peppermint-
I was a PhD student at Emory seven years ago; now I'm going through the process again (and applying to Emory again - sigh). Obviously each division handles things differently, but my division (religion) sends out invitations in late January for their top candidates to visit campus in late February. In some of the "sub-areas" in religion, this means you are accepted -- i.e., they only invite people for whom they have a slot. For other "sub-areas", they invite more people than they have openings and let them fight it out. Long answer to your question; maybe it helps.