Best state residency

[singoutoftune]

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Hi guys,

Let me apologize in advance, I know that this has been covered by a few older threads. I've combed through those, but they meandered a bit.

After this semester, I plan on establishing residency at a state. I have no ties, I am stuck in a small town, I am determined to do this much. Getting into a school is my top priority but tuition is a fact.

Can someone break down the best states to establish residency in before applying?
Texas and Pennsylvanian were mentioned the most, I think. This is a huge decision; it is literally at least a 6 year investment. I want to do this right, so know that any advice on here will be equivalent to gold in my mind. Thank you!

 

[Westonski]

I'm applying in Pennsylvania, which is a decent state because we have lots of medical schools. An added benefit is that most of the schools (public and private) get state funding, so they all have In-State quotas to meet when it comes to admissions. However, since the state's funds go out to half a dozen or so schools, Pennsylvania doesn't have one or two state schools which accept 90% In-State students, which is a perk I see in other states. Our state school, Penn State, admitted 47% IS last year, and this percentage has been declining. Temple is closer to 50%. In-State tuition rates aren't stellar, either, considering all schools but PSU are private. It's not terrible, though.

This is just something to consider. PA schools are great, and they vary from low, middle, and top-tier. Philadelphia has 5 medical schools alone, including PCOM, all of which have excellent reputations and offer great rotation sites. If you're concerned about gaining admission, however, you might want to look at a different state that has large state schools that almost exclusively admit In-State residents.

I hope this helps.

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

Asking which state is the best state for residency is like asking "Which is better: Pirates or ninjas?" It's a question without a real answer.

I've heard the benefits of some states like Texas and Pennsylvania. But then consider Washington, where about 20% of in state APPLICANTS matriculate to University of Washington. Not 20% of the people who interview--no, 20% of applicants. That's pretty good!

So I think you need to do a bit more work figuring out where you want to live and go to medical school 🙂

 

[singoutoftune]

This is exactly the kind of information I was hoping to see. It helps tremendously with narrowing down such a significant decision. Also, thank you for your earnestness. It seems like Pennsylvania isn't as attractive as I initially thought--moving to Philadelphia was definitely in the cards.
It seems like Texas is the strongest choice unless someone suggests otherwise.

I am extremely interested in hearing about Illinois. From what I've read, the tuition may not be as low as Texas but it boasts enough medical schools (7?) to offered plenty of application opportunities. Given the choice, I think I would enjoy Chicago more... but that sort of preference is obviously less important than getting into a school.

In response to hopefuldoc, I understand where you are coming from--living situations are important. However, changing residency has come up several times as legitimate advice from some of the senior posters. For people with average stats, the consensus has been that applying in the right state makes a huge difference. In my case, I definitely do not want to continue living in the state/city I'm in so I won't even bother applying to the one school here.

That being said, I would love to live in San Francisco--more than any other city. However, by doing that I would almost certainly be throwing my chance of attending medical school to the dogs. I think others on this forum, in similar situations, could benefit from additional discussion about being strategical with choosing residency.

 

[gravitywave]

Who said Pennsylvania? I heard that was one of the worst. I'd think you'd do better in Ohio than either PA or IL.

Texas is the clear choice, if you are considering nothing but what the residency does for you in terms of admission. lots of seats relative to the population and almost all of them (90%+ i think) are reserved for residents.

 

[Westonski]

Who said Pennsylvania? I heard that was one of the worst. I'd think you'd do better in Ohio than either PA or IL.

Texas is the clear choice, if you are considering nothing but what the residency does for you in terms of admission. lots of seats relative to the population and almost all of them (90%+ i think) are reserved for residents.

+1. Texas does have a trillion applicants, but there are plenty of seats and their schools are basically a Texas-exclusive club.

Besides... Who wouldn't want to live in Texas? 🙂 I know I would.

 

[singoutoftune]

Does anyone have the actual numbers for in-state applicants in Texas? I suspect a trillion is slightly exaggerated. I don't have MSAR.

 

[Quik]

Nevada (UNR SOM), has pretty good numbers. Tuition is under 15k, and last application cycle had about 1100 applicants (for ~70 seats). It's the only med school in the State though, so you don't have much of a shotgun approach to apply to several in-state schools.