I am wondering whether I should pick Stanford or Berkeley for a PhD in Chemical Biology. US news ranks Berkeley #1 for graduate chemistry study and stanford #4, and Berkeley #2 for graduate biochemistry and Stanford #7. (However, biology alone is stanford #1 berkeley #2, and molecular biology is stanford #2 Berkeley #4. They do not have chemical biology ranked, but I imagine it would be similar to the biochemistry rankings. Organic chemistry is Berkeley #2, Stanford #4, and Biochem/Biophysics/Structural biology is Stanford #2 berkeley #6, which is odd considering Biochemistry alone was Berkeley #2 and Stanford #7.) I am funded at both (around 35k, negligible difference). If I go to Stanford I could live at home with my parents. If I go to Berkeley I could do that, but it would take an hour and a half to commute each way (with Stanford being more like 15 minutes), or I could rent an apartment, but that would cost more. However, is it worth passing up Berkeley's big name in Chemistry for Stanford? Obviously Stanford is amazing too, and the rankings aren't everything, but in general it seems to be Berkeley that is tops in Chemistry, with Harvard and MIT and Caltech with it, and Stanford as a sort of afterthought to the big 5. So basically - is the difference in prestige and research quality in chemical biology, and thus job opportunities, etc. big, or does Stanford's convenience advantage put it ahead?
For the record I want to go into pharma (Genentech or somewhere similar; staying in Bay Area for work almost certainly). Didn't do my undergrad at either of these universities. I prefer Stanford's environment in general, simply because it's close to home, but if the Berkeley advantage is big enough I'd absolutely be willing to pass up Stanford.