The romantic inside of me says screw these academics, go with love. I don't know if you've watched the movie Up in the Air, but that one line George Clooney says is pretty damn true. "If you think about it, your favorite memories, the most important moments in your life... were you alone? Life's better with company."
To be honest, I don't think you'll be happier at your top school. You'll feel more accomplished, maybe have a larger sense of pride, throw the name of your school around and elicit some oohs and ahhs, but you won't be happier. Happy comes from people, not from school rankings.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing - no school, no job, not even winning a Fields Medal - that can substitute the feeling I get when my girlfriend wakes me up with a kiss and a hug.
