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I'm a Mexican-American URM and I have 168/3.87. Berkeley has a socio-economic questionnaire that I feel is meant to compensate for not being able to practice affirmative action. Do you think I should write a socio-economic statement if my parents made around 70 a year combined. I have 4 brothers and sisters, of which they went/go to/are going to go to college(i.e. money was always tight). However, I also don't want to sound whiny in comparison to more disadvantaged families that, for example, only made 30 a year with similar family size. I've been independent for a couple of years now as well if that's at all important. I also don't want to not fill out the questionnaire and then write a socio-economic statement, there would be an obvious questioning of why the socio-economic questionnaire wasn't filled out.

What do you guys think?

Do the questionnaire and do the statement. Assuming you are in a low paying job, I would focus on that - meaning 1. Parents cannot contribute because of all the kids in school and 2. You aren't racking up tons of savings right now that would allow you to pay your own way. Don't whine or overstate things, but don't feel bad about being honest either. It might not get you anywhere, but remember that it's 100% certain that you won't get a thing as far as need-based aid if you don't even submit the materials.

^what they said. You can be open and honest about your situation and how it's affected you, your ability to pay for school, without whining. Don't leave it up to them to connect the dots for you.

Do the statement and the questionnaire.

Don't feel guilty, do whatever you have to in order to keep your LS debt down, and to gain admission into the schools with the best employment prospects.