Moving to establish residency?

[Marsala]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Just wondering how many, if any, have moved to establish residency because they either did not have a state school or had no chance in hell at their state school? If you made the move, were you accepted at your 'new' ISS? Any thoughts/advice about this would be appreciated.

 

[Evie1923]

Just wondering how many, if any, have moved to establish residency because they either did not have a state school or had no chance in hell at their state school? If you made the move, were you accepted at your 'new' ISS? Any thoughts/advice about this would be appreciated.

I moved in September 2009 to Columbus, OH to established residency for my Autumn 2011 application to OSU's CVM. I am originally from Pennsylvania so I had an IS school (UPenn) and at the time I was actually living in Philadelphia. During my senior year of undergrad (3 years ago), I applied to UPenn (my IS at the time), Tufts, OSU and VMRCVM. I wanted to stay on the East Coast and I even told myself that Ohio was almost a little too far west for me but I'd apply anyway. I only received an interview at OSU. For UPenn, I was being considered for their second round of interviews, if those accepted from the first round declined. For the final two schools, I wasn't even close to getting an interview.

After I freaked out and had my "oh ****, what am I going to do with the rest of my life" moment, I decided that I wanted to reapply to vet school in the future. I took the exit interviews from all four schools, which was one of the hardest things I've ever done because the admissions representatives did not hold back. My GRE and GPA were great but UPenn and OSU wanted me to get some graduate school under my belt to have a better understanding of the profession and to receive more diverse animal/vet experiences.


After the initial disappointment worse off, I looked at my options and decided to either try to get into UPenn or OSU for vet school:

I looked at a graduate program at Drexel (in Philadelphia) that offered a 1-year intensive course in Veterinary Medical Sciences. I would be taking classes that 1st-years at UPenn take. I also had a job at a veterinary clinic in Philadelphia that offered to give me more hours as well as the opportunity to shadow their vet who visited a small zoo outside Columbus every week. I was also planning on volunteering at UPenn's Small Animal Hospital weekly. I already had residency in Pennsylvania and if my reapplication to UPenn didn't work out I could turn the 1-year VMS certificate into a Master's degree in Animal Laboratory Science.

For Ohio, shortly after being declined from the veterinary college, I received an email about a new program in veterinary public health that the director said I would be perfect for. It was a Master's of Public Health degree and would take 1-2 years to complete but could be coupled with a DVM and a high percentage of students gain admission to the veterinary college. I did not have residency in Ohio so I would have to pay the high OOS rates for the first year (but they are much lower than the 1st year of vet school would be!) and I didn't know a single soul in the state or have job or animal/experience connections.

For me, I thought the smart thing to do was to go to Drexel because I wouldn't have to move far, I had residency and I knew people. At the last minute (a week before classes started), I finally gave in to this nagging feeling that I was missing out on something by declining OSU. I withdrew from Drexel, stopped looking for apartments in Philadelphia and moved back home to live with my mother for a year. I contacted the director of the OSU MPH program, reapplied and was admitted. For that year off, I worked full-time at my high school job (awful!) but I saved enough money to supplement my living expenses in Ohio for the next year. After a year in Ohio, I applied for residency, received it and was admitted to their College of Veterinary Medicine's c/o 2015!

My advice is never let the daunting task of getting residency stop you from going to the school you think you'll be most comfortable in. I am 100% sure that I made the right decision deciding to pursue OSU. While UPenn is an excellent school and Philly is home to me, I love this MPH program and combining it with my DVM has dramtically shifted the direction of my career. However, if you do decide to try to get residency in a new state for school, I would advise carefully reading all of their rules and policies on what forms of funding are considered acceptable and what things (drivers license, license plates, voter registration) you need to change over. OSU's rules state that you must show that you are not trying to live in Ohio just to receive in-state funding. You must show that you really want to be an Ohio citizen. (Um, no one would go through all that crap unless it was to get a huge discount on tuition, or at least I wouldn't have...)

Also, I almost lost my chance at residency because one of my savings accounts could have been considered ineligible but I met with a residency counselor at OSU several months before the due date and was able to produce further documentation in time. Make sure you take advantage of the school's residency counselors. Meet with them and have them answer any questions you have or to clarify things.

 

[Marsala]

Thanks for the response. You gave a lot of good advice. I still have 4 schools to hear from this cycle, but I am trying to think ahead because this is my 3rd try. I already have my MS and am in a PhD program. I'm done with my coursework so I can do my research in absentia. It's getting to be really disheartening that my application continues to be passed on, not even a shot at an interview. I am looking at the school that I was closest on so far as an OOSer, and hoping that by becoming a resident that I would have a better chance.

