Comparing Schools and Universities: How do I choose between attending USC's MFA Film Production program or Stanford's MFA Documentary Film Production program?

Your future employability will rest heavily on the internships and projects you work on while in school.  I wish it weren't so, but it is: If you want to break into the film industry, you need to work for free so that people can realize you're worth way more than they're paying you (i.e., nothing). USC is in LA, so if you go to USC, you'll be living in the city where an overwhelming majority of U.S. film production happens, so you'll have vastly more opportunities to intern and/or work for free on small-budget projects.  As a result, you'll be vastly more employable when you graduate from USC.   (And several USC professors are themselves noted documentary filmmakers, so you're not really giving anything up on the front.) There is virtually no professional film production in the Bay Area, so you'll have far fewer opportunities to work/intern in the industry while you're in school, and anytime you DO want to work/intern, you'll need to relocate to LA for the month/semester.  That's a lot of added expense and hassle, and will almost certainly hurt your career in the long run. Btw, I know some Stanford alums in LA and yes, they loved going there, but note that THEY ARE IN LA NOW. If you want to work in the film industry, you pretty much have to be here or in NYC.  (You didn't ask about NYU, but imho, their program is the only one that even remotely competes with USC for hands-on production degrees.)

Do you really want to make documentary films? Or do you want to make feature films? If you want to be in the feature film business, USC is hands-down the place to be. Even if USC weren't in the heart of all the action of the business, it's professors and alumni network would still trash Stanford's. But if you really, really want to make doc. films the rest of your life, I would go to Stanford where the intellectual rigor will serve you well, not to mention the progressive environment of the Bay area.