Funding Email Before Admission - Why?

[throwawayaccount123]

This is a throw-away account (hence the name) because I don't want it to be tied to my other gradcafe account in any way. I got an email a few weeks ago that prompted me to fill out a recruitment fellowship application BEFORE I actually got an acceptance from that university. I still haven't heard back from the university but they indicated when they would get back to their first choices (which is coming up soon). I thought that maybe they sent this email to all of their applications but I know a few other people who applied and only one other one has gotten the same email. Just for the sake of my anxiety, I am very curious about what this could mean. Why would a university ask people to fill out extensive scholarship forms (they took about 4 hours to complete) before actually sending out acceptances? Does this mean that they are interested in me and that I am likely accepted or that I'm more like a waitlist kind of person and they just want to see if they have enough funding to afford adding me to this cohort? Any thoughts? I'm certainly very confused.

[fuzzylogician]

I would assume it means that they think you have a shot at these fellowships and wanted you to try and get them. If you win this funding, that would both make you more attractive to the program, and more likely to accept an offer from them. Both net positives for the program. I would imagine it also means you have a fair shot at getting in, but I don't think anyone can make you any promises. 

[throwawayaccount123]

22 minutes ago, fuzzylogician said:

I would assume it means that they think you have a shot at these fellowships and wanted you to try and get them. If you win this funding, that would both make you more attractive to the program, and more likely to accept an offer from them. Both net positives for the program. I would imagine it also means you have a fair shot at getting in, but I don't think anyone can make you any promises. 

Thank you, @fuzzylogician, for your opinion on the matter. I was thinking something like what you said for a while but I've a grown much less confident after facing multiple rejections from other universities. I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but I think it's still important to stay positive about the process.

[throwawayaccount123]

For future references, I just received an acceptance from the program that sent the recruitment fellowship emails so it is indeed now confirmed to be a good sign.