Early Decision - NEOMED Ohio Admission Advantage

[GreatEmancipator]

Hi, I hope everyone is doing well. I am currently finishing up my AMCAS application and am going back and forth on how I should go about choosing which schools to send applications. Specifically, it is the decision of whether to apply early decision to NEOMED, or instead apply regular decision to every school in Ohio plus a few in the surrounding states that are OOS friendly. As you can probably guess, I am an Ohio resident and have lived about 20 minutes from NEOMED for all of my life and have also gone to college in northeast Ohio. A quick search on this site has implied that early decision really does not offer much benefit. However, NEOMED has something they call the "Ohio Admission Advantage," stating that this specific early decision application pathway offers a considerable boost to those with qualified applications that also happen to be from the area. Here is the direct quote from their website:

While all traditional admission candidates are encouraged to consider the early decision plan, NEOMED uses the early decision plan to extend highly favorable consideration toward a number of Ohio candidates with above-average academic credentials.

• For these purposes, an Ohio candidate is any early decision plan applicant who either maintains permanent residence in Ohio and indicates as much on his or her AMCAS application or who attends/attended an Ohio institution of post-secondary education (university, college, community college), whether state or private
• Ohio candidates with above-average academic profiles selecting the early decision plan receive a significant advantage over candidates that elect the regular decision plan. Ohio candidates pursuing admission to NEOMED outside of early assurance are strongly encouraged to apply using the early decision plan to maximize their chances for admission to medical school in the event that NEOMED is their first choice.

This school is where I would like to go and believe it to be a good fit for myself. However, I do not want to apply early decision and miss out on applying elsewhere and end up not getting in anywhere. So, my question is if anybody would know if using this pathway to apply would actually offer a significant bump to my application that would be worth the inability to apply elsewhere?I have emailed the contact email listed on the website but I have yet to receive a reply after a few weeks. Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated from anyone. Thank you!

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[Mr.Smile12]

My first suggestion is always: contact the admissions office about how they manage their EDP. A lot of schools I know may list they have an EDP, but may employ it to lock down deferrals from a previous cycle (as an example).

I don't know if you have discussed this with any prehealth advisors on campus, or if you have met anyone at NEOMED who got accepted through EDP. Maybe ask admissions if they can connect you.

If you feel you have a very strong story that fits their mission of rural health, and you would really turn down an offer from (example) Ohio State or Heritage OUCOM (both of whom I think have rather strong in-state rural health/family med tracks), throw your hat into the ring. Bonus points if you really come from a SED/health professional shortage area and may have participated in any academic enrichment programs promoting careers in healthcare (such as through an AHEC). If not, apply generally to all in-states and those OOS with strong rural health tracks, and hopefully let the bidding begin on your application.