[jedahan]

Why not go through the interview process (perhaps as practice for companies you actually care about) and then if you get to an offer stage, politely decline then cite the reasons. Your decline should be much more visible as many more people past the initial recruiter will have met with you, etc. Might make more of a difference.

[shostack]

More importantly, it gives you the chance to have a conversation with real people (and hopefully ones you'd be working with) to get a clearer picture of things with which to make a more balanced decision.