Everyone has been posting lately about silicon valley, stanford, etc.. I'm here to tell you it's not as great as its cracked up to be.

1. There is no mobile industry in silicon valley. There are 3 billion mobile subscribers in the world. That's twice as many people as are on the internet. The mobile phone/device industry is where most of the innovation is going to be in tech in the future, but there is nothing there in california.

2. There is no balance in silicon valley. People seem to think that having your life exclusively focused on technology is a good thing, a way to stay focused. I think it gives you blinders. It's important to be able to get away, to spend time with your family and (non-company) friends, to go to a (non-tech) show. This is important at a personal level, but also, I think that you can argue that at a professional level you need balance in order to design good products and also to stay sane.

3. As for Stanford, it's a world-renowned grad school. Definitely it is a truly great tech grad school (and business & law, I think). But as for the undergrad CS program, it's good but not great. It's quite small, actually. They have the local advantage, but they don't attract the top students. If you're looking for undergrad, and you need to stay in california, Berkeley is good. But so are a dozen other schools, including UW.