<p>RML, you are actually wrong. You are probably right as to “most” students with offers from both schools, at least at the undergraduate level, but there are plenty of people who would be decent candidates for Stanford who don’t apply there because they don’t want to go there, and the number of Chicago students who turn down an actual offer from Stanford is not a null set. (My daughter’s first-year roommate-equivalent was one.)</p>
<p>I don’t know a lot about the actual nature of current undergraduate education at Stanford at a granular level, but in the past it was iffy – some people got superfabulous educations, but it was very possible to skate by or to fall between the cracks in a way that would be impossible at Chicago – and I have heard similar stories from recent graduates in the past decade. Chicago provides a really solid undergraduate experience. My kids’ academic experience at Chicago was orders of magnitude better than my sister’s at Stanford. For someone not interested in engineering or football, it would be perfectly rational to pick Chicago over Stanford, even without considering things like wanting to be in a city, or wanting to be closer to a Midwestern home. (It would also be perfectly rational to pick Stanford over Chicago, of course. It’s not that Chicago is so clearly superior, just that it has some strengths Stanford doesn’t and is not clearly inferior.)</p>
<p>Economics: The two faculties are actually very similar, and there isn’t a decisive advantage for either.</p>
<p>Other academic graduate programs you would have to look department by department, and which one you would choose would depend on exactly what you wanted to study, specific faculty members, not so much the department, per se.</p>
<p>Law, Business: It’s #3 vs. #4, meaning the prestige difference doesn’t matter at all in the real world, especially if you don’t plan to live in California, and there are lots of factors that could lead someone to pick Chicago over Stanford. The faculties are probably marginally stronger at Chicago, but Stanford has a recruiting advantage for students because of the business vibrancy of Silicon Valley, the sheer size of California, and the weather.</p>
<p>What Stanford really has going for it is fabulous weather, general California-ness (including the naked ambition vs. naked thing, which goes back a long way), Silicon Valley being very exciting for lots of people, and San Francisco being beautiful. Plus all the engineering. Plus NCAA Division I sports. It has a more diverse student body because it has a more diverse applicant pool. But it’s in a suburb, and not such an interesting suburb, either.</p>