Yeahhh, my confusion is mostly due to receiving mixed messages, and $300 dollars is quite a bit to drop - people in their accepted GroupMe say it's not needed to pay, people here say something else. FWIW, no one I know, paid deposit or not, received that email today, so I wouldn't fret about that 🙂
*ETA: also, considering the deposit due date is April 30th, but the ranking list due date is very much this week (21st), having the deposit payment be due to get the list would a) be kinda scummy and b) doesn't make sense in my brain given the disparate dates on the portal/email. But then again, what do I know? Guess we'll see tomorrow/in the coming days.