sturdyelm

I don't think this question matters at all. Whether you answer it is purely up to you! I think the programs just try to use this as a way to gauge their competition but I can't imagine that they accept or don't accept anyone based on their answers to it. Anecdotally, I have always answered this question and I got into everywhere I applied for undergrad and for my masters programs

As promised....
Ultimate Decision & Why: When I first started this whole process, I was unquestionably sure I would end up going to Heller if I got in because I wanted to attend a program that had a super strong Social Policy program with my specific focus (Child & Family Policy). Much to my surprise, there was A LOT of back and forth between Brandeis Heller and Duke Sanford. I easily knocked off the schools that I applied to that weren’t a good fit (for many reasons) and didn’t give me enough funding to afford grad school. I also ended up negotiating a bit more money out of both Heller and Sanford ( I didn't try to with the other schools and took myself out of the running for one school's aid). 
In the end I decided to go with Sanford because I thought that their program was more out-right quantitatively rigorous than Brandeis (another important aspect for me, which was doable at Brandeis but it seemed that I would have to work for it), they have a diversity of coursework (something I valued more the further along I went in the decision making process) yet I am still able to focus on social policy, it is a bigger program yet still a good size, along with all of the personal life things (such as a my spouse and finances etc).
Advice for Future Applicants:
Breathe! Take it one step at a time. Allow your mind to change throughout this process. One thing I really cannot stress enough, do your research – both before you apply to a program and after you get in. I started doing my extensive comparison research and outreach as soon as all of my applications were in – and this really helped me narrow down my options and thoughts as admission results came in. In hindsight, I wish I had spent more time researching other programs (and found grad café earlier in the game), and not applying to some schools that weren’t a good fit for all of the things I was looking for (seriously don’t do this. It’s better to have fewer applications than waste time and money on a program you don’t want). When making your decision, be sure to talk to current students/alums/faculty (all three if you can!) and visit the school so that you can sit in on classes. It really changes your perspective on the program’s fit for you. Focus on what you want out of a program, and what is a good fit for you. Take advice from others and learn as much as you can, but in the end, tune everyone out and go with your gut and what works for you. Grad school decisions are a very personal process and everyone is looking to get something a little bit different out of it.

It's been suggested by a few schools I applied to take a "refresher course" . These aren't courses that you can take if you need a graded course for final admission, but there are lots of options!
Potential places:
Principles of MicroEconomics, MIT opencourseware (archived course but includes exams & solutions) Principles of Economics, Stanford (archived course) Principles of Economics (MicroEconomics), George Mason University Professors via MRUniversity (video lessons) Statistical Reasoning, Carnegie Mellon Open Learning  Lots of Quant courses at your own pace and own level on edX or Coursera (along with a bunch of other courses) Data Analysis/Statistics:  https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Data Analysis %26 Statistics https://www.coursera.org/browse/data-science/probability-and-statistics?languages=en Economics/Finance: https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Economics %26 Finance https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=economics Math Essentials:  https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Math https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=math

From reading this, it sounds like you are only wanting the economics degree because it would boost your economics background. Public Policy incorporates a lot of various areas including economics, statistics, sociology etc. Which if you want to work in poverty alleviation, it will be much more beneficial to have a range of background information, rather than solely econ. 
Looking at your profile, you are a good candidate for top public policy programs. Those who pursue MPPs have diverse backgrounds. Your work experience is sufficient for a professional program, and would bring alot to the table even if you feel that you didn't do much math or writing. The key to the MPP admission (in addition to everything else) to a top school will be your SOP and decent recommendations. You do not have to have a strong background in math to get into most public policy programs (but some have pre-reqs of intro MicroEcon and Stats which you already have). You will learn how to use the quant skills, learn how to write specifically for policy, and then learn about all of the other elements of policy. Additionally, a lot of public policy programs do focus on economics/finances (or you could easily make that your focus) and how to use budgeting (and those with an MPP do get jobs in budgeting/economic agencies). If you want to get an idea of which schools put more focus on the quantitative skills, this is a really helpful resource. You can't solely rely on this as it is a sampling of programs, and most programs (potentially not listed) have quant requirements with some flexibility on electives so that you could dig deep into the quant.
You might also find some useful comparisons by others on the econ vs. MPP in the Government Affairs forum, I believe this has been talked about recently but don't remember where exactly. Just my two cents and input.

