<p>Waterloo is quire well regarded in mathematics in Canada. The top Ontario math/physics/computer science/engineering students in Ontario typically go to either UofT or Waterloo. The thing is that Waterloo competes UofT only in these specific areas, not overall (eg. humanities or biology at Waterloo is nothing special). As such it really doesn’t have the reputation that Toronto does on message board such as CC (where most posters are American, and can maybe name 2 Canadian universities -Toronto and McGill). However it seems that Waterloo is pretty well respected by US companies because Microsoft recruits heavily out of Waterloo. Blackberry (Formally RIM also used to recruit a lot of students a lot of Waterloo).</p>
<p>I honestly dont know a ton about the US schools you listed except that Chicago has a great history and is very selective, and UC Berkley (and the UC system as a whole frankly) is kinda seen as the gold standard for a state run university in the US.</p>