Kowllszad

Applied to 7(technically 8 since a program was willing to make a late extension for me) rejected by 3 so far for a theoretical physics PhD. I was surprised that things were this cutthroat and I thought my stats were good ones: My stats: -GPA: 3.7 -Several years of research experience and having publication by the end of this semester(didn't have when applying) -Have an internship in a national lab in the summer -my GRE scores range from the 70th-90th percentile -Presented my research at a national conference and won an award before -Was a TA and some other miscellaneous stuff like winning scholarships etc I thought I had a good application, but no acceptances so far and only rejections. Similarly people who I thought had some amazing stats are getting rejected left and right. This is my first real PhD cycle and I was not expecting this at all. Is it supposed to be like this, or was this a year a particularly tough one?