Residential consideration?

[OrdinaryDO]

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Good afternoon! I have a very direct question, but I feel like it would be necessary to elaborate a little on the situation of the matter before I jump right to the real reason I am here. If you would like to skip the back story and jump straight to my question, then just skip to the last paragraph! (Thank you in advance).

I am a native Oklahoma resident, born and raised in the Tulsa region. I lived the first 21 years in Oklahoma before moving to Arkansas to establish residency for school. My reason is as follows: I have always been a kind-hearted fellow, I look after my friends and I help the helpless when the opportunity presents itself. I have been on my own since the age of 14 (with my dad's financial assistance; that is a story for another day) and completely independent since the age of 18. I moved out of my home town and into Tulsa (30-40 minutes south) so I could commute to work and save the wear and tear on my 1978 Ford pick-up. I was living with my sister in an apartment when out of the blue she received a notice stating that she has 10 days to have her guest (ME) leave the premises permanently, or the lease to her apartment would be voided. Needless to say she had failed to turn in a secondary application for me to stay with her after she had received the warning a total of 3 times. Anyhow, the decision was obvious, either I left or we both had to leave and what was the point in both of us suffering? Needless to say, with no support and no real financial stability ( I did work full time and attended college full time) I had no place to stay. I would sleep in my car some nights and shower at a local gym, other nights I would couch hop wherever I could find a place. Blah blah blah, onward to the real issue. I ended up getting a sweet deal from a family member who owned a garage apartment on the north side of Tulsa (which is equivalent to the "stay the hell away from here" part of Tulsa). After I moved in and a few months went by I encountered a unique situation; I had a friend, my best friend from childhood, whom had gotten himself into some heavy drug business. His excuse was that he had no real way to get a job due to having no transportation and living way out in the boonies. I offered him a chance to get out of that life-style and move in with me. I lived in the heart of Tulsa, entry-level jobs are within walking distance from my house and he was more than willing to do that. I feel like this is being strung out much more than I intended so I am going to summarize the rest. He moved in, got a job and bought a low-costing car. He trashed my house to the point that I wanted to work more than I wanted to be home. To top it all off he was secretly selling drugs in my house...I decided right then an there that this was not the lifestyle I wanted to live. I talked with a Navy recruiter and went to MEPS for the military physical examination. I completed everything, all I had left was to sign my contract and swear in. My brother called me near the end of the day while I was waiting for them to write up my contract and he steadily convinced me that the military was not what I thought it was cut out to be. Keep in mind my brother is a recently discharged Army SF Sergeant. Not an hour later the Naval officer came up to me and told me their computers had crashed and they would need me to come back tomorrow..well, that gave me a second chance to re-think my options. My brother had offered me a place to stay rent-free in Fayetteville, Arkansas while I found a job and got back on my feet. 8 months after I moved to Arkansas I had my own place, a full time job, and I am still attending the University of Arkansas as a Biology Major. Finally, THE QUESTION!


I spent 21 years of my life in Oklahoma, I even attended two years of college there. I have been an Arkansas resident for a year now and I am currently attending the University of Arkansas. If things go the way I want them to, then I will be applying to D.O. schools next year. My dream school is and always has been OSU. Do I still have a shot at OSU-COM from a residential standpoint? Is this only looked at as a "strong tie to the University" or am I considered "In-State"?

For those of you who are wondering:

cGPA 3.35
sGPA (Never calculated, but would guess the range to be 3.1-3.3)
No MCAT, waiting for the 2015.


Sorry for the long thread my SDN fellows!

Also, no time to revise this lengthy post, sorry for any errors or "southern touches" on the paragraph.

 

[polylux]

I don't actually think it will matter too much because you were born/raised in Oklahoma and only left for undergrad, which is as "in state" as it gets. But I'm familiar with OSU's policies of residency.

When you fill out the AACOMAS, it will ask you for your permanent address, and this is where your residency is going to be determined from. Generally for students, their school address does not need to be their permanent address, as they are recognized as temporary. For example, I graduated high school in MA, went to 4 years of undergrad in NY. During those 4 years, my permanent address and thus my residency was in MA, and my temporary address was in NY. So normally I would just say, put an Oklahoma address as your permanent address (maybe you're brothers?) and boom, you're good to go.

That said, since you've stated you're on your own, I'm not sure if it will work for you? At this point, did you ever apply for residency in Arkansas? Is your driver's license from Arkansas or Oklahoma? If it's Oklahoma, I think you're fine.

At the end of the day, the best answer is gonna come from OSU. So pick up the phone and call them. Don't give them all the details, they're totally unnecessary. Just say, "I left Oklahoma for undergrad and since I'm independent, have no permanent address in Oklahoma, would I still be considered in-state for the application?"

 

[OrdinaryDO]

Thank you for the reply, I will clarify a few things that you have brought to my attention:

I have several addresses in the state of Oklahoma that I could use as a permanent address. All of my family, direct and indirect, live in Oklahoma with the exception of my brother. So that is an option if necessary. Secondly, I do have an Arkansas driver's license and I am considered "in-state" by the University (which is 6 months as an established resident in Arkansas, I believe) BUT, I have never filled out any official paper work, if it even exists, to become a bonafide Arkansas resident. The only thing I had to do was mark the box on my undergrad application that said "Have you lived in the state of Arkansas for at least 6 months." I have an Arkansas drivers license and voter registration card, that is about all I have switched over. My license plate on my car is still Oklahoma and I live in an apartment here in Arkansas which could be argued as being a "temporary" residential facility. I am not trying to cheat any system, so to say, I just want to know if my options are still available and if so, what else may this imply. Once again, thank-you for responding, I will be calling OSU to verify some of the situations I have mentioned here.

 

[DoctorKrieger]

If you're legally a resident of Arkansas now, you won't be considered in-state for tuition purposes. You have strong regional ties so you'd probably essentially be considered in-state for admissions. If possible, establish legal residency as non-full time student for a year prior to matriculation because OOS tuition is double in-state. If you're only in Arkansas for school purposes and legally an OK resident, you're good to go.

 

[godizkool]

Forth smith, Arkansas is getting a new DO program in 2016. That's something to consider