Financial Hardship

[ships]

This is my first post--I've been reading through the forums for the past month or so, but finally decided to come out. Hi everyone!

 

My question is about an optional section I've found while filling out my graduate applications. I've noticed that some schools--Michigan and, if I remember correctly, Berkeley--invite applicants to mention any financial hardships they have overcome throughout their education. And most other schools ask questions like "please tell us any additional information that you feel may be relevant to our consideration of your application."

 

Now, I have encountered some financial hardship: I come from a low-income family in an East Asian country (my dad farms squashes for a wage back home), and I managed to miraculously land in a PGR mid-ranked (American) university by attending a selective high school in my home country. My university waives my tuition, but I'm responsible for my own living costs; my external fellowship ran out after my first two years, so I have been homeless and sleeping at various places on campus since the start of my junior year.

 

I am wondering whether I should, morally and pragmatically, describe my situation in sending out my applications. My homelessness hasn't really affected my GPA negatively, and I think my application is otherwise solid: I've been preparing for graduate work in philosophy by finishing my major early and taking graduate courses since my sophomore year (I will be taking my thirteenth next semester), so I expect to get in somewhere, given the wide range of schools that I am applying to.

 

I suppose my question is twofold. Will including such information be gratuitous--will it be seen as an attempt to garner an advantage over other applicants? More interestingly, will it in fact confer a (perhaps unfair) advantage to my application? I'm interested in hearing your thoughts.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Shipsenki

[alopachuca]

Hi, someone posted a video in the "2015 Applicants Assemble" thread. You might have seen it since you've browsed the forum before. If you haven't, it's worth the time. It's just straightforward, practical advice for applicants from a UCSD professor. 

 

What I've gathered is this: the advantage it gives you will depend on who is reading your application. That being said, it will give you an advantage. And how much of an advantage it gives you, well that will be more dependent on who is ranking your application.

 

"Will it be seen as an attempt to garner an advantage over other applicants?"

 

Well yes, that's precisely the reason why you would want to bring it up (and this is why they give you the option to do so). I suppose more accurately, it's an attempt to strengthen your application. They understand this. 

 

Now if you honestly think being homeless hasn't impacted you neither negatively nor the opposite, you can simply choose to not mention it. But that's completely your decision.

 

Personally, I'm more interested in why you believe coming from a low income East Asian family doesn't warrant you the right to have an advantage. You didn't specifically say that it doesn't, but it's implied.

Edited December 27, 2014 by alopachuca

[Gnothi_Seauton]

First, let me say that I'm extremely impressed that you've managed to produce the kind of stats you have given your difficult situation.  I'm sorry you've had to go through it, and I applaud you for persevering.  

 

I think that if the application has a space to describe financial hardships, you should absolutely describe your hardships.  It might grab the attention of someone reading your file or it might not.  I don't think anyone would see it as trying to curry favor, as long as you present it basically as you've presented it here:  just a description of your situation.  

 

Now, I wouldn't try to put it in a statement of purpose, even though that might seem like a place for that kind of info.  Focus on your areas of interest there.  If you have any letter writers who know about your situation, they might very well put it in a letter, if you allow them to.  

 

I don't get the sense that adcomms really spend too much time looking at the actual graduate school application.  They focus on the writing sample, letters, statement of purpose, transcript, GRE scores, and any other documents your provide (like a CV).  So, some readers might not even notice the bit about your financial hardships, which is why getting a letter writer to mention it might be the best way to get the adcomm's attention.  That said, I guess it might be a bit late in the season to have your writers adjust letters.  

 

Finally, I hope you've sent at application to UNC.  We have a great graduate student environment here and your interests line up well with our faculty.

[MattDest]

I have to agree with the others - that is mighty impressive! You might have seen this Daily Nous thread about philosophers from poverty awhile back. It is probably nice to know that you aren't alone. I would describe it in any place where they allow you to expand on difficulties you've faced in academia/undergrad/on the way to grad school, but I agree with Gnothi_Seauton that you probably shouldn't put it in your personal statement unless it has shaped your interests in some important way. 

 

Dude(ette), you shouldn't be worried if mentioning that you were homeless provides you with an unfair advantage in the application process. Fortunately, I was able to have a job to work my way through undergrad, but I can't even begin to imagine the type of hardship you would face from not having a place to sleep at night during undergrad. Especially if you were in a rather rigorous undergrad program - which it sounds like you were. Your ability to overcome that hardship is what would give you the edge, not your unfortunate circumstances. 

[ships]

Thanks for a very quick response, everyone!

 

alopachuca: I stumbled upon Prof. Grush's video some time ago and found it helpful. I do in fact worry that there might be moral reasons for me not to elaborate on my background. For one, I can't predict how individual members on admission committees will take such information, since I am an odd case. If it turned out that the advantage I stand to gain from providing a piece of information significantly outweighs the advantage I actually deserve, then I think I would be inclined to say that I have a duty to withhold that information! 

 

Gnothi & Matt: I appreciate your encouragement. I agree that such information would come out much better in a letter. I intentionally didn't tell my letter writers about my living situation--though I know that at least one of them knows, because he apparently overheard grad students talking about it! But he doesn't know that I know that he knows, so I don't think he wrote about it in his letters.

 

By the way, I really wish I had applied to UNC--my writing sample is about epistemic normativity.

[Gnothi_Seauton]

Too bad you didn't apply to UNC.  One of last year's graduates wrote her dissertation on epistemic normativity and landed a tt job at the University of Vermont.  Still, your file sounds impressive, so I'm sure you'll get into some very good programs.  Best of luck!