<p>Which provides a better undergrad experience in general…which is more undergrad focused? Hard to say. I’d give the edge in undergraduate focus to Chicago (though I’m biased and not that familiar with Columbia).</p>
<p>Columbia is larger (28K to Chicago’s 15K). Columbia has professional divisions that Chicago doesn’t (engineering, architecture, dentistry, nursing, journalism). Chicago has a smaller ratio of big classes (<5% v. >7% >=50). Chicago’s undergraduate faculty are appointed to “The College” at large, not to departments responsible for both graduate and undergraduate needs. Chicago’s campus strikes me as more of a distinct enclave within Hyde Park and south side Chicago than Columbia’s is within Morningside Heights and Manhattan. Chicago has a residential “house” system. Chicago students are less likely to disappear into the city on weekends than Columbia students apparently are. </p>
<p>See if you are accepted to both and the net costs are comparable. If so, visit both schools to see for yourself, rather than put too much stock in the numbers or in generalities about student life.</p>