I don’t know much about Stanford, but Uchicago has very…quirky, and perhaps nerdy atmosphere. It also is more academically oriented.
It’s not a matter of which one is better than the other. They are both two of the best powerhouse research universities in the world. It boils down to which one you feel more right about. In regards to weather, Chicago has the four seasons and winter time really helps build character. Needless to say, Stanford enjoys beautiful weather practically all year round. It’s a tough choice, but it’s an easy choice if you trust your guts. Since you live in the Bay Area, I would challenge myself to go out of my comfort zone and try a new environment to spend the next four years enriching my life of the mind in a world class university just like the one in Palo Alto.
I went to the better Bay Area school – UC Berkeley, go Bears – of often entertained in town bored Stanford students who escaped Palo Alto on weekends. The poor sods. Stuck in the suburbs in a school that looks like Taco Bell.
(Tongue firmly planted in cheek.)
^ Taco Bell…Oh God…
Here’s what @bluesky100 stated in a couple of previous posts:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20313272/#Comment_20313272
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20504249#Comment_20504249
Ouch, no sense in not calling someone out…
BTW, Stanford weather is not San Diego weather, it’s a perpetual 55 degrees rain or shine, sometimes windy sometimes not. Now if Stanford were in San Diego that would be nice.
Ya, I’ll disagree with this. I live in the vicinity of Stanford/Palo Alto and it’s a great college town. I see loads and loads of students on University and California Avenues as well in Town & Country Village. Geez have you seen the lines for Philz coffee on Alma? If you can’t walk or bike from campus to Town & Country and/or University Avenue, then I’d say get a gym membership. :))
And the Stanford campus is 800 acres and gorgeous.There’s always a mass migration of students walking to and from the Dish.
As for the weather, my D has played soccer for years and years for a club soccer team based in Palo Alto. I’ve spent many an early winter morning (fond memories of those 8:00 AM weekend mornings) at various fields in and around Palo Alto. And I can’t think of many, if any, mornings where I didn’t wear shorts and flip flops to watch or just go for a run during the game.
The running joke around here (Silicon Valley) is when you ask a Cal grad why they decided to go to Cal, they’ll answer “because they couldn’t get into Stanford.”
I have many relatives that attended Cal and one that currently attends. 
@sushiritto
"when you ask a Cal grad why they decided to go to Cal, they’ll answer “because they couldn’t get into Stanford.”
– And that’s a JOKE? 
I love the rivalry. Both are great schools and their energies are reflected throughout the Bay Area, a most dynamic place. I had a roommate who did her undergrad at Stanford, then got her Master’s at Cal. She was interviewing for a job and the interviewer looked over her resume, smiled a bit, and said, “I see your taste in school’s improving.” Guess we know where he went to college 
Because I live in the Bay Area and spend a lot of time in Berkeley, I already know a lot about the rivalry between Cal and Stanford.
I’m also not applying to which one I think I would have a better chance at getting in, my stats are very gokd as are my extracurriculars, I’m applying to which one I think I would be a better fit for me.
I am touring Stanford in September but as of now I still plan on applying to Stanford Early Action.
Does anyone know what the theatre and performance programs are like for both schools? Also I want to hear more about their International Relations and Political Science programs. I’m not going to be majoring in a STEM field, its not my thing at all.
No doubt Stanford is an extraordinary university, but comparing Chicago with Palo Alto is simply nonsense, weather included. You have to deal with winter weather only two months a year since the students leave campus in the first week of December. The rest of the year the weather is awesome, besides January and February, and, in my opinion, nothing compares to having four seasons.
Also, the cultural life, internships, and job opportunities in Chicago can be compared only to NYC’s, and that means a lot to many prospective students.
OP, I think you would get better, more detailed answer to your theater/IR/PS questions in the individual Stanford/Cal threads. You’ll find them in the Colleges and Universities forums.
Another big thing for you to think about is the Core curriculum at Chicago. It makes for a very different intellectual experience than Stanford’s, which doesn’t have it.
Frankly, with all due respect to Stanford, if it’s intellectual breadth and rigor that intrigues you, Chicago’s the place.
The internships and job opportunities in SF/Silicon Valley are inferior to Chicago? You mean besides Silicon Valley being the center of technology, innovation and venture capital?
At this point the Apple, Google and Facebook campuses are the size of Chicago. :))
^^^ I don’t know if internship opportunities are better/worse in Chicago, but the OP DID state he/she is NOT into STEM, rather theater, political science and maybe IR
I plan on majoring in IR and minoring in Theatre. i want to work in goverment/politics. So STEM-based internships and opportunities arent really my speed
We’ll besides having a bunch of Stanford and UChicago people argue about the weather and respective qualities of the schools which is always what these threads devolve to, you’ll have to make s decision based on your own research.
Just to continue the weather thread and since I like facts, Palo Alto has an average temp of 58.55 degrees so if you can hang out on shorts and thongs at that temp…we’ll go for it.
UChicago is not strong in theater. Stanford isn’t either, but it probably is a little bit stronger than UChicago. Neither is remotely close to places like Northwestern, NYU or CMU.
For political science and IR, UChicago is exceptional. In addition to a strong traditional faculty in these areas, David Axelrod’s non-partisan Institute on Politics brings dozens of speakers to campus, finds hundreds of internship opportunities all over the country for undergrads, conducts workshops, and brings several politicians to live on campus each term to teach students the practical realities of the business (this term these visiting fellows will include former Democratic governor Kathleen Sibelius and the 2016 campaign manager for Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz). The Institute basically jump starts students into careers in politics in a way that perhaps no other school can offer.
Stanford is very strong in political science and IR as well. The Hoover Institute is there (but it is mostly conservative and I believe it mostly has application to grad students).
Either school will serve you well.
@“Cariño” Sorry but have to agree with sushiritto here…saying that somehow Chicago has superior job/internship opportunities which are only comparable to NYC is completely untrue. The opposite is in fact true. For most industries SF/Sillicon Valey blow Chicago out of the water. SF/Sillicon Valley is comparable some might say surpassing New York. Chicago falls quite further behind, after NYC, SF, Boston and DC.