutic alliance. While you're at it, see if you can read the ACE Adverse Childhood Events Study.
Look into Adult Children of Alcoholics/Dysfunctional Families online. See if any of it applies to you. A lot of people are led into medicine spurred by traits they developed in reaction to such childhoods. If it applies, check out a meeting or get the Big Red Book. I would have gotten along with others in my career (and just overall happiness) so much better if I had understood all that stuff going in.
If you really think you have a handle on those topics above, that more caretaking of difficult and drug addicted people in your life is something that you would not only be good at, but will fulfill you and not make you too resentful, that's why you should go into medicine.
Your story shows grit, the sort that in my mind tells me you can handle the job. You can run the nuthouse. But just because you can handle crazy, doesn't tell me that you would *lik* to. If I were adcom, which I am not, that is what I would want to know.
In any case, if you guys qualified the majority of your 0-18 years for income & need based government programs like for food stamps but did not actually receive them, I believe you can say that you qualified for such benefits in the box and it will be honest. I believe that is acceptable for listing disadvantaged but I may be wrong.
I agree with other posters that what you have written so far does not really focus on poverty which is an easier way to qualify for marking disadvantaged.
TLDR
-some editing
-always try to sound neutral about your ****ed up childhood even though we all hate our parents just a little
-check out ACE Adverse Childhood Events Study, transference/countertransference, therapeutic alliance, evolutionary behaviorism, addiction medicine, & Adult Children of Alcoholics/Dysfunctional Families in an attempt to try to make peace with your family of origin and deal with the ways your patients will resemble them
-I think maybe qualifying for public aid even if your parents didn't take advantage of it can count for disadvantaged but I may be wrong, as your thingie is written it doesn't so far
