Mississippi Residency help

[BuffPremed]

Hey SDN members, I will try to make this as short as possible.

I am a TN resident and I go to a public university in MS. I really want to go to UMMC (fantastic program) and will hopefully matriculate in 2016 (class of 2020 woohoo!) I lived on campus for 2 years with a PO box. When I toured UMMC, they told me that a PO box was not eligible for establishing residency (already knew that) and despite having "ties" to MS via going to college, state law would prevent me from attending the Medical School. I am living in an apartment now in MS taking classes and working in a hospital scribing. I won't be able to declare residency until next August, which is late (for me) to send in the primary application.

Is there a way to declare residency in June or something or show that I pay apartment bills in MS so I can send in the primary in June so that I'm not late? I really don't want to be rejected to a medical school that I am eligible for just for formalities. But I also don't want to wait until August just to start applying to medical schools.

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[kaprincess247]

I'm starting at UMMC this week! I had to prove that I was a resident since I had officially been a living in the state for 1 yr and a couple of months when I applied summer of 2013. I had to send in my MS driver's license, a picture of my MS license plate, a bank statement showing that I banked in MS, a rent agreement establishing that I lived in MS, and my 2013 MS state and federal taxes. I may have also submitted my employment contract with my school district... I don't really remember.

You should be able to pull up the residency application online, see what you would need to prove residency. If you have all that, I would think you would be fine. I submitted my application in June, received the residency application in July and had a month (I think...) to return it to UMMC.

And the admissions people are wonderfully nice on the phone and e-mail! I'm sure they would be willing to answer your residency questions!

Good luck!

 

[ndafife]

Not familiar with how MS does it... But a big thing is living in a state does not mean you are a resident. And just about everywhere, you need 1 year of full residency to be considered a resident for application/tuition purposes. There is no real way to speed that up.

If you want to help yourself out a bit, I suggest you register to vote in MS, vote this upcoming year in MS, register a car in MS, get a MS driver's license, pay taxes in MS. That is going to go a lot further than merely paying an apartment bill, especially if you receive financial support from your parents in TN/use the TN address as your primary address and do everything I listed in TN.

 

[BuffPremed]

I'm starting at UMMC this week! I had to prove that I was a resident since I had officially been a living in the state for 1 yr and a couple of months when I applied summer of 2013. I had to send in my MS driver's license, a picture of my MS license plate, a bank statement showing that I banked in MS, a rent agreement establishing that I lived in MS, and my 2013 MS state and federal taxes. I may have also submitted my employment contract with my school district... I don't really remember.

You should be able to pull up the residency application online, see what you would need to prove residency. If you have all that, I would think you would be fine. I submitted my application in June, received the residency application in July and had a month (I think...) to return it to UMMC.

And the admissions people are wonderfully nice on the phone and e-mail! I'm sure they would be willing to answer your residency questions!

Good luck!

Could I get in touch with them in June/July and tell them about my situation about being 1-2 months from being eligible to have residency (yes I know I have to do other things than just live there for a year). Will they be kind or will I just have to stick it out?

 

[kaprincess247]

http://www.umc.edu/uploadedFiles/UM...s/Medicine/Admissions/ReviewResidencyForm.pdf

I would look at this, see what you can and can't fill out and then have 1 or 2 very specific questions to ask them. For example, I didn't register to vote when I moved, so I didn't have any of that documentation. June/July 2015 of your application cycle? Correct? I would say even call in May 2015 before you submit AMCAS so if it's a no go you don't waste the $$.

Also, if you are a dependent of your parents you might not be able to establish residency in another state. I'm not sure how that works. I kept my MA residency until I moved to MS, at which point I had graduated and was completely independent from my family.

 

[BuffPremed]

http://www.umc.edu/uploadedFiles/UM...s/Medicine/Admissions/ReviewResidencyForm.pdf

I would look at this, see what you can and can't fill out and then have 1 or 2 very specific questions to ask them. For example, I didn't register to vote when I moved, so I didn't have any of that documentation. June/July 2015 of your application cycle? Correct? I would say even call in May 2015 before you submit AMCAS so if it's a no go you don't waste the $$.

