Sorry to hear your bad experience. Unfortunately there has been a massive crack down on people visiting here on a regular basis, specifically those who are on Tourist visas, ED visas, and visa exemptions...
Unfortunately there is not an official set limit, but rather down to what the immigration officer thinks.
Most of the ED visa denials i have heard about recently have been due to the schools not providing the correct paperwork, or the applicant not showing adequate funds.
I doubt any of the consulates will accept your application if you're applying for beginner and intermediate. They will only accept level one . This has been the case for over a month now.
Just one other thing that i noticed, is that i was not able to copy and paste the passord to log in, i had to manually type in the password to be able to log into the system.