These obviously won't count for credit for those of you who need to formally enroll in a course to meet your applicantion quant background, but if anyone wants to brush up on their calc and micro skills over the summer before their program starts, these two courses are extremely helpful.
Calculus: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF797E961509B4EB5
This guy is one of the best math teachers I've ever encountered, either online or in person. Made calculus very easy to understand. He has Calc 1, 2, and 3 uploaded as full course playlists. Trust me on this one, this is without a doubt the best series of calculus lectures you will find online. 
Micro: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL61533C166E8B0028
MIT OpenCourseWare has some introductory courses upload. I thought that this one was very well done. 

Honestly, I applied to Northeastern as a "backup" school. I was much more interested in other programs, but I really liked the fact that they had some good non-profit/social policy work, so I pretty much declined as soon as I got into another school with a decent aid package. Their tuition cost (and aid, although I didn't try to ask for more) is something to heavily consider.
What area/work are you looking to go into? I did research on a bunch of schools in the area as I thought I would be staying in Massachusetts, but alas. If you message me I might be able to help you figure out some other programs.

It's been suggested by a few schools I applied to take a "refresher course" . These aren't courses that you can take if you need a graded course for final admission, but there are lots of options!
Potential places:
Principles of MicroEconomics, MIT opencourseware (archived course but includes exams & solutions) Principles of Economics, Stanford (archived course) Principles of Economics (MicroEconomics), George Mason University Professors via MRUniversity (video lessons) Statistical Reasoning, Carnegie Mellon Open Learning  Lots of Quant courses at your own pace and own level on edX or Coursera (along with a bunch of other courses) Data Analysis/Statistics:  https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Data Analysis %26 Statistics https://www.coursera.org/browse/data-science/probability-and-statistics?languages=en Economics/Finance: https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Economics %26 Finance https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=economics Math Essentials:  https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Math https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=math

Look what happens - I leave for a month, and come back to see so many people decided on Duke! That's pretty much the most exciting thing. 
This fall, please stay active on GradCafé when the application season comes around again! I think the best thing about Sanford is the community there - it is so strong, vivid, tight-knit, and I miss it all the time now that I've graduated. I like to play up the network, the curriculum, the quant focus, even the weather. But what really made it an amazing two years was the people I studied with and argued with and learned from every day. And I think that's the hardest thing for prospective students to glean from all the online stats and rankings.
So I hope that if you like what you find at Sanford, or if you have valid critiques about it (I certainly have many), please pass on that information here, and in other places, to help people understand what they're getting themselves into. This is a great resource, and we can all pitch in to keep it that way. Congratulations, and have fun in Durham next year! 

I mailed my deposit yesterday as well, so I'll be heading there this fall.
Congrats everyone (no matter where you go)! I know this decision requires alot of debating and thinking.

Same here, @LizaBee and @dollybird. Submitted my deposit yesterday, I'm headed to Durham this fall! Anyone else decide on Sanford?

