State residency laws

[rdelange]

Hi everybody,
Premed and med students have a tendency to be a bit uptight. Now I know why. I have been very excited about starting out on the path to medical school. I can still apply in time to register for spring classes at Northern Texas University. My home state is Washington. I live in Taiwan now. I am looking forward to moving back to the States and studying my tail off for my prereqs. Everything is looking great but....
Then I see the state residency laws for Texas: twelve months living in Texas prior to enrollment as a student. Time spent taking university courses cannot count toward those twelve months. Whoops! Go to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. I, subsequently, checked the laws of Oregon and a couple of other states; the same!
My own state, Washington, only has one med school which I am pretty sure that my 3.0 grade point average prohibits me from attending. I think I must get residency in a state where I might have a better chance of being accepted to a local school. Texas has lots of schools, some with reasonable acceptance stats. I am almost 28 years old. With two years of classes to make up, one year for the application process, and who knows what else, I am looking at three or four years before I even know if I get accepted to a medical school. One more year of just hanging out to get residency just about puts it in the ridiculous category.
Does anyone have any comments on this situation? Is it true that I have to just hang out in a state for a year before taking classes? Is it imperative that I move out of Washington state? Anything is appreciated.

Thanks,
Ryan

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[drhenderson]

I know for a fact there is a way around this. If, instead of renting, you can secure a loan to buy a 20 or 30 thousand dollar condominium, make the 600 per month payments on it for 4 years, sell it for what you bought it for, you will obtain resident status in Texas for you last 3 years of medical school and you will save tens of thousands of dollars.

Jim Henderson, MD
Baylor College of Medicine Class of 1998

 

[turtleboard]

I think what Ryan was referring to was to get residency status in order to get into medical school, not to save money on tuition.


Tim of New York City (where the state residency requirement is pretty stringent)

 

[rdelange]

Thanks Dr. Henderson. That sounds like a crafty idea but Tim is right; I am concerned about getting into med school. Since 90 percent of slots are given to in state residents and the other ten percent are given to academic superheros, I thought maybe I should get residency before applying.

Sleepless in Taipei
Ryan

 

[turtleboard]

Ryan,

So what if you may have some difficulty with getting into your state school, what's the big deal? Just apply to private schools and hope you get in. You are in fact a citizen of the US (or a permanent resident), right?

Ni yao shuijiao!

Tim of New York City.

 

[OldManDave]

Ryan & Turtle;

No, Jim was telling Ryan that he could: 1) circumvent the 1 year residency requirement in TX by purchasing property AND 2) save money in the process. In fact, the Dallas/Ft. Worth metro area is one of those rare markets where mortgage payments are generally = or less than rent. Plus, it is a rapidly expanding real estate market making resale at a profit much much more likely.

Furthermore, in the current tax code, you are allowed to sell a primary residence once every 5 years, as long as it has been your primary residence for at least two consecutive years and has not been used as rental property, and keep 100% of the principle and profit without paying ANY capital gains taxes. I wouldn't recommend it in many markets; but D/FW is definitely one of them!

Another method to satisfy TX's, and most any other state's requirements, if you are married, your spouse working full-time and hence paying taxes counts for the residency requirement. So, put your wife to work...you'll have to live, eat and pay rent anyhow. Go to school and maybe work PT yourself. In a short year, long before you complete your pre-reqs...presto!! You're a Texan!!! Then they automatically deduct 20 points from your IQ LOL!!!

------------------
'Old Man Dave'
KCOM, Class of '03