US Citizen without State-Residency Status for PreDent Application

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

amc010

New Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2013
Messages
7
Reaction score
47
Hi,

I am a US citizen, but I do not have residency in any state. I attended undergraduate school in California (graduating March 2013), and I don't know if I should apply for California residency. My question is, if I apply for dental schools outside of California, does it matter if I have residency or not? Is it better to apply without residency?
 
Hi,I am a US citizen, but I do not have residency in any state. I attended undergraduate school in California (graduating March 2013), and I don't know if I should apply for California residency. My question is, if I apply for dental schools outside of California, does it matter if I have residency or not? Is it better to apply without residency?

That may not be entirely possible.
 
That may not be entirely possible.

He/She could have been living in another country for most of his/her life and came back to the states for undergrad education.
In this case, it will be hard to establish a residency.
 
State Schools usually have preference for the in-state applicants while private schools usually don't care where you're from. Of course, being accepted depends on many factors (personal statement, GPA, DAT, experiences, EC's etc), but if two students have the same stats, and one is the state resident, one is not, you know who'll be picked, right? If you're not a resident of any state, I suggest you to apply to more private school. Of course, you still have good chance at state schools if you have high stats.

That's not really true. State schools usually have an approximate number of OOS applicants they will interview and accept. For example, Marquette's class is 40 in state and 40 OOS. As a CA resident, you would be competing for 1 seat out of 40, not 80.

Look up online or call and apply for residency in CA. If you went to undergrad there, you lived there; that's probably your best shot.

Apply to any school you want. Be smart though and don't apply to a school that accepts 2 OOS students each year.
 
He/She could have been living in another country for most of his/her life and came back to the states for undergrad education.
In this case, it will be hard to establish a residency.

As a US citizen he would be a resident of whatever state he happens to have been residing in, albeit not for "in state" tuition.
 
Well, you should look at the in-state applicants vs OOS applicants. 200 state residents competing for 40 seats will be much easier than 2000 OOS applicants competing for 40 seats.

Yes, but you were referring to 2 identical students, 1 in state, 1 OOS, competing for the same seat (and saying the in-state student would get the spot every time), which they aren't. Additionally, sometimes there is a higher percentage of OOS students accepted for those seats allotted for OOS because many people still end up going to their own in-state school.
 
As a US citizen he would be a resident of whatever state he happens to have been residing in, albeit not for "in state" tuition.

If by 'resident' you mean where someone physically resides then yes, but the term resident has different definitions/requirements depending on whether we're talking about taxes, voting, or state school systems and doesn't always have much to do with your mailing address. School systems are typically the most strict in this regard and if you attended undergrad in a state other than where you grew up it is quite possible that you will not be considered a resident by any state school in the nation.
 
Top