status quo vs situation

status quo and situation both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
status quo	Yes	No	No	No
situation	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, situation is a hypernym of status quo; that is, situation is a word with a broader meaning than status quo:

status quo: the existing state of affairs
situation: the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time

Other hypernyms of status quo include state of affairs.

status quo (noun)	situation (noun)
the existing state of affairs	a job in an organization
	physical position in relation to the surroundings
	the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time
	a condition or position in which you find yourself
	a complex or critical or unusual difficulty