<p>Hello all, I am writing to inquire where my state of residency will be when I begin to apply to medical school. The parent with whom I currently reside is in GA. I will be attending Rice University next year in TX. When I begin to apply, which states will give me the admissions advantage by being in state and which state will I have a lower tuition rate for the public medical school?</p>
<p>definately texas. cheap tuition at good schools</p>
<p>I don't think you can claim Texas as your state of residency based on going to undergrad there as generally you cannot establish residency while in a State to attend college. Though I think if you live and work there for a year after you graduate from Rice and before you start med school you may be able to establish residency for tuition.</p>
<p>You need to check for sure with the States in question.</p>
<p>To be considered a state resident of Texas, you must establish a domicile in Texas for at least 12 months PRIOR to beginning medical school.</p>
<p>Additionally, you may not be claimed as dependent on your parents tax return, nor receive any support from them. (This included being listed on their health insurance policy as a dependent. Occasionally, the state verification process will demand to see your financial records to determine if your parents are giving you an allowance/financial help towards paying rent, insurance etc. Happened to D's BF.)</p>
<p>You cannot count time spent in college as time towards establishing residency.</p>
<p>Also once you are accepted into medical school and begin attending classes, you cannot count that time towards establishing residency either. You must sit out a full year. </p>
<p>However, you can apply as a non-resident (but you lose the in-state resident preference in admissions) and then change your status during the admission process once you've completed your 12 months.</p>
<p>Rice requires that 3/4 years, must move off campus, this I assume would establish residency correct? Now, would I also be able to use GA if I still had things coming there as well? If not, which state (in terms of more medical schools) would be better to establish in, GA or TX?</p>
<p>
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Rice requires that 3/4 years, must move off campus, this I assume would establish residency correct?
[/quote]
No - not correct. Moving off campus does not generally make you a resident of the State as you are still there primarily for the purpose of attending college in the State. It is very difficult to establish residency in a State while your prime purpose for being there is educational. At that stage you are still considered a dependent of your parents. You have to have lived there for 12 months while not attending school.</p>
<p>You cannot claim residency in 2 States so, if there does turn out to be a way of establishing residency (don't think there is but check with the Texas education department), you will have to choose between the States. </p>
<p>I looked into this briefly a while back as my daughter is thinking of medical school also and there is just 1 medical school in our state and several in neighboring Texas. I got the impression from the Baylor Medical School site that she could establish residency by living and working (and not going to school) in Texas for 12 months before starting medical school. So she would have to weigh whether to risk moving to Texas for 1 year in order to gain residency there but would be and losing it in her home State. Alternatively, once she started medical school it appeared she could establish residency and qualify for Instate tuition by purchasing a home there - might be worth thinking of if there are really cheap homes there and/or we come into some money!. Have not looked into it much more as too much, including her plans, can change between now and then.</p>
<p>D is looking into this issue in Tennessee. Every state is different but she has friends who have made it happen. How? Dunno.</p>
<p>Even purchasing a house does not necessarily qualify you for in-state residency. D's BF bought a house (without a parent co-signing), but was still listed as a dependent on his parents' health insurance. That was enough to stop his residency petition cold.</p>
<p>You must be independent, not attending college in any capacity (including part-time), and must show that <em>you</em> (not your parents) are paying rent/mortgage, auto insurance, medical insurance, living expenses, etc. D's BF was asked to provide both his financial records and those of his parents to demonstrate that his parents weren't giving him any money--even the $12,000 allowable tax-free gift. From what I understand, even a few hundred $$ as birthday gift might be enough to get your residency petition disallowed.</p>
<p>It depends on the state. Some stats are rather lax with their residency laws while other states are more stringent. Generally, for most states, you cannot establish residency simply by going to school there. So, most likely you'll still be a GA resident when it comes time to apply for college. Both GA and Texas have an overabundance of med schools so it shouldn't be an issue.</p>
<p>The good news is that it at least some states (although I only know for a fact about my home state) a medical student will be considered to be in-state after a year of attending medical school there, which generally isn't the case for undergraduate school. Unfortunately, you lose any admissions advantage that you'd have if you were a state resident, but if you get in and decide you want to go to a state school in another state, you won't have to pay out-of-state tuition for the full four years.</p>
<p>But if you're hoping to establish residency in another state, you should change absolutely everything over to your new address (voter registration, drivers license, etc).</p>
<p>If you are applying to med school and you want to be considered a resident for ADMISSIONS, you need to be a resident 12 months before you APPLY, then the tuition is based on 12 months before school begins.</p>
<p>I am not 100% certain on this but in reading the SDN I see that people are asked to fill out a residency proof form in our state when they apply (15 months before matriculation) thus one must be a resident way sooner than expected.</p>
<p>In the same state, Masters/PhD students can easily establish residence by living here 12 months before school begins and not taking more than 6 units a term.</p>
<p>It can be extremely tricky. When I was accepted to my home state med school, I was contacted by my home state's department in charge of determining residency, basically asking if I could prove that I was a state resident in spite of the fact that I had gone out of state for college and hadn't held a job in my home state for over two years. I still had my home state driver's license! </p>
<p>It wasn't that big of deal and I didn't end up going there anyways, but it was more paperwork, more phone calls and seemed incredibly odd that it was even a question. But the lesson is that some states are very vigilant about these things.</p>