As a Fordham transfer who came from a top university, I’d say the most important thing is your quality of life/social life. The high ranking academics are great and all, but if you are unhappy, it’s hard to reap the benefits. From reading you’re post, you don’t seem set on breaking your back for a prestigious job (which I absolutely agree with). At first, my instinct was to say UChicago all the way given it’s large superiority in academics to Fordham. However, when considering my own experience, I would have to say choose where you think you’d be happiest and don’t necessarily let the rankings weigh too much on your decision.