MIT caps the foreign students in a class at about 15%, so you were competing for one out of a bit over 150 slots. You very possibly made the "Can you do the work?" cut; overall, before applications shot up from 13,000 to 18,000, about 1/3 made that cut, but MIT has room for only a bit over 1,000.
It's nothing personal, and the people involved in admissions do not like turning down qualified applicants, but they don't have any choice.
It's nothing personal, and the people involved in admissions do not like turning down qualified applicants, but they don't have any choice.