You should be extremely reluctant to turn down a first rank school in favor of a second ranked one. The only two real first ranks schools on your list are MIT and Harvard. Both have fantastic economics departments and there’s no reason to prefer one to the other on this criteria. You’ll probably have to do a lot less work at Harvard than you would at MIT plus you would probably have a better social life at Harvard at least if you’re a heterosexual male.
If a second rank school does give you a full ride you need to consider why they are so desperate to have you, it’s probably because they think you would be well above the quality of their average student.
I’m an associate professor of economics at Smith college.
You should be extremely reluctant to turn down a first rank school in favor of a second ranked one. The only two real first ranks schools on your list are MIT and Harvard. Both have fantastic economics departments and there’s no reason to prefer one to the other on this criteria. You’ll probably have to do a lot less work at Harvard than you would at MIT plus you would probably have a better social life at Harvard at least if you’re a heterosexual male.
If a second rank school does give you a full ride you need to consider why they are so desperate to have you, it’s probably because they think you would be well above the quality of their average student.
I’m an associate professor of economics at Smith college.