Unclear of State Residency

[entdreams47]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi all, I'm having some concerns about what to indicate on my application for state of residence.

Background: The majority of my ECs/work experiences are in NY but my parents own a home in Florida since 2010 and moved here for most of the year when I went off to college in 2013. I didn't formally change my residency back then and moved to NY where I've lived and worked the last few years. I came down here in February to study for my March (cancelled) MCAT exam, but then COVID hit and I've been here since. I decided I would like to be closer to them during/after school and filed a declaration of domicile, registered to vote, etc. in May. It's obviously better to be a FL applicant but I'm concerned this will raise red flags? My ECs for the upcoming year are based in NY but everything has gone virtual because of COVID. I indicated FL as my state of residence on my primary (can be changed) but have been getting concerned now filling out secondaries. I don't think I will have a problem getting IS tuition rate but I'm worried about not being seen as an IS applicant at all... Any thoughts appreciated. Thank you.

 

[m1redsox]

Shouldn’t be an issue. I applied as a CA applicant even though all of my ECs and undergrad work was in Utah. I think it’s very easy to explain that your parents live in FL so that’s where your permanent address is.

Edit: then again I’m attending med school in North Carolina after striking out with the UCs, so who knows.

 

[KnightDoc]

Hi all, I'm having some concerns about what to indicate on my application for state of residence.

Background: The majority of my ECs/work experiences are in NY but my parents own a home in Florida since 2010 and moved here for most of the year when I went off to college in 2013. I didn't formally change my residency back then and moved to NY where I've lived and worked the last few years. I came down here in February to study for my March (cancelled) MCAT exam, but then COVID hit and I've been here since. I decided I would like to be closer to them during/after school and filed a declaration of domicile, registered to vote, etc. in May. It's obviously better to be a FL applicant but I'm concerned this will raise red flags? My ECs for the upcoming year are based in NY but everything has gone virtual because of COVID. I indicated FL as my state of residence on my primary (can be changed) but have been getting concerned now filling out secondaries. I don't think I will have a problem getting IS tuition rate but I'm worried about not being seen as an IS applicant at all... Any thoughts appreciated. Thank you.

????? Red flags? If you meet the legal requirements -- physical presence, length of time, declaration of domicile, etc., what red flags? Do you think you'd be better off not taking advantage of the IS admission preference and IS tuition because you might appear to be gaming the system otherwise?

No matter what you say about suddenly wanting to be closer to your parents, it's going to like like what it is -- you establishing residency in FL because you can do so while not interrupting your virtual life in NY and gaining the benefits of FL residency for med school admissions. It is what it is, and it's perfectly legal. If you think it will look bad, don't do it! You will be seen as the last minute IS applicant that you are! Do you really think you'd be better off as an OOS candidate? I don't! The irony is, if you look at the stats, FL residents don't do especially well in admissions (lots of IS applicants per available seat).

 

[entdreams47]

????? Red flags? If you meet the legal requirements -- physical presence, length of time, declaration of domicile, etc., what red flags? Do you think you'd be better off not taking advantage of the IS admission preference and IS tuition because you might appear to be gaming the system otherwise?

No matter what you say about suddenly wanting to be closer to your parents, it's going to like like what it is -- you establishing residency in FL because you can do so while not interrupting your virtual life in NY and gaining the benefits of FL residency for med school admissions. It is what it is, and it's perfectly legal. If you think it will look bad, don't do it! You will be seen as the last minute IS applicant that you are! Do you really think you'd be better off as an OOS candidate? I don't! The irony is, if you look at the stats, FL residents don't do especially well in admissions (lots of IS applicants per available seat).

Hahah thank you for making this fair point. I have heard that about FL but wasn't sure how it compared to NY though since NY is notoriously not great to be a resident of? Two schools are upstate and the other two are extremely competitive. I thought it would be better to be a FL as I'm a fairly average applicant

 

[entdreams47]

Shouldn’t be an issue. I applied as a CA applicant even though all of my ECs and undergrad work was in Utah. I think it’s very easy to explain that your parents live in FL so that’s where your permanent address is.

Edit: then again I’m attending med school in North Carolina after striking out with the UCs, so who knows.

Thank you. I'm non traditional and not a dependent so I'm wondering if that makes a difference

 

[m1redsox]

Thank you. I'm non traditional and not a dependent so I'm wondering if that makes a difference

I doubt that schools look very closely at that information. They care a lot more about stats, ECs, and letters. I was trying to say that it’s easy to justify residency if that’s where your family is. I’m independent from my CA-resident parents as well—I just think it’s something schools always see. Students move away for school and work all the time and still claim their residency.

 

[KnightDoc]

Hahah thank you for making this fair point. I have heard that about FL but wasn't sure how it compared to NY though since NY is notoriously not great to be a resident of? Two schools are upstate and the other two are extremely competitive. I thought it would be better to be a FL as I'm a fairly average applicant

I thought the same thing, and was actually shocked when the numbers were shown to me! Florida matriculants have lower MCATs and higher GPAs (NY - 512.7/3.69; FL - 510.7/3.74), so take what you want from that, but NY had 3,533 applicants last year, 30.9% of whom matriculated IS, 16.4% OOS, and 52.6% not at all. The comparable numbers for Florida were 3,493, 20.3%, 13.8% and 66.0% Good luck!!! 🙂