Scouring previous years' versions of this thread was extremely helpful to me in deciding on which schools to apply to and what my chances might be, so I can't imagine not paying it forward.
Program Applied To: They all have a different acronym, but all masters in public policy/management/administration
Schools Applied To: Princeton WWS, Cornell CIPA, Michigan Ford, UT LBJ, Texas A&M Bush, Carnegie Mellon Heinz
Schools Admitted To: Cornell CIPA (half tuition), Michigan Ford (no funding), UT LBJ (no funding), Texas A&M Bush ($10k/year, which almost covers their insanely affordable tuition), CMU Heinz (3-semester track, full tuition)
Schools Rejected From: WWS
Still Waiting: N/A
Interests: Nonprofit management, inequality/health care policy
Undergraduate institution: One of the NESCAC schools
Undergraduate GPA: 3.4 (an upward trend, rigorous coursework, and academic curiosity to a fault that led to some low grades that bogged down my GPA)
Undergraduate Major: Political Science, Economics, and a liberal arts major that I did "for fun"
GRE Quantitative Score: 161
GRE Verbal Score: 165
GRE AW Score: 5.0
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 4
Years of Work Experience: 4
Describe Relevant Work Experience: I've spent the past four years rising through the ranks of the communications department at a medium-sized think tank.
Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I was pretty happy with them. My boyfriend's mom is a writing teacher and professional editor, and she was enormously helpful in taking them from "probably would've been fine" to "probably really helped my applications." I started writing last summer and reworked and revised sporadically throughout the fall, submitting my final application sometime in mid-December. Don Asher's book on graduate admissions essays has been recommended a lot on this forum, and I think it helped me get into a good frame of mind to start writing.
Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): I was very stressed about not having kept in close contact with a lot of my professors and not being sure how strong their letters would be. I realized that the solution was right in front of me: have 2 from work and use the 1 professor who had very strong things to say about me. I ended up with one from my boss, one from our director of health policy, and one from a professor I took two courses with who liked me quite a bit. My best advice on letters is to ask early and often. Cornell doesn't have a specific deadline, but my goal was to have all my materials submitted my November 15. I gave that as my deadline to all my letter writers, and two turned them in on the 15 and my professor didn't submit hers until mid December- which was just in time for all the hard deadlines that I had. Those were an incredibly stressful few weeks as I started wondering if she was even going to write the letter, and I was very thankful that the November 15 deadline was there to give me a cushion for the others. My understanding is that this is a fairly common situation, and I get it: these are very busy people with a thousand other priorities who are doing you a favor for pretty much nothing in return.
Decision: CMU Heinz. They weren't my first choice going in, but seemed like a program that fit my interests and tended to give a lot of funding, so I applied. I thought that I would almost certainly end up at UT or Cornell (unless I got into Princeton), and I was willing to go into (a reasonable amount of) debt to go to those programs. But I'm glad CMU offered me so much money- it made me really look at their program and realize that it was the best fit for me. I want to be involved in think tank management & operations, and their program is absolutely phenomenal at providing the practical skills necessary to excel in that area.
Words of Advice:
Before you even start finalizing your list of schools, really think long and hard about where you want to be 5-10 years from now and how graduate school will help get you there. People say to do this to make sure grad school is the right choice for you, which is obviously an important distinction to make, but it's also very helpful for figuring out which programs make the most sense and getting your personal statements written. Every school's questions are a little different, but they all essentially want to know where you come from, where you're going, and why you need their program to get from A to B. I really thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do and why I wanted to go to school, and this process still took a while for me.  Once you've accomplished the above process, make sure the schools you choose really reflect your goals and interests. In hindsight, Princeton didn't reflect mine, and I put a lot of energy into that application because who DOESN'T want a free master's from Princeton, but that could have been spent elsewhere with a school that was a better fit. If you're interested in the public/nonprofit sectors, don't get hung up on prestige. First of all, there's no universally agreed upon ranking system that can tell you if school A is more prestigious than school B. If you're on gradcafe, chances are you're looking at and will get into programs that are well-respected and will open doors for you. Sure, if you're looking to go into certain career paths (consulting, etc.) or are an international student where name recognition matters, you may need to take perceived prestige into account. Otherwise, focus on what you'll learn from the program and where the alumni go. Once you have your acceptances and are making your decision, two pieces of advice: (1) talk to as many current students as you can at admitted students' days (and go to them in the first place!). The presentations are helpful, but the most valuable information I got at each event was from current students. How's the workload? What do they do for fun? What don't they like about the program? And (2) don't be afraid to ask for more money!! The worst they can do is say no. Carnegie Mellon originally offered me 90% tuition, which I was blown away by, and then sent an email saying we should let them know if we had a better offer. I sent them the offer from the Bush School and they upped it to full tuition. If they hadn't sent that email, I probably wouldn't have been brave enough to ask because I felt like 90 percent was amazing, and I would've spent several thousand dollars that I didn't need to. I also asked LBJ for money and they didn't budge, but there was no harm done in the process. If you like one school the best but are tempted by another financial offer, there's absolutely no harm in asking.

