sparks1

Following the posting of the inimitable @RCtheSS in the hopes that my information brings help to future applicants!
Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Grinnell College 
Previous Degrees and GPAs: B.A. History, B.A. French; 3.75 Cumulative GPA
GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 163 V/154 Q/4.5 AW
Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 3 years teaching high school English in a Title I school. I was a TFA'er who stayed in my placement school.
Math/Econ Background: Literally zero. Took AP Stat senior year in High School but that was my last math class and I've taken 0 Econ classes.
Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): I speak French and a little bit of Spanish. 
Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Public Policy 
Long Term Professional Goals: Interested in work that strengthens poor communities ideally through social policies involving children and families. 
Schools Applied to & Results: I applied to 11 schools. It was definitely too many, but I really doubted my lack of quant/econ background and just wasn't sure what would happen, even though I was accepted everywhere but Princeton.
Princeton WWS / rejected UT-Austin / full ride UMichigan / 1/3 tuition NYU / no funding UChicago /no funding Johns Hopkins / 2/3 tuition Brandeis / 2/3 tuition GW / 10k/yr American / 10k/yr Maryland / 2/3 tuition UPenn / 1/2 tuition Ultimate Decision & Why: Michigan. In the end it came down to Michigan and Hopkins, two totally different programs. I went with Michigan ultimately because of the alumni network, the curriculum, and the professors, even though I was super impressed with the intimate nature of the Hopkins MPP and the faculty there as well. While my "gut" feeling was maybe towards Hopkins, I really felt like Michigan's program will be more beneficial to my future job prospects, and ultimately I'm going to grad school to change career paths.
Advice for Future Applicants: As I said, I definitely did waay more applications than necessary (although the Americorps fee waiver made that possible). If I had to do it again I would have applied to max 6 schools and I would have done more research pre-applying on which programs actually supported my research interests. Biggest takeaway was that a strong overall application can and will make up for lack of quant experience. Also...don't stress too much. You're going to get a great education wherever you go. 

@RCtheSS I think we actually met at UT Austin...we took a tour together and let's just say I was less than impressed with the campus diversity  Congrats to you too!! I lived in Chicago for a couple of summers and that city is amazing. 

Following the posting of the inimitable @RCtheSS in the hopes that my information brings help to future applicants!
Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Grinnell College 
Previous Degrees and GPAs: B.A. History, B.A. French; 3.75 Cumulative GPA
GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 163 V/154 Q/4.5 AW
Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 3 years teaching high school English in a Title I school. I was a TFA'er who stayed in my placement school.
Math/Econ Background: Literally zero. Took AP Stat senior year in High School but that was my last math class and I've taken 0 Econ classes.
Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): I speak French and a little bit of Spanish. 
Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Public Policy 
Long Term Professional Goals: Interested in work that strengthens poor communities ideally through social policies involving children and families. 
Schools Applied to & Results: I applied to 11 schools. It was definitely too many, but I really doubted my lack of quant/econ background and just wasn't sure what would happen, even though I was accepted everywhere but Princeton.
Princeton WWS / rejected UT-Austin / full ride UMichigan / 1/3 tuition NYU / no funding UChicago /no funding Johns Hopkins / 2/3 tuition Brandeis / 2/3 tuition GW / 10k/yr American / 10k/yr Maryland / 2/3 tuition UPenn / 1/2 tuition Ultimate Decision & Why: Michigan. In the end it came down to Michigan and Hopkins, two totally different programs. I went with Michigan ultimately because of the alumni network, the curriculum, and the professors, even though I was super impressed with the intimate nature of the Hopkins MPP and the faculty there as well. While my "gut" feeling was maybe towards Hopkins, I really felt like Michigan's program will be more beneficial to my future job prospects, and ultimately I'm going to grad school to change career paths.
Advice for Future Applicants: As I said, I definitely did waay more applications than necessary (although the Americorps fee waiver made that possible). If I had to do it again I would have applied to max 6 schools and I would have done more research pre-applying on which programs actually supported my research interests. Biggest takeaway was that a strong overall application can and will make up for lack of quant experience. Also...don't stress too much. You're going to get a great education wherever you go. 

@quietman I've gotta be honest you sound like an awesome applicant and if I were head of an admissions committee I would for sure admit you. I'm mostly just here to chime in that my quant score was 154 (oops) and while I got rejected from WWS I'm in at LBJ, Ford, GW, Hopkins, American, etc. and got money everywhere I applied. I think you happened to pick very quant-reliant programs and increasing that score (or taking a calc class online, etc) would really bolster your score for next year.