I think they have a slight preference (nothing to back this up, just my experience) to ppl who have spent time in STL, like SLU/WashU undergrads, or STL born-and-raised. I'm a WashU undergrad and got in--it def helped with my application because I could speak very specifically to the STL patient population. Also I know they have the direct admit med scholar program from SLU undergrad to med school, so a large part of their class are SLU student in that program. I think it just helps if you're personally familiar with the area and have a connection to it. It also protects their retention rate--so there's a higher chance that people from that area will end up actually going to SLU, and not declining their acceptance offer.