As promised....
Ultimate Decision & Why: When I first started this whole process, I was unquestionably sure I would end up going to Heller if I got in because I wanted to attend a program that had a super strong Social Policy program with my specific focus (Child & Family Policy). Much to my surprise, there was A LOT of back and forth between Brandeis Heller and Duke Sanford. I easily knocked off the schools that I applied to that weren’t a good fit (for many reasons) and didn’t give me enough funding to afford grad school. I also ended up negotiating a bit more money out of both Heller and Sanford ( I didn't try to with the other schools and took myself out of the running for one school's aid). 
In the end I decided to go with Sanford because I thought that their program was more out-right quantitatively rigorous than Brandeis (another important aspect for me, which was doable at Brandeis but it seemed that I would have to work for it), they have a diversity of coursework (something I valued more the further along I went in the decision making process) yet I am still able to focus on social policy, it is a bigger program yet still a good size, along with all of the personal life things (such as a my spouse and finances etc).
Advice for Future Applicants:
Breathe! Take it one step at a time. Allow your mind to change throughout this process. One thing I really cannot stress enough, do your research – both before you apply to a program and after you get in. I started doing my extensive comparison research and outreach as soon as all of my applications were in – and this really helped me narrow down my options and thoughts as admission results came in. In hindsight, I wish I had spent more time researching other programs (and found grad café earlier in the game), and not applying to some schools that weren’t a good fit for all of the things I was looking for (seriously don’t do this. It’s better to have fewer applications than waste time and money on a program you don’t want). When making your decision, be sure to talk to current students/alums/faculty (all three if you can!) and visit the school so that you can sit in on classes. It really changes your perspective on the program’s fit for you. Focus on what you want out of a program, and what is a good fit for you. Take advice from others and learn as much as you can, but in the end, tune everyone out and go with your gut and what works for you. Grad school decisions are a very personal process and everyone is looking to get something a little bit different out of it.

As promised....
Ultimate Decision & Why: When I first started this whole process, I was unquestionably sure I would end up going to Heller if I got in because I wanted to attend a program that had a super strong Social Policy program with my specific focus (Child & Family Policy). Much to my surprise, there was A LOT of back and forth between Brandeis Heller and Duke Sanford. I easily knocked off the schools that I applied to that weren’t a good fit (for many reasons) and didn’t give me enough funding to afford grad school. I also ended up negotiating a bit more money out of both Heller and Sanford ( I didn't try to with the other schools and took myself out of the running for one school's aid). 
In the end I decided to go with Sanford because I thought that their program was more out-right quantitatively rigorous than Brandeis (another important aspect for me, which was doable at Brandeis but it seemed that I would have to work for it), they have a diversity of coursework (something I valued more the further along I went in the decision making process) yet I am still able to focus on social policy, it is a bigger program yet still a good size, along with all of the personal life things (such as a my spouse and finances etc).
Advice for Future Applicants:
Breathe! Take it one step at a time. Allow your mind to change throughout this process. One thing I really cannot stress enough, do your research – both before you apply to a program and after you get in. I started doing my extensive comparison research and outreach as soon as all of my applications were in – and this really helped me narrow down my options and thoughts as admission results came in. In hindsight, I wish I had spent more time researching other programs (and found grad café earlier in the game), and not applying to some schools that weren’t a good fit for all of the things I was looking for (seriously don’t do this. It’s better to have fewer applications than waste time and money on a program you don’t want). When making your decision, be sure to talk to current students/alums/faculty (all three if you can!) and visit the school so that you can sit in on classes. It really changes your perspective on the program’s fit for you. Focus on what you want out of a program, and what is a good fit for you. Take advice from others and learn as much as you can, but in the end, tune everyone out and go with your gut and what works for you. Grad school decisions are a very personal process and everyone is looking to get something a little bit different out of it.

