Not saying it’s the case for anyone on this thread, but once in a while a parent wants something more than the student does. It’s not uncommon for the student to wait until an interview and confidentially share this info at that point. I could totally see where an AO could take that info and tell the parents it’s not a good fit with no other lengthy explanation.
Otherwise, when an AO senses a bad fit (via personality or scores or whatever), I think they are helping the situation when they let a student know. It saves the student time, money, and perhaps frustration down the road, esp if they pin all their hopes on that one school.