There’s a huge number of universities between Columbia and open-curriculum universities. The OP is expressing a concern on Columbia’s Core - with an uppercase C — not distributional requirements that most universities have.
Columbia’s Core includes certain classes that everyone takes. And that appeals to some and is a turn off for others.
As for which to ED, it’s a personal preference, you can’t go wrong with either, but I will reiterate a post above; CAS isn’t Wharton. If you’re looking for Wharton clubs, connections , etc, those are found in Wharton.