I don’t post here much, but throughout the application process I have found reading other people’s results from previous years to be very helpful (and in some ways reassuring!).  I’m glad to finally be in a position to do the same for others . So, here goes!
Program Applied To: MPA, MSSP (this is a Master of Science in Social Policy that’s just offered at Penn)
Schools Applied To: Penn Fels, Penn SP2, Princeton WWS, Syracuse Maxwell, NYU Wagner, UDel SPPA
Schools Admitted To: Penn Fels + SP2 (~75% scholarship), Syracuse Maxwell (~60% scholarship + 54k stipend), UDel SPPA (90% scholarship + $18k stipend), NYU Wagner (no funding)
Schools Rejected From: WWS
Still Waiting: N/A
Interests: Domestic social policy, specifically food insecurity and safety net programs.
Undergraduate institution: Top 100 liberal arts college
Undergraduate GPA: 3.97
Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 3.98
Undergraduate Major: American Studies, with a specific focus on poverty and racial inequality in the US.
GRE Quantitative Score: 157
GRE Verbal Score: 170
GRE AW Score: 5.5
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 5
Years of Work Experience: 5
Describe Relevant Work Experience: Nonprofit development/fundraising at two different well-established organizations whose missions are directly related to the policy areas of interest to me: food insecurity, poverty, safety net programs. I also serve as the Secretary of the Board of Directors for my neighborhood food co-op, and I have significant community service experience.  
Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): My guess is very. I opened with a compelling personal story that connects my family background to the policy issues I care about, and then led into how that experience shaped my career goals in terms of the work I’ve done in nonprofit development over the past 5 years, why I am now pursuing an MPA, and what I want to do in the long-term. I also customized my SOP for each school to demonstrate "fit" with their program and show I did my homework.  
Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): I didn’t see my rec letters, but my guess is that they were also strong. I had one letter from each of my direct supervisors at the nonprofits I’ve worked for, and have good relationships with both of them.  My third letter came from my college advisor, who has described me in the past as one of the best students he’s taught.     
Decision: I’m doing the MPA + MSSP dual degree program at Penn. Since I know I want to stay in the Philly area for the foreseeable future for family reasons, the Fels MPA offers a great network – and I’m really interested in pairing that with the ability to focus specifically on social policy analysis through the MSSP. 
Words of Advice:
Start the application process early. Between my full-time job and community involvement I tend to be a very busy person, so taking a full year to research schools and work on my applications gave me the time I needed to apply confidently. I decided I officially wanted to apply to grad school in December 2015, so from January - August I studied for and took the GRE (I originally intended to take it in the spring but life got in the way). Then I spent August - December visiting schools, writing essays, coordinating with recommenders, and filling out applications.  Maybe if you aren’t as busy as I am you could do it in less than a year, but regardless I would recommend starting earlier than you might think you should.  A year sounded like SO much time to me but it really wasn’t.
  MAGOOSH!! Magoosh is a really stellar online test prep service that I truly cannot recommend highly enough – and at $99 for a 6 month subscription, it made WAY more sense for me than spending upwards of $1,000 on test prep from Kaplan or Princeton Review. They have fantastic study plans, very helpful video lessons, a gazillion practice questions that mirror the test format, and 8 excellent practice tests. It’s self-guided, which worked well for my schedule. I’m not great with standardized tests: I first took the GRE in my senior year of college with minimal preparation and did poorly (152Q, 160V, 4.5 AWA). For a long time I wondered if I would ever actually apply to grad school because the GRE felt like such a big hurdle. I really credit Magoosh with helping me get my scores up.
  You CAN avoid going into massive debt if you make it a priority. I knew I was not willing to take on any more than $30,000 in debt for grad school, so as I was researching programs I made sure to look into the amount of aid available. I only considered schools in a very limited geographic area, but even within that I made sure that my list of schools included a couple where I would have a good chance of getting funding. I also worked really hard to get my GRE scores up knowing what an impact that can have on schools’ financial aid decisions. I was fortunate that I was able to afford my top-choice school because of the scholarship I was offered, but if that hadn’t worked out I definitely had a good “safety” school option that would have ensured I could get my master’s without going into massive debt.
  Getting into the most selective school isn’t everything. I’m not gonna lie, I was disappointed when I didn’t get into WWS. If I had gotten in, I would have gone without a question because I felt like it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I mean, essentially getting paid to get your master’s from a top program is pretty awesome. But I realize now that I had built WWS up in my mind because of the prestige factor and the incredible funding they offer. If I’m being honest with myself, I knew deep down that WWS wasn't right fit for me when I visited in the fall; I walked away from that visit feeling less excited about the program, not more. I really think it was a blessing in disguise that I didn’t get in, because I know I will be much happier at Penn in just about every way -- academically, personally, and professionally. Since I intend to stay in the Philly area, I think Penn will actually open more doors for me here than Princeton would. And I absolutely fell in love with Fels the two times I visited. I know there’s a temptation to just try to go to the “best” or most highly ranked school you can, but I would recommend really putting a lot of thought into what you want to get out of your degree and what makes the most sense for you. 

Program Applied To: (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.)  MPP, MPA, PhD (Poli Sci)
Schools Applied To:  Berkeley GSPP (MPP), HKS (MPP), Princeton WWS (MPA), UCSD (Poli Sci PhD), Columbia (Poli Sci PhD)
Schools Admitted To:  Berkeley GSPP (MPP) (No funding), HKS (MPP) (???), Princeton WWS (MPA) ($$$), UCSD (Poli Sci PhD) ($$$)
Schools Rejected From:  NA
Waitlisted:  Columbia (Poli Sci PhD)
Undergraduate institution:  Top Public
Undergraduate GPA:  3.76
Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable):  3.75
Undergraduate Major:  Political Science, Minor in Public Policy
GRE Quantitative Score:  157
GRE Verbal Score:  165
GRE AW Score:  4.5
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable):  ~2
Years of Work Experience:  Full time ~2, part-time relevant ~3
 
