Don't meet residency requirements of any state school

[JAK2-STAT3]

Hello all. The state school in my current state of residence stipulates that to be a resident, one must live in the state for seven uninterrupted years. There's no way in hell I'll be staying here for six more years, and I'm planning on applying to med school in 2021. How do people deal with this?

Will I be at a huge disadvantage if I apply while not being a resident of any state (as far as state schools are concerned)? Should I move back to my home state (where you need to live for 1 year to be a resident) and live there while applying? Or will my strong ties to my home state, the state where I did undergrad, and my current state of residence be enough to garner some in-state preference?

Thanks in advance.

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[Obnoxious Dad]

You will be at a significant disadvantage if you are an applicant without a state to call "home". Go to the EXCEL analog of this table:

https://www.aamc.org/download/321442/data/factstablea1.pdf

You will see that 60% of all allopathic matriculants go to a school in their home state. If you sort by type of school (public vs. private) you will see that just under 80% of the matriculants at state schools are instate residents.

Go to this table:

https://www.aamc.org/download/321502/data/factstablea20.pdf

You will see that there are marked differences in the average MCAT scores of matriculants depending on the state in which they live. These differences are persistent and can be explained. The more state owned medical school seats in a state relative to its population and the greater the instate bias of the admissions offices of the schools in that state, the lower the average MCAT score for matriculants of that state. West Virginia is a perfect example. If a state has relatively few state owned medical school seats or none in the case of New Hampshire, matriculants from that state will have a higher average MCAT.

If you want some real fun stuff to read, check out Buchwald vs. New Mexico. Here the University of New Mexico med school discriminated against a relatively new state resident, even though she technically qualified as instate, and got away with it in spite of all kinds of claims that the practice violated the applicant's constitutional rights.

FindLaw's United States Tenth Circuit case and opinions.

FindLaw's searchable database of United States Tenth Circuit decisions since

caselaw.findlaw.com

If I were you I would scrutinize table 20. Are you from a state with a relatively low average MCAT? If you are and can get state residence there for med school admissions purposes, move back.

 

[JAK2-STAT3]

You will be at a significant disadvantage if you are an applicant without a state to call "home". Go to the EXCEL analog of this table:
https://www.aamc.org/download/321442/data/factstablea1.pdf
You will see that 60% of all allopathic matriculants go to a school in their home state. If you sort by type of school (public vs. private) you will see that just under 80% of the matriculants at state schools are instate residents.

Go to this table:
https://www.aamc.org/download/321502/data/factstablea20.pdf
You will see that there are marked differences in the average MCAT scores of matriculants depending on the state in which they live. These differences are persistent and can be explained. The more state owned medical school seats in a state relative to its population and the greater the instate bias of the admissions offices of the schools in that state, the lower the average MCAT score for matriculants of that state. West Virginia is a perfect example. If a state has relatively few state owned medical school seats or none in the case of New Hampshire, matriculants from that state will have a higher average MCAT.

If you want some real fun stuff to read, check out Buchwald vs. New Mexico. Here the University of New Mexico med school discriminated against a relatively new state resident, even though she technically qualified as instate, and got away with it in spite of all kinds of claims that the practice violated the applicant's constitutional rights.

FindLaw's United States Tenth Circuit case and opinions.

FindLaw's searchable database of United States Tenth Circuit decisions since

caselaw.findlaw.com

If I were you I would scrutinize table 20. Are you from a state with a relatively low average MCAT? If you are and can get state residence there for med school admissions purposes, move back.

Thank you very much for this excellent information. I see my home state has a mean MCAT score of about 511, though I have not taken the MCAT yet. Luckily I am unfettered enough to be able to take a job back home in a couple of years while applying.

I've read that some schools consider one's ties to the state. Can people be treated as almost in-state in the admissions process due to strong ties but not receive in-state tuition? Or does this vary so widely by school that it's impossible to say?

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

Thank you very much for this excellent information. I see my home state has a mean MCAT score of about 511, though I have not taken the MCAT yet. Luckily I am unfettered enough to be able to take a job back home in a couple of years while applying.

I've read that some schools consider one's ties to the state. Can people be treated as almost in-state in the admissions process due to strong ties but not receive in-state tuition? Or does this vary so widely by school that it's impossible to say?

