P.S. I did see another thread about choosing a college but most of the comments seemed to be specific to the submitter's circumstances (i.e. Tufts vs. Cornell)
The cost of living is very very cheap in Pitt, no doubt. Personally, I like having four different seasons - so weather was not a big deal for me. If you want consistent weather and clear blue skies, palo alto, it is. YMMV.
In CMU, you are very close to a whole lot of other big cities and universities - so travelling is lot easier.
So all that said, now to the important part: the important decision will be based on what your interests are. CMU is very strong in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence fields of study. Similarly, Stanford has its big specialties as well. So if you already know that you might major in Computer Science, try looking at the profiles and research interests of the computer science faculty at each school. Give yourself as much flexibility as possible here, because what you think/know now will be lot different in 2 years, 4 years and 6 years from now.
If you are entrepreneurial and you want to do a start up, then just close the circuit and take the shortest path - the bay area.
Or if you still want to do that, but take the road less taken, come here via CMU.
In anycase, read Robert Frost's "Road less travelled" poem. :)
Good luck.
I'd probably recommend Stanford overall. It's very highly ranked. Though if you're looking for CS academic work, you might go with Carnegie Mellon.
Do you mean that CS classes are better at CMU? How so?
EDIT: I claimed that "Gatech was ranked as #1 in CS but everyone I speak to tells me CMU and Stanford are definitely better (just look at the alumni of these two as opposed to gatech)." It is not. Its undergraduate program is ranked #6 and its graduate program is ranked #9 by the U.S. News & World Report. http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/com/s...
Anyway, I think the quality of students matters quite a bit. Does CMU attract the more academic kind and Stanford the more startupy kind? Are you saying that the CS research done at Stanford is not as good?
At the undergraduate level I don't think this matters much. Aside from the goodness of the CS department, which I consider equal at these two schools, you should think about the total college experience. IMO Stanford has better weather, a better campus, better looking students, better non-CS departments, better surrounding environment, etc.
But what do I know, I went to state school :)
I get the sense that CMU will work you a bit harder.