So is it actually somewhat normal for PhD programs to be sending decisions out this early?
I fully wasn't expecting to hear anything at all until much closer to the February/March timelines they indicated as 'we will definitely let you know by x'. But I got an email from Stanford today - only 10 days after submitting my application... still half-convinced it's fake/spam!! (So I did the obvious thing and join a forum to ask about it... hi, I'm new )