According to the posts in this website, I have noticed that a particular trend is happening:

1 Some applicants were rejected first by CLS

2 After a while, they were rejected by PENN and UofC

3 Nevertheless, some of them were admitted to NW and Cornell

Does it mean that Cornell and NW are worst than the 1 and 2 above?

Does it mean that Cornell and NW accept weaker students/applicants to their program?

Someone have a clue?