http://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-study-engineering-at-Columbia
This post might help. Overall Columbia Engineering is excellent. People used to say that Columbia Engineering is not as good as Columbia College, because the acceptance rate was relatively higher for Columbia Engineering (so people falsely assumed that it is easier to get into Columbia Engineering than Columbia College though it has always been the case that Columbia Engineering has higher average SAT scores).
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/opir/abstract/opir_admissions_history_1.htm
However as the stats show, for the class of 2018, Columbia College had an acceptance rate of 6.8% while Columbia Engineering’s acceptance rate was 7.4%( The data from the link round both numbers to 7%). So that gap is now negligible.
Also, I would say NYC is the second best place in the US for startups. So there are plenty of opportunities for not only interning at startups, but also founding your own startups. Also Columbia Engineering allows you to pursue career in finance/banking if you are interested in those.
And if you are interested in joining big name companies, the majority of them heavily recruit on campus.