How to use Texas Academic Fresh Start (AFS) as an Out-of-State resident?

[crazyotter]

Like many others here, I have been eyeing the Texas AFS program as a possible way to fix one of the great problems in my life (a 2.2 GPA in my first undergraduate degree).

If we remove grades 10 years ago, then my cumGPA jumps from 2.6 to 3.8 (due to my second undergraduate degree, earned many years later after the first). This would absolutely change my life and broaden so many career options, medical school being one of them.

I have some questions regarding the Texas AFS program that a google search didn't quite answer:

1) I am a California resident. If I move to Texas and stay there for a year, can I qualify as a Texas resident and thus qualify for Texas AFS?

2) Can my new GPA under Texas AFS be used to apply to programs/schools OUTSIDE of Texas? For example, I take my Texas AFS GPA and apply to a New York medical school.

3) Related to Question 2, but does the Texas AFS GPA only apply to Texas schools? So I can only use the Texas AFS GPA for Texas medical schools, nursing schools, law schools, etc.?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Dral]

@wysdoc Any help you can provide here?

 

[wysdoc]

@wysdoc Any help you can provide here?

I am not completely up on the rules and regs of Academic Fresh Start, sorry. I'll refer you to a better thread and make some comments on the broad strokes of it.

There is a thread here:

Texas Academic Fresh Start Megathread

Hey folks! I’ve talked to several people this year who are interested in AFS or would be great AFS candidates who feel overwhelmed by the process, so figured I would start a thread for y’all to ask questions. I went through the process this year and got in via TMDSAS (9 interviews, 2...

forums.studentdoctor.net

Both @chicandtoughness and @esob have successfully navigated this complex pathway.
There's a lot of "back & forth" about what's right and wrong in that thread but you have to read it all through.

@crazyotter, you're right it's only for Texas residents and you would need to live and work in Texas for 12 months or more, WITHOUT being a student, to establish Texas residency by the rules of TMDSAS.
Note also from that megathread that you need to "invoke" AFS even before taking your first class at a school which understands how AFS works, to begin to take advantage of AFS with your new courses.

Warning: if you "wipe out your past courses over 10 years old" using AFS, any of those which were pre-reqs for Texas med schools will have to be taken again.

I think it would be a pretty long road for an OOS person, this AFS is only recognized by TMDSAS schools, and you would probably be better served to take some courses to get your GPA above 3.0 and apply to DO schools instead.

 

[chicandtoughness]

1) I am a California resident. If I move to Texas and stay there for a year, can I qualify as a Texas resident and thus qualify for Texas AFS?

2) Can my new GPA under Texas AFS be used to apply to programs/schools OUTSIDE of Texas? For example, I take my Texas AFS GPA and apply to a New York medical school.

3) Related to Question 2, but does the Texas AFS GPA only apply to Texas schools? So I can only use the Texas AFS GPA for Texas medical schools, nursing schools, law schools, etc.?

1. Yes, but I will say during the admissions process they will ask you why you did this, and you should have a good answer prepared besides AFS.

2. No

3. Different schools and programs treat AFS differently. The way that we've described it is solely how TMDSAS has decided to implement it, so any schools within TMDSAS would treat it the same way (podiatry, dental, veterinary). Nursing and law have their own application systems and the advice we are giving you here probably does not apply the same way, so I would ask in those appropriate forums.

 

[esob]

I am not completely up on the rules and regs of Academic Fresh Start, sorry. I'll refer you to a better thread and make some comments on the broad strokes of it.

There is a thread here:

Texas Academic Fresh Start Megathread

Hey folks! I’ve talked to several people this year who are interested in AFS or would be great AFS candidates who feel overwhelmed by the process, so figured I would start a thread for y’all to ask questions. I went through the process this year and got in via TMDSAS (9 interviews, 2...

forums.studentdoctor.net

Both @chicandtoughness and @esob have successfully navigated this complex pathway.
There's a lot of "back & forth" about what's right and wrong in that thread but you have to read it all through.

@crazyotter, you're right it's only for Texas residents and you would need to live and work in Texas for 12 months or more, WITHOUT being a student, to establish Texas residency by the rules of TMDSAS.
Note also from that megathread that you need to "invoke" AFS even before taking your first class at a school which understands how AFS works, to begin to take advantage of AFS with your new courses.

Warning: if you "wipe out your past courses over 10 years old" using AFS, any of those which were pre-reqs for Texas med schools will have to be taken again.

I think it would be a pretty long road for an OOS person, this AFS is only recognized by TMDSAS schools, and you would probably be better served to take some courses to get your GPA above 3.0 and apply to DO schools instead.

It is definitely a longer path for an OOS applicant. However, @skeptastic demonstrated that it was not only possible but that it could move you from the category of "this is going to be a long shot to get into medical school" to being the bell of the ball and having your choice of multiple top schools + scholarships.

An important detail that can shorten the journey is that while it's true you have to be in Texas, there is a little more nuance to "not being a student." For example, if you buy a house in Texas or hold a full-time job (or even have a spouse who holds a full-time job), you can still go to school while establishing residency. That means that you could complete some of the pre-recs that were missing (or that would be wiped out once declaring AFS) during that first year.

 

[ahnonemoose]

3) Related to Question 2, but does the Texas AFS GPA only apply to Texas schools? So I can only use the Texas AFS GPA for Texas medical schools, nursing schools, law schools, etc.?

The TMDSAS implementation of AFS is uniquely beneficial. You won't see the same benefit outside of medical/dental/veterinary/podiatric schools. Using TMDSAS, you get AFS at some school where you completed a course before applying through TMDSAS and it carries forward to all the TMDSAS schools you apply to. Outside of TMDSAS, AFS is per school and one school's AFS doesn't carry over to another school.

See the Texas Academic Fresh Start Megathread as Wysdoc pointed out.