Dental Permanent residence question on application

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi!

TL;DR Should I put Montana or NJ as my permanent residence. I technically am not a permanent resident of either, because I've moved around so much over the last few years that I could never establish residency in a state. My family is in Montana (to which I go back home to), I currently go to school in NJ.

So I had a question if anyone knows how your current/permanent residence ties into your application.

My family lives in Montana, and that's where I resided prior to enrolling into school in New Jersey. I currently don't hold residency in either state though because I have not lived in either state the required time limit to claim myself as a resident. But I plan on staying where ever is advantageous for me to get into dental school. I am applying broadly so I have a list of school ranging from east to west coast and including the midwest so i will be an OOS applicant everywhere.

NJ only has 1 dental school, but I've heard that schools favor applicants from neighbouring states. So would this mean schools on the east coast/northeast region prefer NJ residents?
Montana does not have a dental school, but following the same logic as what I previously stated, would neighbouring states in the northwest/west coast prefer applicants from nearby?

I was told that proving residency for tuition purposes doesn't come into play until matriculation - which in my case doesn't even matter since I won't be trying to prove myself as in-state for tuition purposes anywhere...

All my dental experience/volunteering is from Montana and catered to underrepresented areas. All my education is on the east coast which is in suburban/urban cities.

Yes, there are some rules of thumb regarding residency but each situation is dictated by each state where your school will be located. MY rule of thumb is a bit more simple: who pays your taxes and what state tax forms are you filing (either individual or claimed as a dependent)?

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[lord999]

So my parents claim me as a dependent, and they reside in Montana. But I've gone through a whole back and forth with the Montana Board of Ed about this (speaking of the WICHE PSEP program) and it isn't enough to justify me as a permanent resident because I haven't been in the state for the allotted period of time without extended leave of absence (which is necessary for me since I'm a student in another state, paying OOS tuition in NJ btw).

So I feel as though when it comes to applying to dental school, I cannot claim the benefits of being a resident in any state due to all the rules. It's as if I'm homeless...

So since I cannot claim IS in any state... What's more beneficial for me to put, NJ or Montana? My school list is quite broad. Would a (private) school on the east coast prefer an applicant from NJ or Montana, and also would a (private) school on the west coast prefer an applicant from Montana or NJ? I say private, because majority of the schools on my list are private schools.

Thanks in advance!

Ah, I'm not sure you're getting good advice from MT as I am quite aware of how WICHE works for admissions and the certifying offices (and it does not require full state residence). The reason why is that for federal purposes, state residency is actually government by domicile, and you can't end up stateless. Unless there is something else going on where you domiciled in NJ for tax reasons, you would still be an MT resident. Now, it is possible that you have to pay OOS to NJ while still being domiciled there. But one of the two states has to be your residence state at the end, you cannot be stateless. In somewhat complicated cases, it can derive from where you graduated from high school or where you spent your last 12 consecutive months.

That said, for private schools, does not usually enter into the matter, so you should be safe. But for WICHE, you might want to fight for that if you graduated high school from there and were domiciled prior to university.

 

[lord999]

Taken straight from the 'MONTANA BOARD OF REGENTS OF HIGHER EDUCATION' which is what they use to establish if a student/applicant will be approved as a Montana resident for purpose of applying to the WICHE programs. As told to me, when speaking to the state certifying officer.^


G. Students applying for certification as Montana residents for purposes of application to professional student exchange programs, including but not limited to WICHE, WWAMI, Minnesota Dental or WIMU, must meet the residency standards as set forth in subsections C-F for a minimum 24-month continuous period of domicile prior to the program certification deadline in order to be considered for in-state status. Students who can demonstrate previous Montana residency under this policy but who later abandoned residency may regain residency under this subsection following completion of a 12- month continuous period of domicile as provided in subsections C-F. Students obtaining in-state status under subsection I below are not eligible for these professional student exchange programs.

I. 1. Notwithstanding the residency requirement, the following classes of persons are eligible for in-state status: (a) Members of the armed forces of the United States assigned to active duty in Montana, their spouses, and their dependent children during the member's tour of duty in Montana; (b) An individual domiciled in Montana and employed full-time in a permanent job in Montana and the spouse and dependent children of such an individual provided the primary purpose of the person seeking in-state status for coming to Montana was not the education of the children, the spouse, or the employed individual; (c) Any graduate of a Montana high school accredited

I have not had a 24 month continuous period of domicile in Montana because there was nothing for me to do in Montana when my goal is to become a dentist. I graduated high school from a different state, and my family moved to Montana when I was in the middle of undergrad so I stayed in the previous state to finish school. Now I am in NJ for graduate school, because post graduation from undergrad there was nothing for me to do in Montana for 2 years to sit around and establish residency to be accepted by WICHE.

Sorry if I come off strong, but now that I have established the fact that I cannot gain advantage of the WICHE program, can you advise me as to which state is advantageous for me to put on my application?

No, not at all. I've actually had to deal with WICHE appeals like yours as one of the schools that I have an adcom interviewer relationship with will only admit in-state or WICHE for my program, but if you did not graduate high school within MT, then no, you really do not have educational domicile as you did not establish domicile prior to you entering undergraduate studies. We actually do have people from MT who graduated from an MT high school, but went out of state like you for school, but usually, MT will certify that even with an absence for educational reasons (as long as domicile doesn't occur elsewhere which then is quite messy).

However, there is a likelihood that your actual domicile for education happens to still be the state where you graduated high school due to you not being able to claim MT as that state. Again, you can't end up stateless, one state actually has to give the benefit of the in-state procedure. That said, if you are going into private school, this is a moot point.

 

[lord999]

So which state should I put down, my address in NJ where I reside or my address in Montana where I reside? Seeking advisement.
We've established that I will not be a WICHE applicant, so does it serve me any purpose putting down Montana as my permanent residence?
Also to refresh your memory of schools that participate in the WICHE program regarding dentistry, I believe half of them are private. So being a Montana resident would have helped me a great deal in that case but seeing as that is not the case, does listing Montana do anything for me now? Or am I better off listing NJ?

I'd probably still use MT for diversity purposes, but I think this is going to be a wash.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Whichever one you pick, make it a point that you did move and the benefit of becoming familiar with more than just one "culture" as noted by state residency. When I viewed applications (granted it was a private school), I often did take note of journey traveled and time spent at one place. Financial aid discussions are another area to really bring it up.