Cornell has both China focus and Southeast Asia focus.
Otherwise for China - U of Mich, Yale used to be but lately eh according to my advisor, Princeton.
I don't think that is what they were saying above. Ranking is not as important to every candidate. They should weigh their own pros and cons - yes ranking is a large factor, but it is just a factor amongst many, and you can't say it trumps everything.
I mean, only 1 rejection doesn't make sense to me, though. BUT I don't know anything for sure of course till that email is in the bag though, so you could totally be right.
Edit: CONGRATS TO THE YALEEE!
This. I think this is so important - if you have a question, ASK. But if you are contacting them just to be like "oh hi you have research interests, so do I..." then I think it is just...I don't know, I was advised against that by multiple people.
Edit: To docgrad - yees, thanks! Sorry, I meant I didn't contact POIs anywhere, at all, 'cause it felt weird to me.