<p>Hey, im a current freshman at Northwestern, and last year I was considering the same thing. I have to say that when I visited, I did not like U of C.
Thiscity : Anyone who says its like Columbia is dead wrong (i live 20 min from Columbia) because Columbia is in a nice area (Harlem is further north), has a good if small campus (no streets breaking it up),it is social, and the neighborhoods there are pretty nice. My impression of U of C was a LOT worse, when I was there with my dad, we were in the car driving away from the main area, and a gang of guys started throwing rocks at our car, all within 2 blocks of the chicago campus. It did not seem safe, and from what I hear from people from the area, its not very social either.
Northwestern is still really intellectual, i like to describe the main difference between the two as, at northwestern everyone works hard and plays hard, while at chicago, everyone just works hard. adults ive talked to have said that u of c is much more of a graduate school, they dont really cater to undergraduates, and that seems to make sense.
hope that helps!</p>