Its easy to ghost : less energy, easier to be non confrontational , and its not like many are reject-worthy; they may be top 1% but not top 1% of top 1% so they may be an ideal backup to hold in an imaginary “reserve list”.
If you’re on a dating app and are a girl, then you will understand this metaphor. Hundreds of men msg you on the daily to the point that within days you end up with thousands unread DMs; you end up ghosting because you just cant keep up and at same time they all look attractive to you so you dont wanna reject. Many of them have very good prospects so you just focus on flirting with just a handful of top 0.1% and if those fail, move down the list. You end up accidentally screwing over many suitors who are eternally waiting but whom you find also attractive so youd rather hold em to the side and keep weighing options. The same applies to MD/DO schools; very immature I know but its the Game