Upstate NY is big. What part? What school are you going back to, if you don't mind me asking? There are a number of very good colleges up there in the form of RIT, U of R, Syracuse U, a ton of SUNY's[1] and others.

Paychex and Kodak were founded in the Rochester area, for example. So its not like you're guaranteed to be in a desolate rural void just because you're in upstate NY.

What would you focus on if you were to go back (note: not what would you major in, but, what would you spend your time doing?)

1. As someone from Long Island, Albany, Binghamton and Buffalo are the ones that always spring to my mind when I think SUNY. But, others are still good -- I did't go to either of those three and got a (what I feel is) a pretty good education.