Which program is better to attend for computer science: Stanford due to its close proximity to Silicon Valley, or MIT which is said to have a better CS program and faculty? Why?

I wouldn't worry about proximity to Silicon Valley. Yes, MIT is across the country but recruiters flock to Cambridge every year to snatch up the graduating class. Basically, make your decision based on other factors.

A lot of the things that you're bringing up in your question are non-issues.  You should go to the admitted students weekend for both schools and choose whichever one you think would be a better fit for you. You talk about selectivity.  Though I think you have it backwards as to which one is more selective (I haven't looked at the numbers for 2013, but in 2012, Stanford's acceptance rate was 6.6% and MIT's was 8.9%), that really doesn't matter.  Most students who got in at one would probably succeed at either academically.  Most people who see Stanford or MIT diplomas would regard either highly.  Some rankings would list MIT at the top, and some would list Stanford at the top. There might be a more meaningful discussion to be had if you get really specific (eg, Stanford's biocomputation program might be "better" than MIT's, and the MIT Media Lab might be "better" than some of the HCI research that goes on at Stanford), but it seems like you're wondering about undergrad, and you probably don't know enough of the specifics for that to be a reasonable factor in your decision. The faculty at either will be top notch teachers and researchers.  Stanford has Knuth, Winograd, Hellman, and plenty of other big names who have done groundbreaking research in CS.  Same with MIT. It might be a little easier to entrench yourself in the startup scene at Stanford since you can bike over to a bunch of startups, VCs, etc, but I can't imagine that it would be hard at MIT. All that is to say that in terms of academics, prestige, and job prospects, it doesn't matter which one you go to. However, the culture is probably going to be different, and that will probably have a more significant impact on your happiness at school and how you do in life.  Stanford was absolutely the right choice for me -- there are a lot of people interested in social change (which is good since I started a CS and social change nonprofit out of Stanford), there are a lot of people studying the humanities and social sciences (which is good for a diversity of opinions and for things like digital humanities which are extremely cool), everyone collaborates with each other (it isn't cutthroat like I have heard about some schools), the weather is nice, and the people just feel happy and nice to be around.  The people I know who went to MIT have had good experiences, but some in different ways. Going to the admitted students weekends for each is probably a good way to get a feel for the culture.  Talking to students and alumni of each is probably another good way (feel free to message me if you want to chat about Stanford).  Barring that, given your choices, you could always flip a coin with the confidence that neither choice will be a bad one :) Congratulations on getting in to both, and good luck in your future endeavors!

If you are looking for connections to VCs, startups, and huge software companies Stanford is probably much better. But in terms of exposure to hardcore engineering and physics, MIT probably has a bit of an edge.

Go to Stanford if your CS background is a little bit shaky since SF has CS classes that teach you how to program (106A, 106B, 107). MIT emphasize more on the theory and assume that you already know how to code. Believe it or not, you will get the same number of employers recruting at both, but at the end, you are the determine factor, not them. If you suck, only god can help you.

A2A but need to be anon. It seems that Stanford CS is focused more strongly on entrepreneurship, while MIT is focused much more on research and theory.  VC and startups visit MIT pretty constantly, and Microsoft and Google have major presences on campus. The major career fairs at MIT are very large and filled with Silicon Valley companies searching for MIT CS students.  Hope  this helps.