A significant amount of so-so candidates gets rejected at the executive review, which happens after hiring committee and host matching. When the executive rejec

A significant amount of so-so candidates gets rejected at the executive review, which happens after hiring committee and host matching. When the executive rejects a candidate the recruiter often appeals the decision. That appeal can result in extra interviews or other ways to get more information. In this case it seems like the extra information was an explanation for the low grades and the explanation was not enough. Most likely the candidate would have just gotten the offer if the candidate did better at their interviews.