<p>I don’t think Chicago is often compared to HYPSM. HYPSM+Caltech are often compared to themselves, and often to themselves alone. Chicago is often compared to Northwestern, the other Ivies, Duke, Notre Dame, Rice, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Michigan and other top Publics, such as Berkeley, Virginia, W&M and UNC. That being said, yes, Chicago is in a league above UC Riverside. But if you’ll graduate at the top of your class at UC Riverside, you’ll go places where top Chicago grads often go. </p>