this is patently false as far as the scramble is concerned. at my medical school, students who did not match and had to scramble were given enormous support. there was a "scramble center" that was set up in a big room in the library with dedicated phones, computers, faxes, the works. a couple of the deans clear their schedules for the couple of days of scramble and do nothing but help students get residency slots. one of my friends didn't match for med-peds and with this help was able to secure a couple of offers for med-peds during the scramble. she would probably would have gone unmatched for med-peds otherwise since it is a somewhat competitive field...
i do agree with your assessment though vis a vis the regular match. although one could argue that a school does help its students get residencies by virtue of being a respected, well-known med school, giving students an excellent education, and having a strong reputation for producing good trainees. american medical schools "help" their students this way considerably more than a foreign medical school does theirs.