Describe Relevant Work Experience:  Lot of undergrad student government at my campus and at state level, a year as a part-time consultant for a small non-profit, a little over a year at a private foundation, a few months as a legal assistant, a summer policy fellowship, and more campus-based organizing while in undergrad
 
Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc):  I would say very solid. I worked on it for about a month at about 10 hours a week. Wrote it, scrapped it, wrote it again, scrapped it again, got something decent, passed it to my friend who is a technical writer, basically rewrote it after her suggestions, had sit down to carefully go over new draft with her, and finally got something pretty tailored. A piece of advice would be to be very upfront early on. My first sentence was along the lines of:" I want to get an MPP and XXX school to gain the policy analysis, public management, and leaderships skills to do XXX." I went through every sentence and asked 1) Does this need to be said? 2) Is this the best way to say it? 3) Is this the best place to say it? Happy to talk more about this in a PM.
 
Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): Solid, nothing crazy. 2 from professors that knew me pretty well and 2 from the CEO of the orgs I worked the most time in. Both CEO's know me well and I still get lunch with one of them every now and then. Don't ask folks that can't speak to your specific talents with enthusiasm. Try to find someone with an MPP/MPA to write you a letter. Two of the folks who did for me had one. They can speak out of experience to your ability to succeed in the type of program. 

Other: *Take all of this with a grain of salt as we all come from different places. I didn't apply to many schools but I did apply to very different programs so it was a lot of work. My advice would be to not apply to more than 6 schools but do it well. You can choose to make some of those safeties, I didn't. My thoughts on grad school where maybe not in the mainstream, IDK. I was only willing to go to grad school at a top program. I have a pretty decent job and the debt and time spent calculations only made sense for a top program in my case. I was surprised at my success this cycle and am still stressing a bit on my decision though I'm starting to settle on one. Happy to talk with folks in a PM if you have any questions

Spring Preview was pretty informative and fun. I met a few students who said that they had been convinced by attending other previews, but were seriously considering Ford now. I myself have been pretty convinced to take up the MPP!
Key points I picked up:
1. Strong academic points of the school include :
(A) Ford's Writing Center with three Ford faculty hired to critique your policy-related writing through individual appointments. Apparently no other public policy school in the nation has such a dedicated Writing Center to help its students with policy writing. The 5-week writing course that the Center offers is pretty recommended. (B) Ford strongly supports an interdisciplinary focus, with all Ford students required to take some credits outside of Ford, and with a ton of other Michigan schools (e.g. Public Health, Education) being highly ranked nationally. Apparently the process for taking non-Ford modules is pretty easy; you shouldn't need to apply for endless approvals for those. Also, other than the option of doing a dual degree in another discipline (which you can apply for after getting accepted into Ford), you can also apply for certain Certificate programs across the U of M schools, of which there are a ton. (C) Also, they are pretty flexible with you exploring whatever interest you want. You don't have to declare a concentration in Ford, and so if you aren't sure that you want to specialize in a particular area of policy, this school will support that. 2. Ford's Careers & Alumni relations office seems really strong. They have an open door policy, so you can apparently ask them to take a look at a cover letter due in 30 minutes time before you send it off. They also hire some upper-level students as Peer Advisors, which does help in having someone approachable to speak to about career matters. They also send out a Mon afternoon newsletter collating upcoming career-related opportunities, like employer visits on campus or certain funding deadlines. They also seem quite aware that it's not just connecting you with opportunities that matter, but also helping you identify your interests and career aspirations, and have had past workshops to help students with that. They also seem to have strong alumni relations: "once you're in, you're always a part of the Ford community". 
3. While the compulsory Core Curriculum is somewhat quantitative methods-heavy with 3 quant classes, you can take up qualitative research methods classes as your electives. Though there are a ton of Ford professors who have a more economics focus, there are also some more recent qual professor hires: http://fordschool.umich.edu/news/2017/tamar-mitts-and-fabiana-silva-join-ford-school-faculty-fall-2017.
4. If you have a quant background and want to test out of the quant core classes, you can test out during orientation week. However, you may not want to do so as most of the 1st year students will be bonding around these class experiences, the professors who teach the quant core classes seem universally beloved, and you will have to substitute those classes with other credits anyway.
5. While GSI positions are by no means guaranteed, you can apply for GSI positions across other U of M schools and apparently Ford GSIs have a pretty good reputation. You can also try working at various Centers across the U of M.
6. Not sure how much this matters to you, but this will be the last year with the current well-loved Dean of the Ford School. Her successor has not been confirmed yet.
7. The students really seem to have fun here. The Fab Ford Idol karaoke at a local bar was really well-attended and apparently a faculty member even did a song.
Feel free to message if there's anything in particular you'd like to know about - there was way too much information to recount in full!
 

