CA or AZ Residency

[MatthewCC]

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I'm applying for Fall 2013 this summer.

Currently I'm an AZ resident. But would it be more advantageous to become a CA resident? I am currently going to school in CA and have been since Fall 2009.

Neither of the AZ schools are public, so they are pretty pricey.. Also I've heard that CA schools are pretty difficult to get in if you are not a resident and Loma Linda is one of my top choices right now.

 

[AwesomeTeeth]

Is it that easy to switch your residency in California? A lot of states require you to live there a certain number of years or own property while paying taxes. Some states are easier then others but I don't know anything about Cali.

 

[AKGopher]

Is it that easy to switch your residency in California? A lot of states require you to live there a certain number of years or own property while paying taxes. Some states are easier then others but I don't know anything about Cali.

I was just going to ask the same thing. Every state that I've lived in (a fair amount, considering my family is military) has required someone to live in the state for a year WITHOUT the primary purpose of being in that state to be education (ie going to college there doesn't count) to establish residency. So no matter how hard you try, you'll probably still be an AZ resident. I'm from AK and would love to have in-state residency somewhere, but it just isn't possible. Maybe consider looking into schools where you can get in-state tuition after 1 year...UConn does this I believe.

 

[frd88]

I'm applying for Fall 2013 this summer.

Currently I'm an AZ resident. But would it be more advantageous to become a CA resident? I am currently going to school in CA and have been since Fall 2009.

Neither of the AZ schools are public, so they are pretty pricey.. Also I've heard that CA schools are pretty difficult to get in if you are not a resident and Loma Linda is one of my top choices right now.

Yup, cali schools are very difficult to get into if you are oos. If you can qualify for an in-state ca residency by the time you apply and apply as a ca resident your chances would be sooo much better for great schools like ucsf or ucla. I am honestly pretty jealous of ca residents right now, lol. Not only are these in-state schools cheaper, it is also a lot easier for them to get into.

Also, another piece of advice if you are applying this summer is to spend a lot of time researching schools and apply to a ton of schools and save up a lot of money for application expenses. Bigger is better in my opinion when it comes to applying to dental schools. I didn't apply to a lot and I regret it. I thought it would be a waste of money to apply to a lot of schools cause everyone said I would get in anywhere I applied. I figured I would save money by doing research before applying and then only applying to 3 or 4 schools. The problem with that is that it is impossible to do enough research that early to narrow the field down that much, I am still changing my mind about what school I want to go to. Secondly, even if you have great stats, acceptances are very unpredictable, it is very easy that you could rub someone the wrong way at your number one school. For instance, you might get into harvard but not get into your "safety" school.

 

[UltimateHombre]

I was just going to ask the same thing. Every state that I've lived in (a fair amount, considering my family is military) has required someone to live in the state for a year WITHOUT the primary purpose of being in that state to be education (ie going to college there doesn't count) to establish residency. So no matter how hard you try, you'll probably still be an AZ resident. I'm from AK and would love to have in-state residency somewhere, but it just isn't possible. Maybe consider looking into schools where you can get in-state tuition after 1 year...UConn does this I believe.

I was under the impression that residency was not that difficult to obtain. Especially if the OP has worked while in school, it shouldn't be a problem. Again, the only way i think you can claim residency is if you have worked.

This year file your taxes in CA (assuming your parents still aren't claiming you), obtain a CA drivers license, and make sure you have some bills mailed to your CA address (cell phone, credit cards, utilities, etc). If you're unable to do any of these things, you probably won't get residency, but if you can, i see no reason as to why you wouldn't be considered a resident.

 

[MatthewCC]

I've been married since August so I'm an independent and have an apartment with bills etc coming here. Thanks for the posts.

 

[predent18]

Typically residency works like this:
You must move to a state and not attend school there for a year while paying taxes, having your car licensed, not owning property in another state, getting your drivers license in that state etc. if at anytime in that first year of living in that state you attend college, you will have difficulty gaining residency. This applies to someone who is independent... Which means you must be married, or not claimed on your parents tax return, or be typically 25 or older.
Based on your situation, you'd probably need to get married and not go to school for a year in order to gain residency in ca

 

[r2thekesh]

What was your wife's residency? Getting married while in school to a resident of the state often (but not always) allows you to claim residency of the new state.

 

[byuAD]

Isn't AZ part of WICHE? I would rather do the WICHE program than be a CA resident...There's only 2 CA in state schools, but being part of WICHE allows you to get in state at a bunch of other schools and/or get loan money reimbursed from AZ.

 

[Silencio]

The two state schools in CA (UCLA, UCSF) are frickin' tough to get into. So unless you have high stats, there's no advantage to being CA resident.