Should I Move States to Improve My Chances?

[armynontrad]

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Hi All,

Recently I become U.S. citizen, a non traditional applicant, 34yrs old.

My background: a foreign bachelor degree, U.S. Master degree in Computer Sciences, pre med prerequisites(GPA:3.98) taken from a NY state school; Volunteered at Emergency Department for more than 150 hours; Shadowed Emergency Attending for 50 hours. etc

And I work full-time as programmer for a couple of years in NYS, while serve in U.S. Army Reserve.

But I am thinking if it's a good idea for me to move to in state favorable states like Mississippi, Tennessee or even Texas while still maintain my NYS job to gain in state resident and boost my chance of getting into state medical school. Because state schools like Texas Medical schools favor more in-state applicants as well as someone who has a military background. Is such a move worth it?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[armynontrad]

pump my post...

 

[Philly145]

You seem like a pretty desirable applicant on paper to begin with (solid GPA, military service, etc), so I'm not sure that moving just for a certain state residency is necessary?

 

[armynontrad]

You seem like a pretty desirable applicant on paper to begin with (solid GPA, military service, etc), so I'm not sure that moving just for a certain state residency is necessary?

I just don't want to apply another cycle given how competitive to get an offer.

 

[Philly145]

Have you researched how long it takes to get in-state residency at the states you're looking at? I think sometimes it can take a few years?

 

[wolfvgang22]

Hi All,

Recently I become U.S. citizen, a non traditional applicant, 34yrs old.

My background: a foreign bachelor degree, U.S. Master degree in Computer Sciences, pre med prerequisites(GPA:3.98) taken from a NY state school; Volunteered at Emergency Department for more than 150 hours; Shadowed Emergency Attending for 50 hours. etc

And I work full-time as programmer for a couple of years in NYS, while serve in U.S. Army Reserve.

But I am thinking if it's a good idea for me to move to in state favorable states like Mississippi, Tennessee or even Texas while still maintain my NYS job to gain in state resident and boost my chance of getting into state medical school. Because state schools like Texas Medical schools favor more in-state applicants as well as someone who has a military background. Is such a move worth it?

Any advice would be appreciated.

It isn't a bad idea! As a non-traditional that went overseas, if I had to do it again I'd move to Kansas and apply.
Texas is still a competitive state with a large population including nearby states that apply to Texas schools.

 

[Faha]

Someone who has recently moved to a state may not be seen as the same as an applicant who has lived there for their entire life. Also, for DO schools only a few have an instate preference.

 

[armynontrad]

Have you researched how long it takes to get in-state residency at the states you're looking at? I think sometimes it can take a few years?

This is the response from Mississippi Admission office.

"As I previously mentioned, you do have to be a legal resident of Mississippi in order to be eligible to apply to our School of Medicine. Our Admissions Standards and Legal Policy (https://www.umc.edu/som/Departments%20and%20Offices/SOM%20Administrative%20Offices/SOM%20Admissions/Admissions%20Criteria/Admissions%20Standards%20and%20Legal%20Policy.html ) states that in order to be considered a Mississippi resident, you must have lived in the state of Mississippi for at least 12 consecutive months (1 year) immediately preceding admission. This does not necessarily mean 12 consecutive months before applying; just as long as you will have lived in the state at least 12 consecutive months prior to the start of the program, which begins every August. If you are interested in applying for the class entering in August 2021, you would need to be living in Mississippi by August 2020 to be eligible. If you are interested in applying for the class entering in August 2022, you would need to be living in Mississippi by at least August 2021 to be eligible. In addition to physically residing in the state, you must also be able to provide documentation showing that you have established residency here. Examples of such documentation would be copies of your Mississippi driver's license, car registration (car tag/car tag receipt), voter registration card if you are a registered voter, and proof of a permanent in-state domicile (apartment rental lease, proof of mortgage/deed, etc.) "

 

[wolfvgang22]

If you are interested, here, I've written about geographic arbitrage for nontraditional students and how it helped me get into school.

That's a nice website, good insights. It lines up with my experiences.

 

[armynontrad]

I am still not sure how competitive in NYS, even though it has plenty of medical schools.

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

You seem like you would be a great applicant! If you'd like to stay in NY, you certainly could with your stats (what is your MCAT?). If it's in the 509-515 range, I'd expect you to get interviews at Albany, CUNY, SUNY, Hofstra, Mt. Sinai, Einstein, etc. 515+ and you could field interests from Columbia, Cornell, and NYU. Not to mention you could apply to other great private schools along the eastern seaboard such as Yale, Brown, Harvard, and other good privates like Tufts, Boston, etc.

I'd advise you against coming to Texas. Establishing residency here typically means you have to be employed here, not working remotely for an OOS employer. TX is highly competitive enough as is with the amount of qualified in-state applicants we have, and the massive financial incentive for us to attend school here in Texas. The TX residents that go OOS for school are either attending the Harvards or Stanfords, or are forced to go an OOS private because they didn't match into a seat here (furthermore, applying OOS as a TX resident can be difficult because adcoms tend to think if we are qualified enough to attend their school, we'll likely garner at least 1 spot at a TX school and will opt to stay in Texas due to the cheaper COA). Not only are the schools great, but the COA can't be beat anywhere else in the country (besides Kaiser and NYULI where tuition is free).

There is other great advice posted here about leveraging geographic arbitrage, however as aforementioned, you should have no problem garnering multiple acceptances applying from NY.

edit: assuming you have a stellar MCAT, you could have a great shot at some top tier schools across the country, regardless of your state of residence. Because of this, I'd really advise against you moving.

 

[armynontrad]

You seem like you would be a great applicant! If you'd like to stay in NY, you certainly could with your stats (what is your MCAT?). If it's in the 509-515 range, I'd expect you to get interviews at Albany, CUNY, SUNY, Hofstra, Mt. Sinai, Einstein, etc. 515+ and you could field interests from Columbia, Cornell, and NYU. Not to mention you could apply to other great private schools along the eastern seaboard such as Yale, Brown, Harvard, and other good privates like Tufts, Boston, etc.

I'd advise you against coming to Texas. Establishing residency here typically means you have to be employed here, not working remotely for an OOS employer. TX is highly competitive enough as is with the amount of qualified in-state applicants we have, and the massive financial incentive for us to attend school here in Texas. The TX residents that go OOS for school are either attending the Harvards or Stanfords, or are forced to go an OOS private because they didn't match into a seat here (furthermore, applying OOS as a TX resident can be difficult because adcoms tend to think if we are qualified enough to attend their school, we'll likely garner at least 1 spot at a TX school and will opt to stay in Texas due to the cheaper COA). Not only are the schools great, but the COA can't be beat anywhere else in the country (besides Kaiser and NYULI where tuition is free).

There is other great advice posted here about leveraging geographic arbitrage, however as aforementioned, you should have no problem garnering multiple acceptances applying from NY.

edit: assuming you have a stellar MCAT, you could have a great shot at some top tier schools across the country, regardless of your state of residence. Because of this, I'd really advise against you moving.

Thanks for your helpful advice. Really appreciate it.

My first attempt of MCAT was premature. I studied materials not practice exams for 3 months, while working full-time. only got under 500.

This is the final importance piece I need to improve on.

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

This is the final importance piece I need to improve on.

Indeed. You seem like you'll have a great application if you can get your MCAT up. Without that though, it's hard to predict any school for you to target with your application.

You don't get a 3.98 GPA without learning some good study habits. Figure out what works for you and go nail your next MCAT attempt. If you can get close to a 510, you'll have a good shot at a lot of DO schools and many MD schools. Get closer to a 515+and you could open doors to a lot of different schools.