I’m guessing companies would want to hire the guy who hated Harvard or MIT, but only if he got a good GPA. I’m smart and I was a pretty good student, but I don’t know how good of grades I would have gotten if I was at a school I absolutely hated. I’m sure some people can buckle down and make it through four years of misery because they know it will be worth it in the end. But I think a lot of people would have grades that would suffer if they were miserable every day at college.
I’m not saying that college should be a non-stop party, where every day is super fun. But for some place you’ll be for four years, you should at least be able to mostly tolerate it and hopefully enjoy it sometimes.
This is what I’m saying. Visiting a school to help you see if it’s right for you. I loved being at a big school where there were a ton of options for classes and for student activities. Some other people would hate being at such a big school, and would prefer a smaller school where it’s easier to get to know the professors and other students.
I’d suggest you look at Florida State University and their economics program. I graduated from FSU in economics and I really enjoyed my classes there as well as the university.
There is a huge FSU alumni base. I live in Chicago now, working for a major brokerage firm. My freshman year roommate and I are still friends to this day and he lives nearby working in a good job completely unrelated field to his major.
Spend a few minutes on http://www.fsu.edu and you’ll see that this is a great place for undergraduate work. The economics professors are excellent, and you’ll like the selection of classes which has gotten better since I graduated.