We just have to wait and see what the book says next spring. I suspect the class demographic will change in the next few years too. Perhaps there will be more local interest now that there's a school there. Maybe they'll eventually add more seats. A good portion of the class of 2017 appears to be from that region (ME, VT, NH) with various other states mixed in (e.g., ND, WI, NY, VA, CT, MA, FL?). Remember, this is Maine. Preference or not, I don't expect to ever see a huge representation outside of those surrounding states. Also, if you do some digging in the accepted thread, you can see a sample of applicants who were accepted from several places outside of the 'preferred' states (e.g., WA, FL, NC, NY, GA, ND, IN, WI, MD, Ontario, VA). Whether they decided to attend or not isn't the point. SDN data mining is hardly scientific, but I'm convinced they interviewed pretty broadly and gaining acceptance was absolutely possible as a non-region'er. If I were applying this cycle and I was interested in the school, the 'some preference' thing wouldn't deter me from applying.
Same goes for MOSDOH. This year is a little crazy since they started so late, so I wouldn't expect a class full of MO residents. I'd still apply there this cycle even though they broadcast preference for MO residents.