 

[Evie1923]

It's getting to be really disheartening that my application continues to be passed on, not even a shot at an interview. I am looking at the school that I was closest on so far as an OOSer, and hoping that by becoming a resident that I would have a better chance.

Have you received exit interviews from the school that have passed on you? They can be extremely helpful in letting you know what they would like you to work on for the next application cycle.

And as an OOS, gaining residency can give you a better chance but that depends on the school. UPenn is now offering more spots to OOSers and OSU is increasing its class size to admit more OOSers. However in my case, by becoming a resident of Ohio I was competing for 100 spots this year as opposed to only 50-60 if I was OSS, so it does help.

 

[Marsala]

I have received the application reviews, and it basically boils down to one thing: my cumulative GPA, which unfortunately would require years of 18-hour semesters to boost because I have so many credit hours. I had a poor start in college at 18 (I'm 36 now). After 2 years I left, worked a bit, returned to school. After I earned my first bachelors (dean's list & semester honors all the way) I started on my pre-reqs as a post-bacc, which was a huge mistake, as many have noted, because the loan money is gone. So I was working 70 hours a week and trying to do school. My grades suffered. I finished a second bachelors, and just finished my MS (doing great all the way) and am working on my PhD. But the positive trend is overlooked, and my grades from when I was 18 are held over my head like felony charges. My cum GPA isn't horrific: it's anywhere between 2.8 and 3.16, depending on who is doing the calculations.

I have been diversifying my experience. I am retaking classes that I got Cs in (not a lot) and classes that are expiring. I volunteer. I teach. I tutor and mentor. I publish. I do international research. It's not enough.

Sooooo...I was thinking LSU because they don't look at cum GPA, and I was within 0.05 GPA points of being in the top 150 OOS. I thought if I were IS, they would see the shiny parts of my application, and at least want to interview me😀.

 

[Evie1923]

I have been diversifying my experience. I am retaking classes that I got Cs in (not a lot) and classes that are expiring. I volunteer. I teach. I tutor and mentor. I publish. I do international research. It's not enough.

Sooooo...I was thinking LSU because they don't look at cum GPA, and I was within 0.05 GPA points of being in the top 150 OOS. I thought if I were IS, they would see the shiny parts of my application, and at least want to interview me😀.

I can understand that. I know that some schools are trying to move away from the general GPA. OSU emphasized the science GPA this year instead of the overall as indicative of doing well in vet school. They also like to see if a person's grades have increased since their freshman year. Several IS students who were accepted this year and last year had GPAs within the range you mentioned. I agree, that by becoming IS, you can pass the GPA hurdle and they can see the rest of your application.

 

[parietal]

Sooooo...I was thinking LSU because they don't look at cum GPA, and I was within 0.05 GPA points of being in the top 150 OOS. I thought if I were IS, they would see the shiny parts of my application, and at least want to interview me😀.

FYI, Minnesota also doesn't look at cumulative GPA, just last 45 and prereqs.

 

[Jochebed]

gone

 

[Marsala]

Thanks for the suggestion, parietal, Minnesota is on my list. They do have a far larger applicant pool than LSU, though. I'm weighing that factor.

Jochebed, thanks for the input. I definitely don't want to move somewhere and start digging a financial hole that is impossible to climb out of.

 

[mhlaur]

If your main problem is getting accepted and the money matters less, you should try AVC in eastern Canada. They only look at 20 courses and not cumulative GPA. They take 18 internationals per year. We have students from as far as Arizona and California. The catch is that tuition is $51K per year. You can also re-take science pre-reqs that are more than 6y old to improve your grades. We have many non-trads too. I'm 38.
http://www.upei.ca/avc/dvm/application

I have received the application reviews, and it basically boils down to one thing: my cumulative GPA, which unfortunately would require years of 18-hour semesters to boost because I have so many credit hours. I had a poor start in college at 18 (I'm 36 now). After 2 years I left, worked a bit, returned to school. After I earned my first bachelors (dean's list & semester honors all the way) I started on my pre-reqs as a post-bacc, which was a huge mistake, as many have noted, because the loan money is gone. So I was working 70 hours a week and trying to do school. My grades suffered. I finished a second bachelors, and just finished my MS (doing great all the way) and am working on my PhD. But the positive trend is overlooked, and my grades from when I was 18 are held over my head like felony charges. My cum GPA isn't horrific: it's anywhere between 2.8 and 3.16, depending on who is doing the calculations.

I have been diversifying my experience. I am retaking classes that I got Cs in (not a lot) and classes that are expiring. I volunteer. I teach. I tutor and mentor. I publish. I do international research. It's not enough.

Sooooo...I was thinking LSU because they don't look at cum GPA, and I was within 0.05 GPA points of being in the top 150 OOS. I thought if I were IS, they would see the shiny parts of my application, and at least want to interview me😀.