gelatinskeleton

I'm a pretty indecisive person, and I'm curious how everyone else is approaching their decisions on what to accept or decline. What questions are you asking? What factors are most important to you? How are you getting your information (talking to current students, website, admitted students day, etc)? Obviously funding is extremely important, but I know that not everyone always goes with the cheapest option. How are you gauging whether higher costs are worth it? I know that debt vs payoff is always important in all fields, but I think it is especially important in public policy, which no one gets into thinking they're going to make big money. 
Here are some questions that I've been asking:
How many students go on to be PMFs? How well do students know their professors?  Are research opportunities accessible to grad students? What sectors are students employed in after graduating? How easy is it to take interesting electives in other departments? What do most students spend time on outside of the classroom? Is heavy extracurricular involvement common? Do most work part time? What are the alumni or career center services like? (Are there more specific questions I can ask about this?) How many years of professional experience are most students coming in with? What questions, facts, etc have helped you get a good sense of what a particular grad school is actually like? I'd love to hear from people currently in these programs or recently graduated about what you wish you would have asked before enrolling. I don't think these are particularly nuanced so it would be great to hear what questions you have asked that led to enlightening answers.

I think @MaxwellAlum's advice is spot on. Generally, yes, $100k in loans is a horrible idea. 
If you haven't done this yet, make sure you understand what paying off 100K loans looks like every month: https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/loan-calculator.aspx 
100K over 10 years at 5.7% interest (which i think is about average interest for Dep of Ed loans for grad students) is $1,095 a month. That is insane. That was the price of rent in my bare bones apartment in DC. It sounds like you have work experience, but for anyone reading this who has not been financially independent before, this is a TON of money. It is really hard to make this work with a public service income, and you will feel it. Even if you pay it off over a longer period of time at a lower monthly rate (~$600), it is still really expensive!
Plus, I think it is important for people to have a financial safety net and start building it when they are young. Shit happens and you need to be able to pay for it. For example, dropping your phone in a pool, your computer crashing, wanting to visiting someone you love who is sick, your apartment flooding or getting broken into (get renters insurance PLEASE), medical issues of all shapes, severities and sizes, friends getting married and having babies in distant corners of the country/world. When I had just graduated from college I didn't realize how many things of this nature would happen, but unexpected expenses are a very predictable part of life. Plus, being able to travel for fun or engage in hobbies that bring you joy is pretty sweet. 
I would also encourage you to map out what you want to do and all possible paths to it. Talk to people who took untraditional paths to the career you want. And also, constantly ask yourself why you want it, because I think we can get caught in the sparkly exterior of our career dreams without prodding a bit to see what is actually behind it. Why do you want this career? What natural skills and strengths of yours does it engage? What about the day-to-day of this job appeals to you? What larger impact does it work towards? Think beyond the field but the actual position you want within that field or organization, because this significantly alters the type of path you should take to said career goal. 

Great job! You all are rockstars, funding or not. Treat yourself tonight.

Guys - it's 5:29 AM on the east coast of the US right now. I say this with kindness, but - relax! Earlier in this thread, it was confirmed that the decisions would be all out by the end of this week. We'll know when we know, and I'm afraid that's all we can expect! As much as I'd like to satisfy my own curiosity, I think we have to abide by the reality of the admissions process, which is that not everything comes out at once, and not everything runs exactly according to whatever schedule we think they might have.

Happy Women’s Day wishes for all the women on the forum.

To retain sanity while waiting (partially for HKS but also a few other schools I’m really pumped about) I have tried to plan a lot of fun activities for the next week, and when I am forced to be by my computer or have idle time, I either listen to an awesome audiobook or set a timer for 20 min to an hour. Until the timer goes off I’m not allowed to check my email or touch my phone or visit grad cafe. It’s helped me stay calm and concentrated on my life despite a lot of uncertainty! I have found that I otherwise feel so overwhelmed that even if a decision comes and brings good news, I still have an inexplicable anxiety that feels permanently lodged in the pit of my stomach hah. 
Good luck to everyone else who feels like they are sometimes going to tear their hair out and remember that (insert dream school name here) is just one of many ways to achieve your goals!! 

To retain sanity while waiting (partially for HKS but also a few other schools I’m really pumped about) I have tried to plan a lot of fun activities for the next week, and when I am forced to be by my computer or have idle time, I either listen to an awesome audiobook or set a timer for 20 min to an hour. Until the timer goes off I’m not allowed to check my email or touch my phone or visit grad cafe. It’s helped me stay calm and concentrated on my life despite a lot of uncertainty! I have found that I otherwise feel so overwhelmed that even if a decision comes and brings good news, I still have an inexplicable anxiety that feels permanently lodged in the pit of my stomach hah. 
Good luck to everyone else who feels like they are sometimes going to tear their hair out and remember that (insert dream school name here) is just one of many ways to achieve your goals!! 

To retain sanity while waiting (partially for HKS but also a few other schools I’m really pumped about) I have tried to plan a lot of fun activities for the next week, and when I am forced to be by my computer or have idle time, I either listen to an awesome audiobook or set a timer for 20 min to an hour. Until the timer goes off I’m not allowed to check my email or touch my phone or visit grad cafe. It’s helped me stay calm and concentrated on my life despite a lot of uncertainty! I have found that I otherwise feel so overwhelmed that even if a decision comes and brings good news, I still have an inexplicable anxiety that feels permanently lodged in the pit of my stomach hah. 
Good luck to everyone else who feels like they are sometimes going to tear their hair out and remember that (insert dream school name here) is just one of many ways to achieve your goals!! 

To retain sanity while waiting (partially for HKS but also a few other schools I’m really pumped about) I have tried to plan a lot of fun activities for the next week, and when I am forced to be by my computer or have idle time, I either listen to an awesome audiobook or set a timer for 20 min to an hour. Until the timer goes off I’m not allowed to check my email or touch my phone or visit grad cafe. It’s helped me stay calm and concentrated on my life despite a lot of uncertainty! I have found that I otherwise feel so overwhelmed that even if a decision comes and brings good news, I still have an inexplicable anxiety that feels permanently lodged in the pit of my stomach hah. 
Good luck to everyone else who feels like they are sometimes going to tear their hair out and remember that (insert dream school name here) is just one of many ways to achieve your goals!! 

To retain sanity while waiting (partially for HKS but also a few other schools I’m really pumped about) I have tried to plan a lot of fun activities for the next week, and when I am forced to be by my computer or have idle time, I either listen to an awesome audiobook or set a timer for 20 min to an hour. Until the timer goes off I’m not allowed to check my email or touch my phone or visit grad cafe. It’s helped me stay calm and concentrated on my life despite a lot of uncertainty! I have found that I otherwise feel so overwhelmed that even if a decision comes and brings good news, I still have an inexplicable anxiety that feels permanently lodged in the pit of my stomach hah. 
Good luck to everyone else who feels like they are sometimes going to tear their hair out and remember that (insert dream school name here) is just one of many ways to achieve your goals!! 

Lol how do yall know all this?

Haven't heard anything but also crossing my fingers for a notification soon given last year's decisions. 

I talked to one of the Professors at LBJ and they said that they are in process of sending out the official admission packet (Official Letter and funding details). We should receive it in a day or two.

Yes, I'm doing UCLA's stats class online! If I do micro or macro as well, I'll go through UT-Austin. I'm not sure about UCLA's stats class rigor, my roommate got an A and didn't try too hard but maybe she is just a math whiz