Are college admissions reaching a point of extreme randomness?

OP, it seems as though you are fully set on blaming everyone else for your results and wallowing in your misery rather than looking at the man in the mirror.

Expecting acceptance into elite colleges is very shortsighted. Someone should’ve prepared you for what likely would occur, and they didn’t. When you’re applying to schools that have extremely low acceptance rates, you need to realize that the overwhelming majority of applicants have roughly the same qualifications as you. That’s what makes colleges look at subjective parts of applying like character, integrity, letters of rec, essays, and ECs. Somewhere along the line, you missed the mark. You have been accepted to some great schools already.

Only 3% of all 18 year olds get into colleges than accept less than 50% of their students, so you are already have achieved more than most.