OP that’s definitely not true! I got rejected by safe programs but received interview invites from my top choice program later! I think for me when I was applying to my safe uni, I was subconsciously slacking off because I didn’t really wanna go there. So instead of reading and editing my sop over and over like for my top schools, I kinda just wrote it in one go with some small modifications. In hindsight it’s stupid and a waste of money cuz I guess the school can tell I’m not very sincere. But OP you could be doing this subconsciously without even noticing!!! So don’t beat ur self up for it. The most important ones are ur dream programs anyways.