<p>Websites explaining each:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/classes/[/url]”>http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/classes/</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=396[/url]”>http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=396</a></p>
<p>The programs are surprisingly similar-- both offer similar courses in similar areas. Whereas Columbia has courses you MUST take and books you MUST read, Chicago offers you five or six thematically linked classes for each major subject (Humanities, Social Sciences, Civilization) and the rest of the Common Core (Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Math) is not much different from other schools’ gen ed requirements.</p>
<p>Columbia’s Core does seem to be more balanced in the sciences than does Chicago’s, but then again, I’m not a student there, so I don’t know what fulfilling those requirements is like.</p>
<p>In terms of humanities, I think both schools are really excellent and I don’t know if one has an “edge” on the other.</p>