Changing State Residency? Am I Crazy?

[MDwannabe09]

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I'm currently a California resident, but I lived in Texas as a kid. I still have a lot of family in Houston and visit quite a bit. I'm strongly considering moving back to Houston for med school, but I would also still like to apply to CA med schools. At this point, (getting a glimpse of several med schools in both places), I'd be perfectly happy in either location, but I know getting into CA schools is very competitive.

I've been given mixed advice about keeping my CA residency. Even with there not being enough spots in med schools for CA residents, I've still heard that a majority of CA med school acceptances on in-state people.

Would it be best to keep my CA residency and still apply to TX schools, (and talk about my ties to TX), or should I just become a TX resident?

 

[PescadoAmor]

I'm currently a California resident, but I lived in Texas as a kid. I still have a lot of family in Houston and visit quite a bit. I'm strongly considering moving back to Houston for med school, but I would also still like to apply to CA med schools. At this point, (getting a glimpse of several med schools in both places), I'd be perfectly happy in either location, but I know getting into CA schools is very competitive.

I've been given mixed advice about keeping my CA residency. Even with there not being enough spots in med schools for CA residents, I've still heard that a majority of CA med school acceptances on in-state people.

Would it be best to keep my CA residency and still apply to TX schools, (and talk about my ties to TX), or should I just become a TX resident?

becoming a texas resident takes time...at least 1 year

 

[rain4venus]

From what I've heard from others on this site, you won't get into any TX schools as an OOS applicant without stellar numbers (since they are legally required to accept 90% from in-state or something like that)
On the other hand, you probably won't get into CA schools whether you're a CA resident or not no matter how good your app is.*
While TX residents have a big leg up when applying to TX schools, CA residents have little, if any, edge over OOS applicants. Often Texas is cited as the best state to be from when applying to med schools and California is referred to as the worst.

Now, whether that's enough reason to move halfway across the country is a different question. My boyfriend is planning on moving to a new state before he applies, but it has more to do with the fact that there are few jobs for us here and neither of us wants to be here for the next 6+ years


*Both of these things are hyperbole of the impression I've gotten from people on SDN. Obviously some people get into CA schools

 

[DokterMom]

I'm currently a California resident, but I lived in Texas as a kid. I still have a lot of family in Houston and visit quite a bit. I'm strongly considering moving back to Houston for med school, but I would also still like to apply to CA med schools. At this point, (getting a glimpse of several med schools in both places), I'd be perfectly happy in either location, but I know getting into CA schools is very competitive.

I've been given mixed advice about keeping my CA residency. Even with there not being enough spots in med schools for CA residents, I've still heard that a majority of CA med school acceptances on in-state people.

Would it be best to keep my CA residency and still apply to TX schools, (and talk about my ties to TX), or should I just become a TX resident?

I'd look carefully at what would be required to change your residency to Texas.

If you are a legal Texas resident with competitive admissions statistics, your chances for medical school admission are generally much better than they are for a CA resident with similar stats. For example, a 3.6 GPA and 30 MCAT give you excellent odds in TX, but lousy odds in CA. A 3.8 GPA and 36 MCAT have really good odds anywhere - though still better in TX ;-)

If you do not qualify as a legal Texas resident, than your stats have to be a whole lot better to get into a Texas medical school. They use those few OOS positions (legally capped at 10% for the public schools) to bring specific things to the class: high stats to raise averages, unusual backgrounds / diversity, etc. Just 'having strong ties' to Texas doesn't qualify you to be part of that 'regular 90%' -- and probably doesn't even matter much to the ADCOMs looking to fill those 10% seats.

 

[Medstart108]

If you are TRULY borderline you can go to Texas, but most likely the best option is to retain California Residency and talk about texas when you apply to texas schools.

This is if you just want to get in.

If you are very competitive then you can try and get texas residency.

 

[MDwannabe09]

My gpa is nothing special, (3.7), and no MCAT yet. I'm ORM, but have some strong extracurriculars and a good amount of clinical experience and research.

I'm graduating in March of 2014 and was planning on beginning the residency process, (changing my address, getting a TX license, etc.), in April, then physically moving in June. If it only takes a year, I would be a resident several months before I matriculate, (if I get accepted).

Can you switch from non-resident to resident in the middle of the application cycle, or are you just one or the other?

 

[askamsky51]

In state preference/tuition are based off of residency one year prior to application (at nearly every institution).

 

[PescadoAmor]

In state preference/tuition are based off of residency one year prior to application (at nearly every institution).

I'll also add that unless you own a business or property in texas...you have to be gainfully employed to be considered Texan for your apps

 

[The Buff OP]

Hmmmm........ I think your degree coming from a California university would blow your cover.

 

[whatbout2morrow]

In state preference/tuition are based off of residency one year prior to application (at nearly every institution).

👍

https://www.utsystem.edu/tmdsas/medical/residency.html

Under Texas state law, each person who applies for admission to a Texas public college or university is classified either as a resident of Texas, a nonresident, or a foreign (international) student. TMDSAS makes this determination at the time of application in order to place the applicant in the appropriate applicant pool - resident vs. non-resident.

So, in order to be considered an in-state applicant in Texas, you would have to technically take two gap years. Graduate from CA in 2014, work in Texas for 12 consecutive months (2014-2015), apply in 2015 for matriculation in 2016.

 

[MDwannabe09]

Hmmmm........ I think your degree coming from a California university would blow your cover.

I wouldn't claim to be a TX resident while I'm enrolled! 😉

Whatbout2morrow -- hmm, in that case I guess I'll just stay a CA resident, since I want to apply next cycle.

 

[whatbout2morrow]

I wouldn't claim to be a TX resident while I'm enrolled! 😉

Whatbout2morrow -- hmm, in that case I guess I'll just stay a CA resident, since I want to apply next cycle.

Provided you do well on the MCAT, I think your ties with Texas are strong enough to warrant applying anyway. After all, TMDSAS is not that expensive.

 

[rain4venus]

👍

https://www.utsystem.edu/tmdsas/medical/residency.html



So, in order to be considered an in-state applicant in Texas, you would have to technically take two gap years. Graduate from CA in 2014, work in Texas for 12 consecutive months (2014-2015), apply in 2015 for matriculation in 2016.

So, to clarify: You have to be a resident at the time of application, so you must have lived (and worked) there for 1 year before applying, correct?

That's how I've always understood it, but the previous comment someone made to the effect of "you must be a resident for a year at the time of application" makes it sound like you must be a qualifying IS applicant for 1 year before you can apply, and since it's 1 year before you count as IS, that made it come across as though you had to live there for 2 years before even applying (so 3 gap years)

As I understand it, this differs from the rules for IS tuition, where you must only be considered a resident at the time of matriculation. So in that case, you could move in the summer when you apply and begin working, and if you get accepted in the state where you then reside, you will get the reduced tuition. You just won't have any easier time getting in there.