In-state status, when to worry?

[NotAngie]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm back with yet another question.

At what point do you start to worry about your residency status before applying to vet school?

Here is my situation. I currently live in Maryland. My first choice for a school when I apply will be VMRCVM. However I'm planning to move later this month and the house that I'm moving to is less than a mile from where I currently live, but it's in DC.

I don't plan to apply to vet school for another couple years but I wonder if it's still a bad idea to change my state of residency now (I've been a MD resident my entire life)?

My other option is to use my grandmothers address as my permanent address to maintain my Maryland residency.

(The idea of being a DC resident is also less than appealing because of that whole taxation without representation issue, but my DC resident friends tell me that at least then you get to be indignant about it. yay?)

 

[Pandacinny]

Keep MD residency, I would say. VMRCVM is very hard to get into OOS. As a MD resident, you'll have a much better chance. Also, your interview will be in College Park, not Blacksburg which is nice because it's much closer!

 

[VAgirl]

Keep MD residency, I would say. VMRCVM is very hard to get into OOS. As a MD resident, you'll have a much better chance. Also, your interview will be in College Park, not Blacksburg which is nice because it's much closer!

Agreed. DC residents are not factored into VMRCVM at all, as far as I know. It's some # of VA residents, some # of MD residents, and a very small # of OOS students.

 

[beaglehound]

Keep MD! One word to the wise though, try to get off street parking. I lived in DC 07-08 and planned on keeping my OOS plates. Where I lived (in the NE) I only had street parking. After about 3 months DC police put a notice on my car: get DC plates/registration or be ticketed and towed away. 🙁

Good luck!

 

[mbv]

In general, it is much less work to maintain legal residency than to establish residency in a new place (there can be a lot of receipt keeping, etc.). If you're pretty sure that you'd like to be a MD resident again in the future, it would make sense to just keep your current residency.

I don't think it's ever too early to think about residency if you're going to apply to vet school because of the huge financial implications of residency as well as the differences in your chances of getting in OOS vs. IS.

I've become quite the master of maintaining legal residence without actually spending much time in my state... I became a WA resident while in college across the country, and then I worked in MA for a year. Even now I go to my in-state vet school but my school address is in a neighboring state 😉 Read the residency rules for your state and be consistent with your permanent address!