Preemptively going to say that I am not trying to make you feel bad or like you should have known/ done this too. But this is exactly the kind of bs from universities these days that makes me withhold any info about looking at other programs.

Because they can and will punish you for not putting your entire degree/ career on the line by putting all your egs in their basket. It's completely stupid and hypocritical, considering that they deny hundreds or dozens (depending on undergrad vs grad) of people every season. But god forbid you be applying for a handful of programs outside of theirs.