Help! Should I move to another state for residency?

[trickpat317]

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Hey everyone,

This is my first post, and I would really appreciate some advice on my situation!
I already applied for this cycle, and I recently graduated from a CA university. I want to plan ahead in case I don't get accepted, and I was debating whether or not I should move to another state for increased chances. I want to apply again in June 2014, so I only have 1 semester to establish residency. I was thinking about states like FL (I don't know what their requirements for residency are) or Washington (which is linked with Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming).
What do you guys think? Thank you so much for your time!

 

[bluebillion]

I would move to Texas, at it is law that they have to accept 90% IS.

Moving just for the purpose of MD applications seems like a bit excessive to me though but to each their own

 

[Jennyfishy]

I'm not sure how that would fly with states that scrutinize your application to confirm your residency status. They might get suspicious if they notice you only recently moving for (likely) the sake of obtaining residency in the state, especially if you otherwise have no "strong ties" to the area. It doesn't seem like it'd be worth it

 

[pietachok]

Although it varies state by state, residency status typically has to be established for a whole year.

 

[ninjaman22]

Although it varies state by state, residency status typically has to be established for a whole year.

This. I moved from MD to VA during my undergrad and I had to pay one additional year of OOS tuition because they wouldn't count me a VA resident until I stayed here for a year/got their driver's license/leasing/buying house here (my parents did)/filed tax and stuff like that. I don't think you will be able to establish residency within the short amount of time you have.

 

[turayza]

One semester seems short to establish residency. Just for an example, in order to establish residency in WA for UW, you need to work full-time for a year in the state of WA.

http://www.washington.edu/students/reg/residency/domicile.html

 

[Davida]

When I applied as a Washington in-state applicant, they told me that you had to have created all your legal ties to the state six months before you apply (license, insurance, voter's registration, etc.). This link appears to confirm it:

http://www.washington.edu/students/reg/residency/medicalStudents.html

Technically, if you moved right now and switched over all your legal ties, you might be considered a resident - but they can ask for residency proof at any time, and I don't know how much latitude they have in denying residency status (probably a lot). Plus, you'd be changing residency mid-cycle - I have no idea what that would do to your current application, does anyone else?

Regardless of whether you decide to move, I don't recommend Washington as a good place to establish residency if you're doing it just for medical school. All the evidence I've seen indicates that UW looks for very specific things in applicants, even in their in-state applicants. When I crunched the numbers, only about 1 out of 3 of the individuals that make it to the interview are accepted. And if you get rejected, it's the only state school in an entire region, so you're completely SOL.

 

[WaterIsGood]

Don't. You'd be wasting your time. As mentioned above, schools will scrutinize your app. If all of your schooling, jobs, and extracurriculars occurred in another state, and you've recently moved, you most likely won't get in state preference. I went through a similar situation, although not for med school reasons.

 

[mvenus929]

I'm not sure if you know this (I can't tell from the way you phrased your question), but AK, ID, MT, and WY do not have medical schools. Therefore, establishing residency in WA only has the potential to improve your chances at one school: UW. And they're pretty selective.

If you want to move somewhere for a better chance at medical school, I recommend TX, VA, NY, or FL. But whether of not you can actually establish residency there is a whole other question.

 

[rainbow girl]

I would move to Texas, at it is law that they have to accept 90% IS.

Moving just for the purpose of MD applications seems like a bit excessive to me though but to each their own

Tx requires at least one year living in the state to establish residency. They use their own system TMDSAS which has a bunch of residency questions.

 

[rainbow girl]

Btw, lots of people think it's quite easy to get in Tx schools nut the number really tells a different story.
For the 2013 entering class, there are 1461 matriculatants/ 3608 applicants so about 40.5% acceptance (I exclude oos applicants already)
https://www.utsystem.edu/tmdsas/Final Statistics Report- EY13 - Medical.pdf
For AMCAS, in the year 2012, there are 19517 matriculants/45266 applicants, so about 43.1%
Tx chance still a bit lower, worse if you are asian