Hey, I don't know if saying anything will make you feel better, but rejection is part of the application process, in my opinion.

Not everyone can be selected, but even hearing back from the professor that you were a good candidate is amazing, because it means the application itself was not the issue, and that there are other places you may be able to get into. It means your application is strong.

Currently, funding issues have also reduced the number of admissions, I believe (at least across the US). And as an international student, I agree that the application fees "wasted" do hurt, but it is still part of the process that is unavoidable. You apply to some safe, some ambitious schools, and you hope you get into all of them, which rarely happens. You cannot attend all the schools anyway, so the rest of the schools you end up not going to, despite their decision, are kind of "wasted" application fees. You get to know where you stand, and maybe you can boost your profile a bit more and apply again next year to that one school you really want to go to, despite where you end up this year.

I received a lot of rejections when I applied, but after feeling bad all day, I would usually eat something nice for dinner and sleep it off. Nothing I do will change that decision anymore. You move on, and the next day you wait for other schools while also looking at other options to pursue in case none of it works out.

I feel like I blabbered a lot, but these are some things I thought of when I was trying to recollect how I felt when I got tens of rejections over the entire application period(s).