Becoming a Texas or Colorado resident?

[Fed Meat]

Anyone know how hard/easy it is to become a resident in either of these states? I'm going to live out west when I practice, and I guess it makes sense to go to one of these schools as opposed to going to med school in Pennsylvania.

Also, I think I'd really like to consider living in Montana, as well, but they don't have a med school. Does that mean there aren't many physicians in Montana? I understand they have a relationship with the University of Washington there. Just curious. I guess I can do an internet search, too.

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[diver]

http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/residency/

For Texas, you basically just have to live here for 12 months while supporting yourself and not going to school. If you take a class you will remain an out-of-state resident in the eyes of Texas. You can probably get information on Colorado with a quick internet search. I don't know how applicants in Colorado or Montana fare, but Texas has a lot of good medical schools even in proportion to its population/applicant pool.

Good luck!

 

[Syranope2]

i'm from colorado so i should know this one, but i don't. i do know that every single out of state applicant who isn't a ***** gets colorado residency for their second year. no one in their right mind would pay $70k for all four years. so you must be able to get it by living there for a year, even if you're just going to school.

 

[VFrank]

I live in Colorado (well, I don't LIVE there, but I am a resident), and I'm pretty sure you're a resident in whatever state you pay taxes in. I also think you need a permenant Colorado address to be considered a resident. You should also register to vote in your residence-state. Call the Colorado Department of Revenue (303.866.3091) to find out for sure.

 

[Angeliqua]

Residency for tuition purposes is very different from just plain old state residency you get just by paying taxes and having and address. Go to UCHSC's website and check it out, they might have guidelines on the website for obtaining residency for tuition purposes. If not, as with almost every question posted on this board , you will get the most accurate information by actually asking the school. Just email or call the Financial Aid office - they know all about residency requirements.

Oh, Texas is probably the same, again ask a school.

 

[hakksar]

Angeliqua is right about the difference between Colorado Residency and Residency for tuition purposes. In addition, Colorado is a very hard state to get into medical school. In fact, Colorado Residency has the lowest acceptance rate of any group other than Foreign Applicants, Applicants from US Territories and Possessions, and Applicants from the District of Columbia (source: http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2003/2003slrmat.htm). You would be better off as a Texas Resident (unless you have around a 4.0 GPA, 35+ MCAT, and tons of excellent ECs and LORs in which case it does not matter where you live you will get in).

As for Montana, they are part of the Washington WAMI program where there are a certain number of spots in the University of Washington's class for Montana Residents. In addition, I believe Montana is part of the WICHE program for medical school which gives Montana Residents preference over out of state but less preference than in state residents at schools such as the University of Colorado, University of Utah, University of Nevada etc. It is still tough for Montana Residents though so the best location would still be Texas.

 

[Mumpu]

This is a side effect of UCHSC being the only medical school in the state. Colorado is a very nice place to live in so you have a lot of applicants for one school. In addition, UCHSC prefers people to take time off -- the average age for my class was 26 when I started, and I know quite a few people who did not get in straight from college only to sail through the next year.