I saw the following image on reddit (uploaded 7 hours ago), so presumably it was through an email?
https://preview.redd.it/over-260-applications-for-cornells-communication-phd-program-v0-wo7wwdzvqfbe1.png?width=1477&format=png&auto=webp&s=11beecdf94bb3ea5fe7ef9dc919189d2f5bc913d