So here is the situation:
HELP NEEDED!
A student who has been accepted as an undergraduate Engineering student by Stanford University in Early Application for the Fall 2016 has also received a likely letter from Columbia University In the City of New York. Furthermore, the student has been nominated and then selected as The Columbia Egleston Scholar, a scholarship provided to only 15-16 best Freshmen Applicants for the Fu School of Engineering and the most reputed scholarship of the university. There are a LOT of facilities provided to such scholars. Now here is the fix. Which one should the student choose? Can you please suggest the pros and cons of each of the options and help the student out to make a wise decision in this situation?
Thanks in advanced 
http://engineering.columbia.edu/egleston-scholars
Looks like Columbia does offer merit scholarships after all, since the Egleston Scholars program provides “enhanced financial aid” (grants replace work-study in the financial aid package, plus stipends that can be used for various educational purposes).
What particular kinds of engineering is the student interested in?
Net price at each school?
ABET accreditation specifically important? (e.g. goal of PE license or patent work)
On the ABET accreditation, Stanford maintains it only for chemical, civil, and mechanical engineering, while Columbia also has it for biomedical, electrical, and environmental engineering. Stanford also has electrical, environmental, and materials engineering without ABET accreditation.
Congrats. You have two excellent schools. At this point it is personal preference and any material financial differential. Look at the differences between the schools. Do you want NYC or CA? Are big time sports important to your college experience? etc.
Head to Head I’d pick Stanford for engineering. But the Scholar appointment tips the balance towards Columbia. But you can’t go wrong with either one.
Consider where you are more likely want to look for jobs after graduating - east cost or west coast?
If you’re hoping to work in tech, then I’d choose Stanford.
@SA9796 I would choose Stanford over Columbia for pretty much anything as an undergrad, and especially for engineering I think it is a no-brainer to choose Stanford.The only places I would consider turning down Stanford for are MIT, Caltech for science/engineering and Harvard for some science fields and every thing else (humanities, social sciences etc). I don’t think it even makes sense to turn down Stanford for Yale or Princeton nowadays, let alone for Columbia.
Why wouldn’t Stanford have accreditation in EE? That’s really surprising.