It's good that your home state has a 511 average. I would bet you are from the Midwest or the South. Ain't nothing like home cooking.

I wouldn't count on strong ties without legal status. It may work and it may not. I wouldn't bug the admissions office anywhere about how they lean in this regard until you get your MCAT score back. If you get a 503, they'll say "I don't know you". If you get a 518, they might say "Welcome home, bro! How's your uncle Ned?".

 

[ObjectiveBoba]

Hello all. The state school in my current state of residence stipulates that to be a resident, one must live in the state for seven uninterrupted years. There's no way in hell I'll be staying here for six more years, and I'm planning on applying to med school in 2021. How do people deal with this?

Will I be at a huge disadvantage if I apply while not being a resident of any state (as far as state schools are concerned)? Should I move back to my home state (where you need to live for 1 year to be a resident) and live there while applying? Or will my strong ties to my home state, the state where I did undergrad, and my current state of residence be enough to garner some in-state preference?

Thanks in advance.

There's a difference between being considered a resident for medical school admissions purposes and being considered a resident for legal purposes (which are often used for tuition). Those are often different.

As long as you have an address, proof of residence, drivers ID, etc. from that state, you probably don't need to worry about putting down that state as your state of residence.

But yes, you would be at a huge disadvantage if you apply without being a resident of any state -- which on its own is almost impossible given that you must live or have lived in some state (international applicants aside).

 

[JAK2-STAT3]

It's good that your home state has a 511 average. I would bet you are from the Midwest or the South. Ain't nothing like home cooking.

I wouldn't count on strong ties without legal status. It may work and it may not. I wouldn't bug the admissions office anywhere about how they lean in this regard until you get your MCAT score back. If you get a 503, they'll say "I don't know you". If you get a 518, they might say "Welcome home, bro! How's your uncle Ned?".

Yes, I'm from MN. Your point about the MCAT makes sense too.

There's a difference between being considered a resident for medical school admissions purposes and being considered a resident for legal purposes (which are often used for tuition). Those are often different.

As long as you have an address, proof of residence, drivers ID, etc. from that state, you probably don't need to worry about putting down that state as your state of residence.

But yes, you would be at a huge disadvantage if you apply without being a resident of any state -- which on its own is almost impossible given that you must live or have lived in some state (international applicants aside).

I have a MN driver's license but an address/proof of residence for MA where I currently reside. It looks like MA has an MCAT average of nearly 514, which is another reason to move back to MN in a couple of years when I apply (I have a job I like here for now). That, and MN >>>>> MA.

 

[RangerBob]

Are you a colleague student? If so, you can still claim MN as your permanent address/state of residency.

 

[JAK2-STAT3]

Are you a colleague student? If so, you can still claim MN as your permanent address/state of residency.

No, I graduated in 2018. Based on the responses of this thread by best bet is to move back to MN (or at least out of MA) sometime in 2021 when I plan applying so that I will have been there for a full year by matriculation (hopefully). It would be nice to qualify for instate tuition somewhere, and that won't happen in MA.

 

[RangerBob]

No, I graduated in 2018. Based on the responses of this thread by best bet is to move back to MN (or at least out of MA) sometime in 2021 when I plan applying so that I will have been there for a full year by matriculation (hopefully). It would be nice to qualify for instate tuition somewhere, and that won't happen in MA.

Makes sense. I assumed you were in college because of your MN drivers license.

Just an FYI, technically you do need a MA drivers license now, but it’s unlikely to be a huge issue. However, I believe MA is a no fault state like one I lived in for a couple years, and if their policies are the same you are required to either purchase no-fault car insurance in MA or purchase a no-fault rider if you keep your out of state insurance. At least in the state I lived in, you were basically considered uninsured if you didn’t have either and you had been living in the state for over 30 days.

Sorry for the tangent-I was pretty shocked when I found out about my state (and was surprised by how many knowingly didn’t buy the proper insurance coverage).

 

[Dwight Snoot]

I don't even have an in state medical school. Probably put me at a slight disadvantage but I look at it more of a financial burden than anything. There are plenty of private schools out there that don't care about where you are from.