<p>First if the 10k difference per year in FinAid is a big deal, then obviously pick Columbia.</p>
<p>Columbia and Caltech are very different in terms of campus culture. </p>
<p>If your daughter would prefer to be surrounded by nerds and geeks who love math and science, then its Caltech.</p>
<p>If your daughter would prefer a bigger school with different types of people from the science nerds, Columbia.</p>