Personally, I place a greater emphasis on location, because if you are set on succeeding, you will succeed anywhere, but where else can you see broadway shows, jog in central park, moon the Trump building, etc all in the same day?
Therefore:
1) NYU (NYC = Capital of the world. Where else can you get fresh motzah balls, shrimp dumplings and linguine on the same block?)
2) Maryland (Baltimore? no thank you)
3) Tufts (Boston is R.I.P. in the summer)
4) Stony Brook (Long Island? maybe when I'm dating someone with a soccer mom's ass)
I honestly don't know that the big deal about Stony Brook is.