It's been suggested by a few schools I applied to take a "refresher course" . These aren't courses that you can take if you need a graded course for final admission, but there are lots of options!
Potential places:
Principles of MicroEconomics, MIT opencourseware (archived course but includes exams & solutions) Principles of Economics, Stanford (archived course) Principles of Economics (MicroEconomics), George Mason University Professors via MRUniversity (video lessons) Statistical Reasoning, Carnegie Mellon Open Learning  Lots of Quant courses at your own pace and own level on edX or Coursera (along with a bunch of other courses) Data Analysis/Statistics:  https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Data Analysis %26 Statistics https://www.coursera.org/browse/data-science/probability-and-statistics?languages=en Economics/Finance: https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Economics %26 Finance https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=economics Math Essentials:  https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Math https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=math

I unfortunately won't be able to attend the Spring Preview, and not sure how much of an option Ford is for me. However, I did manage to email with the person who called me, and who gave me some tremendous answers. So I wanted to share some of the information (without giving them or myself away) in case others find it helpful:
Ford gives away a lot of money. Most people have a job working part-time on campus on initiatives or research programs that coincide with their policy interests. The Ford school hires graduate student instructors, tutors and graders for core classes (although most of these are 2nd year students. A GSI position pays a stipend as well as full tuition scholarship for the semester) and there are programs within Ford that hire students throughout the year for specific policy programs. There are also opportunities to work within other schools at UMich (suggested looking at Rackham and programs specific to your policy interests).  If you already have a quant background, you should try to test out of the Calculus, Microeconomics A, and Statistics, this is difficult to do but not impossible. Ford offers a Math Camp during orientation week that you are encouraged to attend. Ford holds alot of workshops and events, which are well-attended and most often worth going to but can be a bit of a time suck (something most people don't think about when considering time management and course load with student groups etc.) It is strongly encouraged to join student groups.There are about 12-14 groups just within Ford that will be looking for new members in the fall and you have the option of how much time you want to give to them. "Once you've said yes to your acceptance letter, you'll begin to get links and info from students and admin about which classes to take (in and out of Ford) and which ones were the most helpful depending on topic. That's one thing I truly love about Ford, we are not competitive with each other and therefore everyone is trying to find ways to help their fellow classmates."

It's been suggested by a few schools I applied to take a "refresher course" . These aren't courses that you can take if you need a graded course for final admission, but there are lots of options!
Potential places:
Principles of MicroEconomics, MIT opencourseware (archived course but includes exams & solutions) Principles of Economics, Stanford (archived course) Principles of Economics (MicroEconomics), George Mason University Professors via MRUniversity (video lessons) Statistical Reasoning, Carnegie Mellon Open Learning  Lots of Quant courses at your own pace and own level on edX or Coursera (along with a bunch of other courses) Data Analysis/Statistics:  https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Data Analysis %26 Statistics https://www.coursera.org/browse/data-science/probability-and-statistics?languages=en Economics/Finance: https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Economics %26 Finance https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=economics Math Essentials:  https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Math https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=math

I got my call last night as well but I was away from my phone. I've been texting with them today and plan to talk soon. I'll let you know how the conversation goes.

It's been suggested by a few schools I applied to take a "refresher course" . These aren't courses that you can take if you need a graded course for final admission, but there are lots of options!
Potential places:
Principles of MicroEconomics, MIT opencourseware (archived course but includes exams & solutions) Principles of Economics, Stanford (archived course) Principles of Economics (MicroEconomics), George Mason University Professors via MRUniversity (video lessons) Statistical Reasoning, Carnegie Mellon Open Learning  Lots of Quant courses at your own pace and own level on edX or Coursera (along with a bunch of other courses) Data Analysis/Statistics:  https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Data Analysis %26 Statistics https://www.coursera.org/browse/data-science/probability-and-statistics?languages=en Economics/Finance: https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Economics %26 Finance https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=economics Math Essentials:  https://www.edx.org/course/?availability=Self-Paced&language=English&subject=Math https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=math

