As a Chicago resident, I’ve always felt that University of Chicago is a more hardcore science and math research institution and that Northwestern is a more humanities driven social science institution.
It’s kind of like Chicago’s version or Harvard and MIT.
U of C notably does not have an engineering program. When I attended (in the 90s), the rumor was that, over the years, several alumni had offered to make significant donations to start one, but it was always rejected for being "too applied."
We didn't even has a CS major for a long time, instead having "Mathmatics with a emphasis on computer science." When CS was introduced as a major, it was still very heavy in theory. I would estimate I didn't touch a computer for half of my classes?
It’s kind of like Chicago’s version or Harvard and MIT.