Do you think that it helps if your school is in the area of the residencies that you're applying at?
It can give an edge. When ranking candidates, if the program has reason to believe a person may rank the program higher, all things being equal (ATBE) vs other candidates on a similar standing, then the program will likely rank that person higher.
The reason why is because programs want happy residents, and also want to maximize their chances of getting the person they want. If someone for example has a lot of family in the area, lived in the area, or give other strong reason to be in that area, programs know the person is more likely to be happy, they're already familiar with the area (so the shock of a new environment is less to nothing), and they will likely rank the program higher.
How much of an edge? Well IMHO (at least from the dynamics of my program, and ATBE), it'd give an edge not so much in giving an interview, but in ranking a candidate.
The selection for interviews are quite mechanical in the first few filters. Scores (USMLE & medical school), then after that a very brief & superficial overview of the personal statement that is only weeding out simple things such as spelling errors, poor grammar, or red flags such as a criminal history, etc.
By the time it gets down to the interviews, that's when it gets actually much more personal, and things like where the person lived is taken into account.
By the time it gets to the rank list--it gets very personal. Content of interviews are discussed, discussions whether or not a person will be happier or not etc.
Despite what I mentioned, this is ATBE. My program has accepted people that were very out of the norm. One resident for example we had turned out to be one of our best, and this was despite poor grades & failing USMLE multiple times. We were willing to take the risk because someone we knew & trusted was willing to stake his reputation on this person recommended him. Turned out that person was very right. The resident was excellent, he just seemed to have a knack for doing bad on multiple choice tests, but his knowledge was solid (and he was a hard worker with a sincere passion for psychiatry). We also had plenty of people with great scores who turned out to be the worst residents.
For myself--when I applied into fellowship, I was denied my #1 spot because I was told that the candidate who beat me was older & had 8 children (no kidding). They saw us as equal, but saw the other person as needing to get his career going earlier. They offered me a spot for the following year. They actually called me up and told me before the decision was made that it really was down to me vs him, and they were highly conflicted. They were taking a lot of things into consideration such as whether or not we wanted to settle in the area, our personal interests etc.
Scores despite being perhaps the most accurate predictor still have their failings. Unfortunately for many, they will only get the indivdiualized attention if they can make it past the interview & into the final round where ranking occurs.