<p>Academically speaking, Caltech is probably the most challenging school in your list. Stanford on the other hand offers the best mix of prestige, high academic standards and quality of life/social experience. </p>
<p>Personally I wouldn’t go to Berkeley as an undergrad (too big for me !) . Definitely, I wouldn’t go to Harvey Mudd either. Like in other LAC’s, Mudd’s faculty and course offerings are not on par with those at the major research universities.</p>