Guess away, and who knows, you might be right. But with all due respect, EXPD,
I think it's also arrogant to think that it's always the candidate that is defective. As someone who got the feeling by at least one prominent PD (Brad Benson at Minnesota) that he had better things to do than talk to me during my interview day, I would have much rather they waited to offer me an interview than waste everyone's time for a free lunch and a night at the Comfort Inn. I was able to schedule travel and hotels just fine for invitations I got in November, thank you.
I didn't match. I'm an AMG from a top-quartile medical school, with great research experiences, publications, honors and near honors in almost all of my clinical clerkships, and honestly stellar letters of recommendation. However, unlike the OP, my board scores were not impressive and I knew that coming into this process. Nevertheless, even without my MSPE I got several interviews at great programs. What I didn't know was how competitive the process would be because my home institution doesn't have a med-peds program, and when I mentioned that I was pursuing med-peds, I was essentially told I was a fool for not just doing family medicine because med-peds is a dying field. Given the number of applicants this year, obviously this isn't true. What is true is that I could have used some better guidance early
My story ends with me being offered one of the four available med-peds spots in the scramble yesterday. Fifteen minutes later I was given the unique opportunity to choose between two offers and accepted a categorical peds position at a stronger program that also has a med-peds residency I'll attempt to roll into this next year. It could have been much worse, and I will certainly add to the calls for the scramble process to be changed. Simply one of the most stressful experiences of my life. However, I'd like to say I'm grateful and thrilled I got into a spot in a place that I think I can live with for the next three or four years.
Bottom line is: to all the student affairs deans and PDs out there who say that there's more than just board scores to finding the right residents,
this is for you.