Many people spend $50k or less on their public policy degrees - they can do this through merit aid (which is more common than you may think) and/or paying in-state tuition at a public university.  5 years ago, I ended up taking out just under $50k in loans for a dual degree (two years) at the Maxwell School with the help of significant merit aid.
Given the existing income-based repayment programs, theoretically you can take out any amount of federal loans (up to the cost of attendance), get a government job, and still not be destitute.  While I can't guarantee these programs will be in place or unchanged when you graduate, there hasn't been much talk of getting rid of them (Public Service Loan Forgiveness is another story).  I know several people who took out $100k+ in loans for their public policy degrees, and they are generally fine financially.  They make their income-based payments every month, so even though they are not necessarily making a dent in their loan balances (their balances may even be increasing as the interest accrues), they are not at risk of defaulting on their loans.  
But one thing I think a lot of us realized after we graduated is that public sector and nonprofit employers generally do not pay people more money because they attended Harvard instead of the University of Maryland or SUNY Albany.  You are very likely to start your job out of grad school and find yourself working with people from all types of academic backgrounds, and the high performers succeed and get promoted because of how they work, not where they studied.  Of the people I know with $100k+ in loans, I think they could easily be making the same amount of money without the six-figure degree.  Some of their peers did end up in high-paying consulting gigs, and that may very well be worth the cost of the degree.  However, I am of the mind that, if you want to go into consulting, you should just get an MBA.  If you want to go into government, you are not going to make substantially more money because you went to Harvard.
Bottom line is that if you really, really want to, you're not going to completely ruin your life by taking out $140-$150k in loans.  But it very likely will not be worth the investment, given that it is possible to spend a lot less on the same degree somewhere else.

thank you so much, but don't give up hope yet, especially if this is your top choice school. There is a fellowship that covers full tuition for two years and provides you with an internship in the Mayor of Detroit's office (that's a big deal!), and Michigan will give you an answer if you apply before you have to accept/reject your offers from other schools, so you'll know ahead of time if you have the funding or not. 
 
On top of that, Michigan has a lot of GSI (same thing as TA) positions available and there's a good chance you'd get it for at least one semester. These positions cover tuition fully for that semester that you work, and also provide you with health insurance I believe. Let's say you only did it for 2 out of your 4 semester, that's still a 50% scholarship essentially, along with your 1/3 tuition scholarship, your tuition is suddenly is much more manageable and maybe comparable to other schools you are considering. I don't want to push you in one way or another, I just want you to know that these opportunities exist, and Michigan probably has more money to give than any other school when it comes to TA/RA positions and summer internship funding. If you're interested in studying a language, which Ford allows, you could always apply to the FLAS academic year fellowship, which would fully cover your tuition the second year as long as you take at least 1 regional studies course and 1 language course each semester of that year. 

Debt is definitely a major factor, especially if you want to be an ED of a non-profit and have a decent amount of undergrad debt. So, in agreement with @fallmpp2017I think if you limit it to that, your decision is between LBJ and Heinz. I think one of the major questions you should be asking of each school is about the feasibility to take courses outside the program (including other schools in the area) and/or customize your program to your needs and interests.
Fit is also a really important factor for graduate school so I can see why this is such a hard decision (and one I am struggling with myself when trying to compare to funding!). If you believe Michigan is the perfect curricular fit, consider why Michigan seems like the perfect curricular fit for you and see if it's possible to make that happen at the other schools that have offered lower debt funding options. Also if you're worried about the course level at Heinz, they wouldn't have admitted you if they didn't think you could handle it! Sorry I don't offer much help - but I think just continue to ask questions and definitely visit the schools if you can, as you get a perspective shift when you do.

Where do you want to work post-grad? LBJ is a great school, but it probably carries more weight in the south / midwest. If you want to be in DC or similar coastal hubs, Heinz would probably be better bang for your buck. But then again, Austin probably totally beats Pittsburgh in terms of culture / city life, so if that is important to you for the next two years, it is definitely an important consideration. 
Plus, I know you said you are afraid of it's quantitative focus at Heinz (and I am too as a person from a social sciences background) but it probably will do you good in terms of becoming a competitive candidate for nonprofit / gov't jobs. 
My gut reaction says Heinz with the great offer that you have, but LBJ sounds like a fantastic option too. Good luck!