Hi, guys! I'm back with another question! I wasn't sure where to post this one, but I decided on posting it here because you have all been really helpful before and psychiatry is what I'm the most interested in. Anyway, I am a resident of Idaho state. I am currently working on my undergrad degree here. There are no medical schools in Idaho so I will have to apply out-of-state, if I go to an out of state med school I will still be an Idaho resident, correct? If I complete a residency in another state will I still be an Idaho resident? Where will I end up actually practicing? what determines this? I'm asking because I really don't like Idaho... I want to eventually move back to Salt Lake City or Seattle, or really anywhere that is not Idaho... How do I go about switching my state residency so I can practice in another state? This probably seems like a stupid question, but I'm curious. Thanks a lot!
How do Residencies and your state of residence work?
- Thread starter tespie
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You can change your state of residency any time you want to any state you want. All you have to do is move there. I think you're confusing paying out-of-state (OOS) tuition with state of residence. Once you go to med school OOS you'll be paying OOS tuition but you can become a resident of that state any time you wish. I don't think it's required though if you're a student, probably depends on the state.
Once you're in residency you'll need to change your state of residence to whatever state you're living in... not necessarily the one where you work. For example if you do residency at the University of Kansas which is in Kansas City, KS but you can live on the Missouri side. If you do this you'd need to change your state of residence to Missouri (usually just involves changing your dirvers license, car registration, and start paying state taxes). States give you a time limit to change residence once you move to them (Texas is 90 days) after which they'll begin assessing fines.
My understanding about practicing in a state is that you'd just need to get a medical license in the state you want to practice in... now if you want to start a private practice you'd need various other business licenses and whatnot.
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Though Idaho does not have a medical school, several of the surrounding states have seats set aside for Idaho residents (Washington, Nevada, Utah) and they accept them as if they were residents paying in-state tuition. You can do residency wherever you want. Well, maybe not wherever you want, but you won't have to go anywhere you don't want to.
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State of residency matters a lot for medical school but is almost never a factor in residency selection (the only time it might matter is if the people at the residency just happen to like you a little more because you have hometown roots there, but in most cases that won't be make or break). This is because some public med schools receive money from the state they're in and have to accept a certain number of state residents in return. It's not an issue with residencies.
There is no reason why you can't apply to the University of Utah or University of Washington psych programs. 🙂
There is no reason why you can't apply to the University of Utah or University of Washington psych programs. 🙂
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That said, I've heard from a couple of program directors that their residencies specifically look for folks with some sort of ties to the area. I don't know if it was a reflection of the fact that these PDs were from public university psych residency programs, but they had an interest in knowing that the odds were good you'd be settling down locally.
That said, I'm sure they'd prefer a killer applicant from elsewhere than a local with a ho-hum app.
