<p>You have to be able to answer “yes” to one of the following questions to be considered a resident for admissions purposes (according to the sidebar on the linked webpage): </p>
<p>Have you attended high school in California for at least three years and will graduate or have graduated from a California high school? → No, I will attend (and graduate from) a California high school only for senior year. </p>
<p>Have you lived in California for the last 12 months? → No, I’ve lived in California for 9 months now. </p>
<p>If you’re under 18, does your parent or legal guardian live in California? → Both of my parents live in California. However, I am 18. </p>
<p>Is your parent, legal guardian, spouse or registered domestic partner an employee of the University of California or a UC-affiliated national laboratory? → no </p>
<p>So if I’m reading these questions correctly, I technically am not yet a resident of California, and am thus an OOS applicant?? This is terrifying to me, because that means I have a much lower chance of getting into Berkeley or UCLA (my top choices). My counselor told me that she thought I would be in-state, and I took her word for it. And I don’t understand - before my 18th birthday I was a California resident, but now that I’m 18 I’m not? If anyone has any info on this, please help me out… </p>
<p>I know some people that moved to California for the sole purpose of qualifying as in-state. None of them were considered in-state. To qualify, you need to have paid CA tax for a certain number of years. I don’t think you qualify as in-state, but you can always check with the campuses. I also think it’s overhyped that it’s so much harder to get in OOS. If your stats are good, you shouldn’t worry about it too much. If you’re on the border, I think being OOS is beneficial because of the whole higher tuition situation. </p>
<p>Regarding being under 18, it doesn’t matter. It only matters if your parents are considered CA residents, then you’re by default considered a resident. Unless your parents have been paying CA tax for several years, you’re still considered OOS. The 18 requirement is just to make sure grown adults who have been living OOS don’t just decide to move to CA and start paying in-state tuition just because their parents live here.</p>
<p>When your PARENTS move as well, it is seen as much more likely that you actually moved for ‘non educational purposes’ which will be the test, and the test is applied when you enter the UC, so it would be 12 months before THEN etc. HOWEVER, you also need to do things that show you are a resident of CA. Did you register to vote? Get a driver’s license or CA ID here? Etc etc. You and your parents need to do this and need to have done this. If you didn’t early enough for year one, doing it asap would help for year two etc with tuition. But the real question is if you changed residency for other than educational purposes, those are just some things looked at. There is a link on Berkeley’s site about it, specifically.</p>
<p>I’m pretty certain that I will qualify for in-state tuition by the time I actually enter into the UC system. We moved on June of 2013, so that should easily be a year by the time school starts and they determine residency. I have registered to vote, have CA license plates, CA car registration, a CA driver’s license… My parents are paying CA taxes… We moved because my dad got a new job, not because I wanted to go to the UCs. </p>
<p>You guys still think I am being judged as OOS, though? I guess I have to just wait things out a few weeks to see results, but that really depresses me and I’m kind of losing hope about getting in to my top choices. </p>