<p>I was in a very similar situation last year. I’m also an econ major wanting to do some sort of finance/ corporate law in the future. My choices were Duke, Penn,Cornell, NU, UChicago, UCB, and LSE (a school in UK). And in the end, I chose Duke.
The thing that confused me was whether I should look at the school with “higher ranked econ department” or the one that is better in terms of the whole school. My obvious choices in the former were UChicago, NU, and UCB. However, after talking to many many econ professors and people in the finance industry, I learned that at an undergrad level, the econ ranking doesn’t matter. They are mostly based on phD / grad rankings and thus depend on the research/academic output of the professors, which does not translate to better department at least at an undergrad level. Just because you go to a “higher ranked” econ department, doesn’t mean the professors will tell you the secrets behind modern econ or anything like that. Learning in major like Econ takes place mostly in the form of classroom instructions, so you’ll learn more at wherever there are “smarter” classmates. But since Duke and NU are so similar in these respects, in this case, you should go with fit. If you are interested in law, the “prestige” of your undergrad institution doesn’t matter much so you will be fine with either choices.
That being said, go with where you will be happiset. I know this sounds cheesy but seriously, you are likely to get a better GPA in wherever you are happier, which will translate into better law school admissions four years later. And ceteris peribus, choose the one with better financial package if that’s any significant to you.
And I’m not too sure if MMSS will be a best thing for you if you are set on law. It’s obviously really quant-based and it will be hard to get a realy good GPA.</p>