Also, if you are a dependent of your parents you might not be able to establish residency in another state. I'm not sure how that works. I kept my MA residency until I moved to MS, at which point I had graduated and was completely independent from my family.

Yes, for the 2015/2016 cycle. Thank you for this .pdf very much appreciated! If I can't end up getting residency by then, I will apply to UTHSC (good school, but I hate how it isn't a unified campus, rather it's just a bunch of graduate buildings in the center of Memphis...)

 

[BuffPremed]

http://www.umc.edu/uploadedFiles/UM...s/Medicine/Admissions/ReviewResidencyForm.pdf

I would look at this, see what you can and can't fill out and then have 1 or 2 very specific questions to ask them. For example, I didn't register to vote when I moved, so I didn't have any of that documentation. June/July 2015 of your application cycle? Correct? I would say even call in May 2015 before you submit AMCAS so if it's a no go you don't waste the $$.

Also, if you are a dependent of your parents you might not be able to establish residency in another state. I'm not sure how that works. I kept my MA residency until I moved to MS, at which point I had graduated and was completely independent from my family.

Also, did you wait a full 12 months before signing and sending the form? In May, I will have had a perm address for 9 months.

 

[kaprincess247]

Also, http://www.umc.edu/Education/School...ons/Admission_Standards_and_Legal_Policy.aspx

Should have put this up with the residency link! Yeah, I had 12 months. I moved to MS June 1st of 2012, so by June 2013 I had been there a year. I was really lucky. It hadn't been my intention to apply, then I fell in love with MS and with the med school.

 

[BuffPremed]

Also, http://www.umc.edu/Education/School...ons/Admission_Standards_and_Legal_Policy.aspx

Should have put this up with the residency link! Yeah, I had 12 months. I moved to MS June 1st of 2012, so by June 2013 I had been there a year. I was really lucky. It hadn't been my intention to apply, then I fell in love with MS and with the med school.

Should have never taken the job on campus... bah I'm probably going to have to wait until August or stick with UTHSC. I do have relatives living in MS. Could I do something with that? Or is that pointless?

 

[ndafife]

Should have never taken the job on campus... bah I'm probably going to have to wait until August or stick with UTHSC. I do have relatives living in MS. Could I do something with that? Or is that pointless?

You could legally make one of those relatives your legal guardian, but you would still need 12 months of residency with them as your guardian where they claim you as opposed to your parents in TN

Unless you turn 21 really soon or are already 21 (it says 12 months of residency after turning 21) and have parents willing to not claim you as a dependent in TN, I would forget it.

However, if you can indeed will have legal residency by next August, I would call them in May or June and state your case. Show that you have 9 months of residency among other things (Driver's license, voting registration, voting record, tax record, etc...) and hopefully they would choose to look at your application as if you were a resident in June. If not, August really isnt that late, especially if you are verified and everything

 

[BuffPremed]

Unless you turn 21 really soon or are already 21 (it says 12 months of residency after turning 21) and have parents willing to not claim you as a dependent in TN, I would forget it.)

Are you sure about this? I didn't see that anywhere. I understood that you had to live in MS for 12 months and be 21 years of age. If what you said is true, then I would need to live in MS for a gap year since I turn 21 next Feb. I may need to do that (because my GPA is in recovery mode, but is however competitive for UMMC). If I don't take a gap year, then I will just stay as a TN state resident and attempt TN schools (except Vandy) and apply elsewhere. UTHSC has a good program with great hospitals in the downtown area, which is a plus.

 

[ndafife]

Here is the direct quote from the page that @kaprincess247 provided in the section about people who need a change of residency: "Provided, however, that any person who has attained 21 years of age and has thereafter actually established residency and resided within Mississippi for 12 consecutive months after attaining 21 years of age upon sworn affidavit and other representation, may petition the particular institution for a change in residency classification for the purposes of fees and tuition assessment."

I suggest you read through that page. You're going to get a lot more by actually reading the information provided by UMMC on residency than your assumptions... But given the fact that you won't be 21 until February, you won't be able to apply next cycle