Your title will be valued for what it is, not for what it isn’t (they won’t look at it and think, ‘not editor in chief’). And honestly, in that context, your current title doesn’t sound like it’s too far off. It would be nice to say you’re EIC but I very much doubt that it would make a significant difference during the holistic review process. Take off with the alternative paper, sounds interesting. Bonus points if you can get it recognized/legitimized by the school.